1976 World Team Tennis season

January 2025 March 2026 1976 World Team Tennis season World Team Tennis Team tennis May 1 – August 27, 1976 Regular season: 220 (44 for each team) scheduled; 219 playedPostseason: minimum of 7, maximum of 11; 8 actually played 10 World Team Tennis Player Draft RSA 1928 Linky Boshoff San Diego Friars Regular season New York Sets Male: USA Sandy MayerFemale: USA Chris Evert Eastern Division New York Sets Pittsburgh Triangles Western Division Phoenix Racquets San Francisco Golden Gaters Division Championship Series Eastern Division New York Sets Pittsburgh Triangles Western Division San Francisco Golden Gaters Phoenix Racquets World Team Tennis Finals Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (deciding Match 3)Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena (Matches 1 and 2) New York Sets San Francisco Golden Gaters Male: USA Sandy MayerFemale: USA Billie Jean King Playoff MVPs World Team Tennis 1975 World Team Tennis season 1975 1977 World Team Tennis season 1977 The 1976 World Team Tennis season was the third season of the top professional team tennis league in the United States. Led by regular season and playoff male most valuable player Sandy Mayer and female playoff most valuable player Billie Jean King, the New York Sets swept the San Francisco Golden Gaters in the WTT Finals to win the league championship.https://www.facebook.com/WorldTeamTennis/info?tab=milestone World TeamTennis Milestones Facebook July 10, 2016Dmitry Steve http://www.oocities.org/colosseum/Arena/6925/wtt.html Steve Dimitry's Extinct Sports Leagues: World Team Tennis (1974–1978) 1998 July 10, 2016 Competition format The 1976 World Team Tennis season included 10 teams split into two divisions (Eastern and Western). Each team was scheduled to play a regular-season schedule of 44 matches. The top two teams in each division qualified for the playoffs and met each other in the division championship series. The first-place team was given a choice of hosting either the first and third or second and third matches of the series. The division champions met in the best-of-five World Team Tennis Finals with the lower seed hosting the first two matches and the higher seed hosting the remaining matches. Each match comprised one set each of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. Starting with this season, the order of play for the entire match was determined by the coach of the home team. Games were decided by the first player or doubles team to reach four points with no-ad scoring. Each set ended when one team had won either six or seven games and had an advantage over its opponent of at least two games. Sets that were tied 6–6 were decided by a tiebreaker. Set tiebreaker games were nine total points with the first player or doubles team to reach five the winner. An advantage of only one point was needed to win a tiebreaker game. Starting this season, if the team that won the final set was trailing in the match, the match went to overtime with the same players who participated in the final set remaining on the court.https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1978/05/07/scorecard-necessary-for-new-wtt-year/4eed1f8c-2ced-4d1c-8f2b-e160da422fa7/ Scorecard Necessary for New WTT Year Lorge Barry May 7, 1978 The Washington Post July 10, 2016 The leading team was required to win a game to end the match. If the match was tied at the end of five sets, or if the trailing team won enough games in overtime to tie the match, a super tiebreaker game was played between the players who participated in the final set using the same format as the set tiebreaker games. Player draft WTT conducted its player draft for the 1976 season on December 11, 1975, at the Essex House in New York City. Teams made their selections in reverse order of their regular-season finish from the 1975 season. The players chosen in the first five rounds of the draft are listed in the tables below.Leonard Vince WTT Lands Nastase: Triangles Pick Ralston Pittsburgh Post-Gazette December 12, 1975 The biggest news at the draft was the trade of the rights to Ilie Năstase by the New York Sets immediately after they used their third-round pick on him, to the Hawaii Leis. Năstase expressed interest in playing WTT but not in New York, because New York fans had widely criticized him for his on-court behavior and emotional outbursts. The Sets had previously agreed to allow the Leis to negotiate with Năstase with compensation going from Hawaii to New York if the Leis were to reach a deal with him. The Leis immediately announced that they had signed Năstase to a one-year contract worth in excess of $100,000. Leis owner Don Kelleher would not describe the amount with any more specificity than, "It was six figures." The Leis sent undisclosed cash consideration and future draft picks to the Sets to complete the deal.WTT Lands Nastase, Puts Lures to Others Danville Register 26 December 12, 1975 100% 50% First round No. Selection number in round Team Name of team making selection Player chosen 1 San Diego Friars RSA 1928 Linky Boshoff 2 Hawaii Leis USA Erik van Dillen 3 Cleveland Nets USA Arthur Ashe 4 Indiana Loves URS Olga Morozova 5 Boston Lobsters USA Mike Estep 6 Los Angeles Strings AUS Dianne Fromholtz 7 Phoenix Racquets AUS Rod Laver 8 San Francisco Golden Gaters MEX Raúl Ramírez 9 New York Sets USA Julie Anthony 10 Pittsburgh Triangles ARG Guillermo Vilas 50% Second round No. Selection number in round Team Name of team making selection Player chosen 1 San Diego Friars USA Nancy Gunter 2 Hawaii Leis USA Billy Martin 3 Cleveland Nets SWE Björn Borg 4 Indiana Loves USA Beth Norton 5 Boston Lobsters USA Roscoe Tanner 6 Los Angeles Strings USA Dick Stockton 7 Phoenix Racquets USA Stan Smith 8 San Francisco Golden Gaters USA Marcie Louie 9 New York Sets AUS Phil Dent 10 Pittsburgh Triangles USA Dennis Ralston 100% 50% Third round No. Selection number in round Team Name of team making selection Player chosen 1 San Diego Friars USA Janice Metcalf 2 Hawaii Leis NZL Onny Parun 3 Cleveland Nets USA Jimmy Connors 4 Indiana Loves USA Barbara Jordan 5 Boston Lobsters USA Pam Teeguarden 6 Los Angeles Strings AUS John Alexander 7 Phoenix Racquets AUS Colin Dibley 8 San Francisco Golden Gaters USA Jeff Borowiak 9 New York Sets ROM Ilie Năstase 10 Pittsburgh Triangles TCH Marie Neumanová 50% Fourth round No. Selection number in round Team Name of team making selection Player chosen 1 San Diego Friars USA Charlie Pasarell 2 Hawaii Leis USA Zenda Liess 3 Cleveland Nets POL Wojciech Fibak 4 Indiana Loves USA Julie Heldman 5 Boston Lobsters USA Janet Newberry 6 Los Angeles Strings GBR Sue Barker 7 Phoenix Racquets USA Jeanne Evert 8 San Francisco Golden Gaters YUG Mima Jaušovec 9 New York Sets URS Natasha Chmyreva 10 Pittsburgh Triangles USA Lea Antonoplis 100% 50% Fifth round No. Selection number in round Team Name of team making selection Player chosen 1 San Diego Friars JPN Kazuko Sawamatsu 2 Hawaii Leis ESP Manuel Orantes 3 Cleveland Nets USA Valerie Ziegenfuss 4 Indiana Loves USA Lele Forood 5 Boston Lobsters USA Harold Solomon 6 Los Angeles Strings AUS Cynthia Doerner 7 Phoenix Racquets USA Butch Walts 8 San Francisco Golden Gaters ARG Raquel Giscafré 9 New York Sets PAR Víctor Pecci 10 Pittsburgh Triangles USA Brian Gottfried 50% Standings Reference: 100% 50% Eastern Division Pos Position TeamMP Matches playedW Matches wonL Matches lostPCT Winning percentageMB Matches behind 1 New York Sets 43 33 10 .767 0 2 Pittsburgh Triangles 44 24 20 .545 9.5 3 Cleveland Nets 44 20 24 .455 13.5 4 Indiana Loves 44 19 25 .432 14.5 5 Boston Lobsters 43 18 25 .419 15 1976 Eastern Division Playoffs New York and Boston each played only 43 matches, because their August 9 match was canceled due to Hurricane Belle.https://app.box.com/s/locn0rotm5zteptpp69q 1978 New York Apples Media Guide New York Apples July 10, 2016 50% Western Division Pos Position TeamMP Matches playedW Matches wonL Matches lostPCT Winning percentageMB Matches behind 1 Phoenix Racquets 44 30 14 .682 0 2 San Francisco Golden Gaters 44 28 16 .636 2 3 Los Angeles Strings 44 22 22 .500 8 4 San Diego Friars 44 13 31 .295 17 5 Hawaii Leis 44 12 32 .273 18 1976 Western Division Playoffs Playoff bracket Reference: Division ChampionshipsAugust 16–19 WTT FinalsAugust 21–27 250 E1 New York Sets 2 E2 Pittsburgh Triangles 1 W1 Phoenix Racquets 0 W2 San Francisco Golden Gaters 2 1 New York Sets 3 3 San Francisco Golden Gaters 0 Playoff match results Reference: Home teams are in CAPS. 100% 50% Eastern Division Championship (1) New York Sets vs. (2) Pittsburgh Triangles Date Match Result August 17 1 PITTSBURGH TRIANGLES 26, New York Sets 25, super tiebreaker (5–3)https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1798&dat=19760818&id=joE0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=2Y4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6794,3057440&hl=id Sarasota Journal August 18, 1976 4D July 10, 2016 Sets Set; Phoenix Ousted August 18 2 NEW YORK SETS 29, Pittsburgh Triangles 21https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19760819&id=OVddAAAAIBAJ&sjid=v1sNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2408,2211136&hl=id N.Y. Sets Net Tris, Tie Seres Observer-Reporter Washington, Pennsylvania C2 August 19, 1976 July 10, 2016 August 19 3 NEW YORK SETS 28, Pittsburgh Triangles 26, overtimehttps://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1798&dat=19760820&id=kIE0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=2Y4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=5832,3506063&hl=id King's Wait Ends; Nets Gain Finals Sarasota Journal August 20, 1976 5C July 10, 2016 ** Series: New York Sets 2, Pittsburgh Triangles 1 50% Western Division Championship (1) Phoenix Racquets vs. (2) San Francisco Golden Gaters Date Match Result August 16 1 San Francisco Golden Gaters 32, PHOENIX RACQUETS 16Stove Dumps Evert in Gater Romp The Argus Fremont, California 13 August 17, 1976 August 17 2 SAN FRANCISCO GOLDEN GATERS 24, Phoenix Racquets 18 ** Series: San Francisco Golden Gaters 2, Phoenix Racquets 0 100% 25% 50% WTT Finals (1) New York Sets vs. (3) San Francisco Golden Gaters Date Match Result August 21 1 New York Sets 31, SAN FRANCISCO GOLDEN GATERS 23, overtimehttps://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1346&dat=19760822&id=aVZNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vfoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2425,5957369&hl=id King, Wade Lead Sets by Gaters August 22, 1976 Lakeland Ledger 9C July 10, 2016 August 23 2 New York Sets 29, SAN FRANCISCO GOLDEN GATERS 21, overtimeSets Spurt Early Herald Statesman Yonkers, New York 26 August 24, 1976 August 27 3 NEW YORK SETS 31, San Francisco Golden Gaters 13Sets Trounce Gaters to Win WTT Crown The San Bernardino County Sun 31 August 28, 1976 ** Series: New York Sets 3, San Francisco Golden Gaters 0 25% Of the total of 8 playoff matches, home teams won 5 and lost 3. The higher seeds had 3 wins and 1 loss in their 4 home matches. The higher seeds won 2 of the 3 matchups. Individual statistical leaders The table below shows the individual players and doubles teams who had the best winning percentages in each of the five events in WTT. Event Player(s) Team Men's singles Sandy Mayer New York Sets Women's singles Chris Evert Phoenix Racquets Men's doubles Frew McMillan and Tom Okker San Francisco Golden Gaters Women's doubles Françoise Dürr and Betty Stöve San Francisco Golden Gaters Mixed doubles Ann Kiyomura and Ray Ruffels Indiana Loves Individual honors Reference:WTT Picks Fred Stolle Top Coach Daily Freeman Kingston, New York 21 October 28, 1976 Award Recipient Team Male Most Valuable Player Sandy Mayer New York Sets Female Most Valuable Player Chris Evert Phoenix Racquets Male All-Star Match Most Valuable Player Tom Okker San Francisco Golden Gaters Female All-Star Match Most Valuable Player Dianne Fromholtz Los Angeles Strings Male Rookie of the Year Rod Laver San Diego Friars Female Rookie of the Year Chris Evert Phoenix Racquets Coach of the Year Fred Stolle New York Sets Male Playoffs Most Valuable Player Sandy Mayer New York Sets Female Playoffs Most Valuable Player Billie Jean King New York Sets All-Star Classic The 1976 WTT All-Star Classic was played on July 10, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena in Oakland, California. The West overcame a 21–17 deficit after four sets when Betty Stöve and Dianne Fromholtz beat Martina Navratilova and Virginia Wade in a tiebreaker and then proceeded to win three consecutive overtime games to send the match to a super tiebreaker. A crowd of 12,581 fans watched both teams make substitutions for the super tiebreaker. Chris Evert entered for Fromholtz, while Billie Jean King and Evonne Goolagong replaced Wade and Navratilova. Evert forced Goolagong into an error to seal the West victory.https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2457&dat=19760712&id=uc48AAAAIBAJ&sjid=My4MAAAAIBAJ&pg=2168,3711943&hl=id Goolagong Outlasts Evert to Give West Star Verdict Bangor Daily News 30 July 10, 2016 See also Tennis 1976 WTA Tour 1976 Men's Grand Prix circuit References External links Official WTT website World Team season World Team Tennis season Category:World TeamTennis seasons