Category: World Team Tennis

Vitas Gerulaitis and Sue Barker on the cover of the 1977 Indiana Loves World Team Tennis media guide

Indiana Loves

May 31, 2013

The Indiana Loves were a four-year member of Billie Jean King’s kooky, colorful World Team Tennis experiment during the mid-1970’s.  The franchise started out as the Detroit Loves in WTT’s inaugural season of 1974,.  At the end of the season, the original owners sold out to Indianapolis businessman and tennis aficionado William Bereman, who kept the Loves name and moved the club to Indianapolis’ Market Square Arena for the 1975 campaign. The Loves top star was the young Lithuanian-American tennis phenom Vitas Gerulaitis, who played for the team in 1977 and 1978. The Loves folded along with the rest of the league at the end of the 1978 season.

Read More »
San Diego Friars World Team Tennis

San Diego Friars

February 6, 2013

The San Diego Friars were a franchise in World Team Tennis that played primarily at the San Diego Sports Arena from 1975 to 1978.   The Friars also played occasional matches at the Anaheim Convention Center. The team was best known for signing Rod “The Rocket” Laver in February 1976.  The Australian superstar, then 38 years old, is one of the greatest tennis players of all time and the only person ever two have completed two Grand Slams (1962 and 1969). Laver played three seasons for the Friars from 1976 through the club’s final season in 1978.

Read More »
1974 Baltimore Banners Ticket Brochure from World Team Tennis

Baltimore Banners

February 1, 2013

The Baltimore Banners were a One-Year Wonder that played during the inaugural season of World Team Tennis during the summer of 1974.  The Banners were notable primarily for signing American tennis bad boy Jimmy Connors to a $100,000 contract to appear in 22 of Baltimore’s 44 scheduled matches.

Read More »
Martina Navratilova on the cover of the 1978 Boston Lobsters Media Guide from World Team Tennis

Boston Lobsters (1974-1978)

October 25, 2012

The Boston Lobsters brought World Team Tennis action to the Walter Brown Arena at Boston University for five summers between 1974 and 1978. (The Lobs also played occasional matches at the Hartford Civic Center). The co-ed league brought major international stars to Boston for competitions that fell somewhere in between the intensity of Grand Slam competition and the half-speed camaraderie of exhibition play. The Lobsters own big name was Martina Navratilova, who elevated the Lobsters to one of the league’s best clubs in 1977 and 1978. Future New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft also made his first foray in pro sports investing with his ownership of the Lobs from 1975 through 1978.

Read More »
Billie Jean King New York Apples of World Team Tennis

New York Apples

October 24, 2012

World Team Tennis (1974-1978) Born: December 16, 1976 – Re-branded from New York Sets Folded: October 27, 1978 First Match: April 28, 1977 (W 24-23

Read More »