The entire 2020 World Team Tennis season will be played at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
The 2020 season will showcase a 63-match regular season over 19 consecutive days from July 12-30, with the WTT Playoffs to follow. The semifinals will be held on August 1 with the finals taking place on August 2. The top four teams from WTT’s single-division standings will advance to the WTT Playoffs.
Three matches per day will be played at Center Court at Creekside, The Greenbrier’s state-of-the-art 2,500-seat outdoor stadium. An indoor court will be used in case of inclement weather.
The matches are scheduled for 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 7 p.m. each day. All of WTT’s 2020 regular season and playoff matches will be televised or live-streamed on media partners CBS, CBS Sports Network, Tennis Channel, ESPN+ and/or WTT.com, the league’s official website.
Founded in 1974 with Billie Jean King as a co-founder, WTT is one of five active professional sports leagues in the United States that have been in operation for more than 40 years. It joins the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB with that distinction. The league includes nine franchises: the expansion Chicago Smash, the New York Empire, the Orange County (Calif.) Breakers, the Orlando Storm, the Philadelphia Freedoms, the San Diego Aviators, the 2018 and 2019 WTT champion Springfield (Mo.) Lasers, the Vegas Rollers and the Washington (D.C.) Kastles.
“We are thrilled to welcome World Team Tennis to The Greenbrier and honored it chose our incredible facilities to host its 2020 season,” said Dr. Jill Justice, President of The Greenbrier. “America’s Resort has a rich tennis history, and we’re proud to add another chapter with another organization that is blessed with a storied history, World Team Tennis.”
“All of us at World Team Tennis are extremely grateful to be able to play the 45th World Team Tennis season and present professional tennis to our sports-starved and tennis-starved audiences through our media partners at CBS Sports, ESPN and Tennis Channel,” WTT CEO Carlos Silva said. “The overwhelming feedback from our players is that they want to play WTT and are comfortable in doing so in a safe environment, which is our number one priority. West Virginia has among the nation’s fewest cases of COVID-19, and I’m grateful to The Greenbrier and the City of White Sulphur Springs, and Dr. Jill Justice for being so welcoming and allowing World Team Tennis to play on in 2020.”
World Team Tennis will follow the direction of local and state government officials in West Virginia while adhering to all health and safety protocols set forth by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and take every precaution to ensure the safety of its players, coaches and essential staff in executing the operation of its matches.
WTT will engage with its teams and league and venue personnel in conducting all necessary testing and screening for COVID-19, as well as outfitting all parties with the personal protective equipment (PPE) necessary to conduct its 2020 season matches while preserving the health and safety of everyone at The Greenbrier over the three-week season.
The WTT plans to allow up to 500 fans spread out over the 2,500-seat stadium to attend the outdoor matches. Ticketing information and the complete broadcast schedule will be released at a later date.