Anyone Played World Team Tennis?

[Cindysphinx]

I was invited to join a WTT team. I know nothing about this. I guess matches are Wednesday evenings, and levels are 3.0-4.0 on this team. You get to do substitutions in the middle of matches, and they play doubles and singles.

Has anyone does this? Is it fun? Will it help me improve? Any pitfalls I should know about?

[flash9]

If you get in with the right group it can be a lot of fun. We had a team made or of four married couples, and we had a lot of fun. We finally decided it was taking too much time and switched to just a regular USTA 7.0 Mixed doubles team. This takes about two hours, vs up to four hours for the WTT.

We call World Team Tennis - Tag Team Tennis, since you can switch out players mid game. You could even witch someone between first and second serve!

Also, there are no let serves. In doubles either player can go and play a let serve. I actually did this once. Shocked the He(( out of the girl on the other side of the net when her partners serve hit the net and popped up high bounced a couple feet into the service box and I come running up and backhand it down the line!
NOTE: She knew that let servers were played, but was unaware that either player can play them and the serve was to my partner.

[volleyman]

If you've got a good group of folks, WTT can be relaxed and fun. The rules differences were enough for me that I couldn't take it seriously, so I was able to relax and play well and enjoy the company.

Now, another WTT league I heard about was not so much fun - lots of complaints about sandbaggers and angry folks.

Will it help you improve? Well, you'll get a lot of pressure situations, so you'll get lots of chances to work on your game in do-or-die circumstances.

[randomname]

we play it for college club tennis and its alot of fun, but we only play in tournament format, I'm not sure how much I would like a league (unless teams were just 2 guys and 2 girls) because that would hardly be much play time

[tfm1973]

i've played two seasons of WTT. it's a fun format. in a way i think this might be the best way to introduce people to organized tennis because it's much more relaxed and much more social. i think usta leagues are well run and organized but the social aspect is sorely lacking.

with WTT i remember showing up before weekly matches and warming up with people from other teams. you have captains and order of play and some interesting rules -- but i enjoyed the general feeling of "we are here to have fun and play tennis more than we are here to count wins and losses".

on the negative - if you're into the thrill of competition, it is sometimes lacking. you don't always get a good matchup in singles or doubles or mixed doubles because of the range of players. for example 3.0 to 4.0 covers a very large range of players.

oh and lastly i thought WTT attracted a younger group of players. if adult league USTA is mostly 30-50 year olds -- i thought WTT skewed younger to more 20-40 year olds. again just my opinion and my observation.

[flash9]

Originally Posted by tfm1973

oh and lastly i thought WTT attracted a younger group of players. if adult league USTA is mostly 30-50 year olds -- i thought WTT skewed younger to more 20-40 year olds. again just my opinion and my observation.

In Raleigh, NC I would have to disagree. Here is attracts a lot of 45-65 year old players. These players children are old enough to be independent if not already in college, so long evenings are not an issue for them.

[tfm1973]

flash9 -- lol. that's a pretty old group. they should call it GTT -- Geriatric Team Tennis.

so only senior citizens play tennis in raleigh? or do the younger ones play USTA?

[Cindysphinx]

Yeah, I am very concerned about the long evenings away from the kids . . . .

The other thing that is interesting is the social part. I hear people bring coolers full of beer. But . . . I don't like to drink anything before I drive if I can help it, so maybe I am entirely too fuddy-duddy for these whippersnappers.

[flash9]

Originally Posted by tfm1973

flash9 -- lol. that's a pretty old group. they should call it GTT -- Geriatric Team Tennis.

so only senior citizens play tennis in raleigh? or do the younger ones play USTA?

Honestly, I would say that USTA players in the Raleigh leagues range from mid-20's up to mid-60's. Many players will play on Men's or Women's teams, and if they are over 50 they will also play on a Seniors team as well. For the most part, the players over 50 typically play doubles and the younger players play the singles matches. For the Senior leagues all they need is three courts of doubles. Amazing to me there are really no Supper Senior teams, even though there are some really good over 60 year old players!

Do not get me wrong there are some younger players that do play WTT, but for many mid-20's to mid-30's aged players, they have younger children at home and WTT is a major commitment for a long evening and a lot of the teams have 4-5 players of each sex, so in the end you might only play a few games, but since it is a team event, you need to be there in case you are needed.

It can be a lot of fun, and yes we did way to much drinking even while playing WTT!

[volleyman]

Originally Posted by Cindysphinx

But . . . I don't like to drink anything before I drive if I can help it, so maybe I am entirely too fuddy-duddy for these whippersnappers.

Surely one beer isn't too much?

Disclaimer: The above assumes that the one beer in question isn't a Dogfish Head 90 Minute Imperial IPA (heaven) or other beer above 6% abv.

[VERRIC]

I just finish my matches at the national qualifiers in Las Wages (Vegas). Very interesting. The sandbagging was worst than USTA play. Where else can you play players with rating as high as 5.5 in a 3.5 or or 4.0 level.