2017 World TeamTennis season

The 2017 World TeamTennis season included six teams. Each team played a 14-match regular-season schedule with seven home and seven away matches. The top two teams in the regular season qualified for the World TeamTennis Final at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California, the home court of the San Diego Aviators. The higher seed was treated as the "home" team in the WTT Final and had the right to determine the order of play. The winner of the WTT Final was awarded the King Trophy.

On March 13, 2017, WTT announced that Billie Jean King had sold most of her majority ownership interest in the league to Mark Ein, founder and owner of the Washington Kastles, Fred Luddy, owner of the San Diego Aviators, and LionTree Partners, a merchant banking firm. Ein was named Chairman of WTT, and Ilana Kloss was to remain CEO and Commissioner of the league through the 2017 season. "After 42 seasons of World TeamTennis, Ilana and I feel this is the time to pass the baton to Mark Ein and Fred Luddy and entrust the legacy of WTT as an innovative force in tennis to them and their team," said King. "I will continue to be part of the league as a minority owner and as the owner of the Philadelphia Freedoms, and I am confident the league will continue to grow and prosper under Mark and Fred’s leadership."[2]

The order in which franchises selected was based on the results the teams achieved in 2016, with weaker teams selecting earlier and stronger teams selecting later. The four nonplayoff teams selected first followed by the WTT Final loser and then the WTT champion. Because the 2016 WTT season schedule conflicted with the 2016 Olympics, teams were permitted to protect players who were eligible for protection in the 2016 draft based on playing for the team in 2015 (or 2014 and missing the 2015 season due to injury), went undrafted in the 2016 draft and did not participate in the league in 2016.[3]

Marquee Draft

WTT conducted its 2017 Marquee Draft on February 16, in New York City. Each team could protect up to three marquee players or doubles teams, if they appeared in a match for the team in 2016, or qualified for protection under the special 2017 rule based on eligibility for protection in 2016. The selections made[4] are shown in the tables below.

First round

No.	Team	Player chosen	Prot?	Notes
1	Springfield Lasers[lower-alpha 1]	Jack Sock	N
2	New York Empire[lower-alpha 1]	Eugenie Bouchard	N
3	Philadelphia Freedoms	Sloane Stephens	N
4	Washington Kastles	Martina Hingis	Y
5	Orange County Breakers	Pass	–
6	San Diego Aviators	Pass	–

Second round

No.	Team	Player chosen	Prot?	Notes
1	New York Empire	John Isner	N
2	Springfield Lasers	Pass	–
3	Philadelphia Freedoms	Andy Roddick	N
4	Washington Kastles	Venus Williams	Y[lower-alpha 2]
5	Orange County Breakers	Pass	–
6	San Diego Aviators	Pass	–

Third round

No.	Team	Player chosen	Prot?	Notes
1	New York Empire	Mardy Fish	N
2	Springfield Lasers	Pass	–
3	Philadelphia Freedoms	Pass	–
4	Washington Kastles	Bob and Mike Bryan	Y	Doubles team
5	Orange County Breakers	Pass	–
6	San Diego Aviators	Pass	–

Notes:

1. The New York Empire traded the first pick in the Marquee Draft to the Springfield Lasers in exchange for the second pick and undisclosed consideration.
2. The player was protected based on being a member of the team in 2015, and not being drafted or participating in WTT in 2016, under special rule in effect for the 2017 draft.

Roster Draft

WTT conducted its 2017 Roster Draft on March 14, in Indian Wells, California. Exempt, roster and substitute players who appeared in at least three matches for the team in 2016, could be protected.[5] Teams could also protect players who qualified for protection based on match appearances in 2015, but were unable to play in 2016, due to injury.[6] If a team selects a player who is part of an established doubles team (at least four tournaments played together in the 12 months prior to the draft), that team can protect the drafted player's doubles partner in the next round of the draft.[7] Finally, teams could protect players who qualified for protection under the special 2017 rule based on eligibility for protection in 2016. Teams holding the right to protect players could trade those rights before or during the draft.[8] If a team chooses a roster-exempt player, one who is not required to be a full-time member of the team, it is possible for a team to make four selections in the roster draft and not have two male and two female full-time players. In such cases, these teams are permitted to make selections in additional rounds of the roster draft until they have a complete roster.[9] Teams that have two male and two female full-time players may select roster-exempt players in rounds past the fourth round. The selections made[10] are shown in the tables below.

First round

No.	Team	Player chosen	Prot?	Notes
1	Philadelphia Freedoms[lower-alpha 1]	Darian King	N
2	Springfield Lasers	Jean-Julien Rojer	N
3	Philadelphia Freedoms	Taylor Townsend	Y[lower-alpha 2]
4	Washington Kastles	Sam Querrey	Y
5	Orange County Breakers	Yanina Wickmayer	N
6	San Diego Aviators	Shelby Rogers	Y	Exempt

Second round

No.	Team	Player chosen	Prot?	Notes
1	New York Empire	Kirsten Flipkens	N
2	Springfield Lasers	Daria Kasatkina	N
3	New York Empire[lower-alpha 1]	Maria Sanchez	N
4	Washington Kastles	Bruno Soares	N
5	Orange County Breakers	Michael Venus	N
6	San Diego Aviators	Raven Klaasen	Y

Third round

No.	Team	Player chosen	Prot?	Notes
1	New York Empire	Guido Pella	N
2	Springfield Lasers	Benjamin Becker	N
3	Philadelphia Freedoms	Fabrice Martin	Y
4	Washington Kastles	Madison Brengle	Y
5	Orange County Breakers	Andreja Klepač	N
6	San Diego Aviators	Rajeev Ram	Y	Exempt; doubles protection

Fourth round

No.	Team	Player chosen	Prot?	Notes
1	New York Empire	Pass	–
2	Springfield Lasers	Michaëlla Krajicek	Y
3	Philadelphia Freedoms	Pass	–
4	Washington Kastles	Anastasia Rodionova	Y
5	Orange County Breakers	Teymuraz Gabashvili	Y[lower-alpha 2]
6	San Diego Aviators	Darija Jurak	Y

Fifth round

No.	Team	Player chosen	Prot?	Notes
1	New York Empire	Pass	–
2	Springfield Lasers	Pass	–
3	Philadelphia Freedoms	Donald Young	Y	Exempt
4	Washington Kastles	Pass	–
5	Orange County Breakers	Pass	–
6	San Diego Aviators	Pass	–

Notes:

1. The New York Empire traded the first pick in the first round of the Roster Draft to the Philadelphia Freedoms in exchange for the third pick in the second round and financial consideration.
2. The player was protected based on being a member of the team in 2015, and not being drafted or participating in WTT in 2016, under special rule in effect for the 2017 draft.

Reference:'[12]

• The Orange County Breakers defeated the San Diego Aviators 22-18 to capture the King Trophy.[13]

ORANGE COUNTY BREAKERS def. San Diego Aviators 22-18

Women's Singles - Yanina Wickmayer (Breakers) def. Naomi Broady (Aviators) 5-2

Women's Doubles - Naomi Broady\Darija Jurak (Aviators) def. Andreja Klepac\Yanina Wickmayer (Breakers) 5-3

Men's Doubles - Teymuraz Gabashvili\Ken Skupski (Breakers) def. Raven Klaasen\Rajeev Ram (Aviators) 5-2

Mixed Doubles - Raven Klaasen\Darija Jurak (Aviators) def. Ken Skupski\Andreja Klepac (Breakers) 5-4

Men's Singles - Teymuraz Gabashvili (Breakers) def. Rajeev Ram (Aviators) 5-4

Reference:[14]

The 2017 season was the final year of a four-year television rights contract between WTT and ESPN, Inc.[15] The WTT Final was streamed live on ESPN3. ESPN2's live telecast of the WTT Final began at 9:00 pm PDT, one hour after the match's start time. ESPN3 streamed 11 regular-season matches live. Five of those matches were also televised live by the Tennis Channel and Comcast SportsNet affiliates.[16] Matches carried live on the Tennis Channel were available on Mediacom's MC22 (Mediacom Connections) channel, which also provided live coverage of some matches involving the Springfield Lasers that were not aired nationally.[14] Select matches streamed live by ESPN3 were rebroadcast by regional sports networks Altitude Sports and Entertainment, Comcast SportsNet affiliates, MC22 and MSG.[16]

On December 8, 2014, WTT announced that its title-sponsorship agreement with Mylan N.V. was extended for two more years through the 2017 season. As part of its partnership with WTT, Mylan continued to sponsor events at which children met with WTT players and were introduced to tennis, charitable events and the Mylan Aces program which allows each team to select a local charity for which it can earn money donated by Mylan by recording the most aces in the league on a given day during the regular season.[1]

• Team tennis

• World TeamTennis official website