Team Tennis Back in San Diego After One-Year Layoff

If Team Tennis is to be successful, there is no room for owners such as George Steinbrenner and Ted Turner.

So said commissioner Billie Jean King, a self-acclaimed idealist who believes yet another summer alternative to tournament tennis can make it.

That is, if the owners stick together and work as a team.

“George, you’re really great,” King said, “but we can’t afford you.”

She’s right. The $400,000 total prize money for the eight teams is probably less than most of the Yankee benchwarmers earn.

Team Tennis will operate on an incentive program for the players, whereby there are no salaries. Players will earn anywhere from $2,500 to $60,000 depending on how many games they win.

“There is total incentive for players to win games,” King said while in San Diego on Monday. “You cannot stay on budget with salaries. We’re not going to see any owner losing millions in a year. Not like the USFL.”

The eight-team Team Tennis league, which has an unnamed team in San Diego, will play a 14-match season from July 10 through August 13. Six teams will qualify for the playoffs.

San Diego will play host to the Miami Beach Breakers in its season opener on July 10, the Boston Bays on July 11 and the Los Angeles Strings on July 13.

Team tennis consists of five sets. There are men’s and women’s singles and doubles and mixed doubles. No-advantage points at 3-3 determine game winners, and nine-point tiebreakers are played at five games apiece. Each game counts as one point in a team’s cumulative score.

The team tennis concept returns to San Diego after a one-year hiatus. Last summer, so as not to conflict with the Olympics Games, a one-week Team Tennis tournament was played at the Forum in Los Angeles. That was the season.

This year’s San Diego team, which might bring back the name “Friars,” is owned by Maury Ornest, the son of Harry and Ruth Ornest, who own the St. Louis Blues and the St. Louis entry in Team Tennis.

Ornest has gone along with the league’s concept of drafting local players to attract interest in the community.

King knows her league will not attract many well-known players, and stresses that teams draft young local players who will gain from the free coaching, and will be happy to make whatever they can in return for free air fare and housing.

“We’re not counting on top players,” King said. “I was there once. I understand it. We’re selling a concept.”

Coach Larry Willens’ San Diego team consists of Mary Lou Piatek, Butch Walts, Todd Nelson and Robin White.

Walts and Piatek formerly played for the San Diego Friars, Nelson played at Mount Carmel High and Grossmont College, and White was born in San Diego.

The team will play its seven home matches at Morley Field in Balboa Park. Harry Ornest said the San Diego franchise needs to average 1,500 to 2,000 fans to make money. Tickets cost $7.50 for courtside, $10 for baseline and $15 for box seats.

There are also teams in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland, San Antonio, St. Louis and Miami Beach.