Breakers to return to Palisades
The Orange County Breakers of World Team Tennis will play their home matches this summer at Palisades Tennis Club, the franchise announced Tuesday.
The Breakers previously played at Newport Beach-based Palisades from 2003-2006. Last season, they played at Newport Beach Tennis Club.
“We are very excited to once again team up with Palisades and bring the Breakers back to their first-ever home,” Breakers General Manager Allen Hardison said in a release. “Club owner Ken Stuart and his staff are very familiar with our product and we have no doubt that this first-class venue will provide our fans with a perfect environment to witness the best that professional team tennis has to offer.”
The Breakers will construct the stadium on top of the existing stadium court at Palisades, and will also add additional seating, a booth row for concessions and sponsors, video boards, on-court signage and the famous World Team Tennis multi-colored playing surface. Among the amenities is chair back seating for all ticket holders.
The Breakers’ inaugural World Team Tennis season was played at Palisades in 2003, and the team won its only league title in 2004 there while boasting players like Maria Sharapova, Pete Sampras and Lindsay Davenport.
“Our club has a great history with the Breakers and is no stranger to hosting large-scale professional tennis events,” Stuart said in the release. “Palisades will offer Breakers fans one of the best settings to watch a WTT match, and we are certainly looking forward to having our club members and the Orange County tennis community here this summer.”
The Breakers, returning after two seasons in Austin, Texas, finished the regular season 8-4 in 2016. Led by WTT Female MVP Nicole Gibbs, they advanced to the league championship match before falling to the San Diego Aviators, 25-14.
The 2017 season begins July 16 and concludes on Aug. 2. During that span, the Breakers will play 14 regular-season matches, with seven at home and seven on the road. The top two teams in the league will then square off in the WTT finals at the home venue of the highest seeded team.
Season ticket information will be released in the coming weeks. The Breakers will set their 2017 team roster at the WTT Player Draft on March 14 in Indian Wells. For more information on the Breakers and the upcoming WTT season, visit www.BreakersTennis.com or call (949) 434-4560.
— From staff reports