BY ALEX MITCHELL
The New York Empire of
World Team Tennis will have
a season this summer.
WTT announced on Tuesday
that its usually post-Wimbledon,
summer season will
kickoff on Sunday, July 12,
playing all of its 66 matches
through Sunday, August 2 at
The Greenbrier mountain resort
in White Sulphur Springs,
West Virginia.
Unlike other professional
sports that plan to return
to action over the next few
months, this WTT season
will allow fans to attend — at
a twenty percent capacity in
accordance with state health
guidelines.
That one fi fth allowance
of spectators is expected to be
about 500 people, the league
anticipates.
“We’re relying on the state
to not open if it’s not safe,”
WTT CEO Carlos Silva told
amNewYork Metro last week
about a criteria to have a tennis
season this summer, adding
that the league has been in
talks with White House task
forces on executing these live
matches properly.
The league, which is
known for its variety of play
style ranging from mixed
doubles to single matches all
in one outing additionally announced
that “WTT will engage
with its teams and league
and venue personnel in conducting
all necessary testing
and screening for COVID-19,
as well as outfi tting all parties
with the personal protective
equipment necessary to conduct
its 2020 season matches.”
While currently navigating
ways to bring international
players who are currently
out of the United States
to White Sulphur Springs,
Silva also noted that roster
spots for WTT have been in
high demand over the past few
weeks.
“Almost every player in the
world has called and said can
I jump in and get on a team in
World Team Tennis,” the CEO
said.
If WTT does a “last minute”
increase to its talent pool,
those athletes would join the
ranks of 2017 US Open champion
Sloane Stephens playing
for the league’s newly incepted
Chicago Smash and the Empire’s
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,6 MAY 29-JUNE 4, 2020 BTR
doubles specialist Neal
Skupski, who took home the
title of male MVP last summer,
along with other top calibur
players.
Last season also featured
Venus Williams playing for
the Washington Kastles and
John Isner for New York,
whom had both told the Bronx
Times that WTT helps players
adjust from grass at Wimbledon
to a hardcourt surface for
the US Open last year.
As for this summer’s format,
the WTT schedule will
hold a minimum of three
matches per day on the 2,500
seat outdoor court with a plan
to install a backup, indoor option
as well, the league announced.
The championship prize
money will also be bumped
to a record $5 million with an
added $1 million awarded in
WTT playoffs compensation.
That includes a $500,000
bonus for the team to hoist the
King Trophy in early August.
The New York Empire, who
call the Bronx’s Cary Leeds
2017 US Open champion and the number eight ranked player in the world,
Sloane Stephens in singles action for the New York Empire against Nicole
Gibbs of the Orange County (California) Breakers in World Team Tennis
at the Cary Leeds Center for Tennis and Learning in Crotona Park in the
Bronx.Photo by Bruce Adler
Center for Tennis & Learning
in Crotona Park home enter
this season after pulling off
an improbable fi nals run, consecutively
twice upsetting the
top ranked Philadelphia Freedoms
to clinch a playoff spot in
the fi nal match of the regular
season — doing the same days
in the semi-fi nal round for the
King Trophy.
It was a run that Silva and
2019 Empire head coach Luke
Jensen still talk about to date.
Matches for the 2020 WTT
season will be broadcast on
CBS, CBS Sports Network,
Tennis Channel, ESPN+ and
WTT.com.
Listen to amRUSH
through your browser or
on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
Stitcher, and on Google
Play.
Bronx’s pro tennis team to play matches
in West Virginia with fans this summer
/WTT.com