The 2015 World TeamTennis season included seven teams split into two conferences (Eastern and Western). The Eastern Conference had three teams, and the Western Conference had four teams. Each team played a 14-match regular-season schedule with seven home and seven away matches. The top two teams in each conference qualified for the conference championship matches hosted by the first-place finishers. The conference champions met in the World TeamTennis Final hosted in 2015, by the Eastern Conference champion. A Western Conference champion that is a higher seed than an Eastern Conference champion would be treated as the "home" team in the WTT Final and have the right to determine order of play. The winner of the WTT Final was awarded the King Trophy.
Unlike previous seasons in which WTT conducted its MarqueePlayerDraft and its Roster Player Draft on different dates about one month apart, the league conducted a single draft at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California on March 16, 2015.[3] The order in which teams selected was based on the results the teams achieved in 2014, with weaker teams selecting earlier and stronger teams selecting later. The team with the worst regular-season record selected first in each round, and the remaining nonplayoff teams followed in order based on their records. After the nonplayoff teams chose, the conference championship loser with the worse record of the two selected and was followed by the other conference championship loser. The WTT runner up selected after the conference championship losers, and the WTT champion selected last. The draft position for the relocated California Dream franchise was based on the results achieved as the Texas Wild.[4] Each team could protect certain players from its 2014 roster. Marquee players or doubles teams and wildcard players could be protected if they appeared in a match for the team in 2014. Exempt, roster and substitute players who appeared in at least three matches for the team in 2014, could also be protected.[5] Teams could also protect players who qualified for protection based on match appearances in 2013, but were unable to play in 2014, due to injury.[6] Teams holding the right to protect players could trade those rights before or during the draft.[7] In another change from previous seasons, WTT eliminated its separate roster-exempt player draft. Instead, roster-exempt players were chosen in the roster player portion of the draft.[8] Since roster-exempt players are not required to be full-time members of the team, the rule change makes it possible for a team to make four selections in the roster player portion of the 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 player draft until they have a complete roster.[9] The selections made[3] are shown in the tables below.
^The Springfield Lasers and Washington Kastles each drafted one exempt player during the first four rounds of the roster draft and could have selected another player in the fifth round.
March 16, 2015: WTT conducted its 2015 player draft.[3]
Regular season
July 13, 2015: After opening the season with a loss on the road, the California Dream played its inaugural match at the new Dream Stadium at Sunrise Mall and defeated the Springfield Lasers, 23–18. Tennys Sandgren won the opening set of men's singles for the Dream in a tiebreaker. Jarmila Gajdošová and Anabel Medina Garrigues followed with a 5–2 set win in women's doubles to give the Dream a 10–6 lead. Anabel Medina Garrigues teamed with Neal Skupski in mixed doubles for another 5–2 set win to put the Dream was on top, 15–8. After Gajdošová lost the women's singles set in a tiebreaker, the Lasers took the final set of men's doubles, 5–3, to cut the Dream's lead to 22–18 and send the match to extended play. Sandgren and Skupski won the first game of extended play to secure the victory.[10]
July 24, 2015: The Washington Kastles earned a 22–14 road win over the Austin Aces, who entered the match with 8 wins and only 1 loss. The victory improved the Kastles' record to 7 wins and 3 losses and clinched their fifth consecutive playoff berth. The Kastles won four of the five sets in the convincing performance. Martina Hingis led the way, teaming with Leander Paes in the first set of mixed doubles and Anastasia Rodionova in the second set of women's doubles to give the Kastles an early 10–4 lead. Paes and Sam Querrey took the fourth set of men's doubles to extend the lead to 17–11, before Querrey took the final set of men's singles, 5–3, over Teymuraz Gabashvili to close out the match.[11]
July 25, 2015: With a record of 3 wins and 7 losses, the Springfield Lasers were eliminated from WTT playoff contention when the California Dream defeated the Boston Lobsters, 21–19, in extended play. The Lobsters' loss also clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference and home-court advantage for the Eastern Conference Championship Match for the Washington Kastles.[12]
July 26, 2015: With a record of 9 wins and 2 losses, the Austin Aces clinched the franchise's first playoff berth since 2012, with a 25–8 victory over the San Diego Aviators.[13]
July 26, 2015: With a record of 8 wins and 4 losses, the California Dream clinched a playoff berth with a 22–16 win over the Philadelphia Freedoms.[14] It is the first playoff berth for the franchise since 2013. The Dream's victory eliminated the San Diego Aviators, who had a record of 4 wins and 7 losses, from WTT playoff contention.
July 27, 2015: With a record of 9 wins and 2 losses, the Austin Aces clinched the top seed in the Western Conference and home-court advantage for the Western Conference Championship Match when the Washington Kastles defeated the California Dream, 19–17.[15]
July 28, 2015: The Austin Aces defeated the four-time defending WTT champion Washington Kastles, 19–16, to improve their record to 11 wins and 2 losses and clinch the best overall regular-season record in WTT for 2015. Trailing 10–7 after two sets, Teymuraz Gabashvili gave the Aces a 12–10 lead with a 5–0 set win over Sam Querrey in men's singles. After dropping the fourth set of mixed doubles, the Aces found themselves trailing, 15–14, heading into the final set of women's singles. Elina Svitolina, making her Aces home debut, topped Madison Brengle, 5–1, to give the Aces the victory.[16]
July 29, 2015: With an opportunity to clinch the final available playoff spot on the final day of the regular season, the Boston Lobsters fell to the Washington Kastles, 22–14, clinching a playoff berth for the idle Philadelphia Freedoms.[17] Since the Freedoms and Lobsters finished the regular season with identical 5–9 records, the WTT standings tiebreaker system was used to break the tie. The teams split their four regular-season meetings. So, the tie was broken by comparing games won in head-to-head matches, which favored the Freedoms, 78–71. The biggest contribution to this margin was made by the Freedoms' 24–14 road victory over the Lobsters on July 22.
July 30, 2015: In the first-ever playoff match for both the Austin Aces and the California Dream since the relocations of their franchises from Orange County and Texas, respectively, the Aces won all five sets and posted a 25–14 victory. Teymuraz Gabashvili and Alla Kudryavtseva opened the match with a 5–2 set win in mixed doubles. Kudryavtseva and Elina Svitolina followed by taking the women's doubles, 5–3. Gabashvili and Jarmere Jenkins were pushed to a tiebreaker by Neal Skupski and amateur Tennys Sandgren. Svitolina handled Jarmila Gajdošová, 5–1, in the women's singles. Gabashvili closed out the match by taking a men's singles tiebreaker from Sandgren.[19]
August 2, 2015: The Washington Kastles won their fifth straight King Trophy as WTT champions with a 24–18 victory over the Austin Aces in extended play. The Kastles won the first four sets led by Martina Hingis and WTT Final Most Valuable Player Leander Paes who opened the match with a 5–2 set win in mixed doubles. Hingis and Anastasia Rodionova followed by taking the women's doubles set in a tiebreaker. Paes teamed up with Sam Querrey for a 5–3 triumph in men's doubles. Querrey won a tiebreaker against WTT Male Most Valuable Player Teymuraz Gabashvili in the men's singles set. Elina Svitolina topped Madison Brengle, 5–3, in women's singles to send the match to extended play with the Kastles leading, 23–18. Brengle secured the victory by breaking Svitolina in the first game of extended play.[20]
Philadelphia and Boston split their head-to-head meetings during the regular season, 2 matches each. Philadelphia wins the tiebreaker on games won in head-to-head meetings, 78–71.
Men's Doubles: Leander Paes and Sam Querrey (Kastles) def. Teymuraz Gabashvili and Jarmere Jenkins (Aces), 5–3
Men's Singles: Sam Querrey (Kastles) def. Teymuraz Gabashvili (Aces), 5–4
Women's Singles: Elina Svitolina (Aces) def. Madison Brengle (Kastles), 5–3
Extended Play – Women's Singles: Madison Brengle (Kastles) def. Elina Svitolina (Aces), 1–0
Note:
^Prior to the start of the season, WTT determined that the World TeamTennis Championship Match would be played on the home court of the Eastern Conference champion. Austin, as the higher seed, was treated as the "home" team under WTT rules for determining order of play.
Individual statistical leaders
The tables below show the WTT players who had the highest regular-season winning percentages in each of the league's five events. Only players who played in at least 40% of the total number of games played by their team in a particular event are eligible to be listed among the official WTT league leaders for that event.[21]
^Tim Smyczek's statistics are not included in the team totals shown on WTT's website. The Boston Lobsters' men's singles and men's doubles statistics shown in this section have been corrected to include Smyczek as described in the article about the 2015 Lobsters season.
Television
The 2015 season was the second year of a four-year television rights contract between WTT and ESPN, Inc. The WTT Final was telecastlive on ESPN2. ESPN3streamed the conference championship matches along with one match each night during the regular season.[23]
In a June 2, 2015 press release, WTT announced that the WTT Final would start at 11:30 amEDT on August 2, and would be streamed from the start by ESPN3. Live television coverage would begin on ESPN2 at 1:00 pm with the match already in progress. The start times for the conference championship matches would be 7:00 pm local time on Thursday July 30.[24]
Nationally televised matches were also streamed on ESPN3. In addition to the televised ones, the following regular-season matches were streamed exclusively on ESPN3:
7:00 pm PDT, Monday, July 13: Philadelphia Freedoms at San Diego Aviators
7:00 pm EDT, Tuesday, July 14: Austin Aces at Washington Kastles
7:00 pm EDT, Monday, July 20: Washington Kastles at Philadelphia Freedoms
7:00 pm CDT, Saturday, July 25: San Diego Aviators at Springfield Lasers
8:00 pm EDT, Sunday, July 26: California Dream at Philadelphia Freedoms
7:00 pm EDT, Monday, July 27: Philadelphia Freedoms at Boston Lobsters
7:00 pm PDT, Tuesday, July 28: Springfield Lasers at San Diego Aviators
7:00 pm EDT, Wednesday, July 29: Boston Lobsters at Washington Kastles[24]
Sponsorship
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 will continue to sponsor events at which children meet with WTT players and are 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.[25]
Eugenie Bouchard
Teymuraz Gabashvili (Male MVP) (Austin)
Anabel Medina Garrigues (Female co-MVP) (California)
Anastasia Rodionova (Female co-MVP) (Washington)
Leander Paes (Washington)
