Tennis: Breakers back, seeking title

Just down Eastbluff Drive from where he went to high school, Allen Hardison has the chance to run a World Team Tennis franchise.

Hardison is the general manager of the Orange County Breakers, who are calling Newport Beach Tennis Club home this summer. And Hardison, a Corona del Mar High alumnus who was a football kicker at UNLV and Nevada, believes the Breakers have what it takes to win the league championship and King Trophy this year.

That journey starts Sunday, when the team opens the WTT season at the San Diego Aviators. The home opener is Monday night, when the Breakers again take on the Aviators at 7 p.m. Former Orange High and USC standout Steve Johnson, who was a roster player for the Breakers in 2013, will make his only appearance for the team on Monday as a marquee player.

Marquee is the way that Hardison, 27, would describe the Breakers’ talents this season after advancing to the WTT title match last season as the Austin Aces, which is the re-branding the team undertook for two years after leaving Orange County for Austin, Texas in November, 2013. Hardison also was the Aces’ GM in 2015.

Hardison said the Aces had trouble securing venues in Austin, where it was too hot to play outside. Moving back to Newport Beach made sense, as Breakers Coach Rick Leach is a professional at Newport Beach Tennis Club and club owner Steve Joyce was interested in having the team back.

Nicole Gibbs and 2015 WTT Rookie of the Year Alla Kudryavtseva return to the team from last year as it becomes the Breakers again. The two men who will compete for Orange County are former UCLA standout Dennis Novikov and Irvine resident Scott Lipsky.

The Breakers have won just one WTT title in franchise history, in 2004. Last year, the Aces lost to Washington, 24-18, in the title match.

“On paper, I think it might be the best [team],” Hardison said Thursday from Newport Beach Tennis Club, where the finishing touches were being put on the 1,000-capacity Breakers Stadium in preparation for Monday night’s home opener. “It’s hard to say that when Washington has won five straight championships, but [the Kastles] are getting roped a little bit by the Olympics this year. I know [Martina] Hingis is going to the Olympics, [Leander] Paes is going to the Olympics ... I think we really have a great shot to win the title this year. I know everybody is probably saying that this time of year, but it’s such a good team. They’re such great people, such great players, and I know all the fans will love it.”

Indeed, with the Olympics come a condensed WTT schedule. There are 12 total matches this year, down from 14 in past seasons. And the Western and Eastern Conferences have been eliminated, so the six teams will simply have to finish top two during the regular season to automatically advance to the championship match, scheduled for Aug. 26 in New York.

The Breakers’ home schedule is front-loaded, with the other five matches Wednesday against San Diego, Friday against Washington, Saturday against New York, Aug. 7 against Philadelphia and Aug. 9 against Springfield. Mardy Fish will be a marquee player for the Kastles in Friday night’s match.

The Breakers then hit the road for their final three matches of the regular season.

Former Breakers Coach Trevor Kronemann often stressed the importance of the females in a WTT lineup, and Hardison believes this year’s team has two of the best in Gibbs and Kudryavtseva. Gibbs, 23, is a former Stanford standout and emerging singles player on the tour. She’s ranked No. 68 in the world.

“She has a big following, so that was big to try to get her back,” Hardison said of Gibbs, who lives in Santa Monica. “She’s very interactive with the fans and she won’t back down from anybody.”

Kudryavtseva, 28, will stand out in both women’s and mixed doubles, Hardison said.

“I might be biased, but [Kudryavtseva] is really a heck of a player,” Hardison said. “Great energy, and she really thrives in this format with a good crowd. She’s a really good mixed doubles player as well. She’s not afraid of playing with the guys, so that’s a huge help.”

Earlier this month, Kudryavtseva teamed with Lipsky to make the Wimbledon quarterfinals in mixed doubles.

Novikov, 22, is making his World Team Tennis debut. He’s ranked No. 131 in the world and reached his career-high ranking of 128 just three weeks ago. Novikov, who stands 6-foot-4, is known for his big serve.

“Not a whole lot of people know about him yet, but they will soon,” Hardison said. “I think he’s probably going to be a top-50 guy in the next couple of years ... and he’s a great doubles player. Great hands, very strong serve. Both of our singles players are really good doubles players.”

Novikov agreed with that sentiment and said he just wants to help out the team.

“I don’t play as much doubles as I do singles, just because I’ve been playing a lot of ATP tournaments this year and I can’t get into doubles in those tournaments just yet,” Novikov said. “But I feel like my singles game and my doubles game actually aren’t really too far apart, and I play very well in both. I’m looking forward to being able to play both, compete and hopefully win both.”

Lipsky, 34, has a couple of local connections as he not only lives in Irvine, but he has Leach as his coach on tour and calls Newport Beach Tennis Club his home club. Lipsky is ranked No. 40 in the world in doubles and won the French Open mixed doubles in 2011 with partner Casey Dellacqua.

Hardison hopes it all adds up to a title, but at the least it will add up to professional tennis being back in Newport Beach for tennis-hungry locals.

“Ever since the team left, it was a goal of mine to bring the team back and try to run it back here in Orange County,” Hardison said. “We tried to draft a local team once again, and ticket sales are starting to show that we made the right move.”