# 1976 World Team Tennis season

The 1976 World Team Tennis season was the third season of the top professional team tennis league in the United States. Led by regular season and playoff male most valuable player Sandy Mayer and female playoff most valuable player Billie Jean King, the New York Sets swept the San Francisco Golden Gaters in the WTT Finals to win the league championship.

## Competition format

The 1976 World Team Tennis season included 10 teams split into two divisions (Eastern and Western). Each team was scheduled to play a regular-season schedule of 44 matches.
The top two teams in each division qualified for the playoffs and met each other in the division championship series. The first-place team was given a choice of hosting either the first and third or second and third matches of the series. The division champions met in the best-of-five World Team Tennis Finals with the lower seed hosting the first two matches and the higher seed hosting the remaining matches.
Each match comprised one set each of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. Starting with this season, the order of play for the entire match was determined by the coach of the home team. Games were decided by the first player or doubles team to reach four points with no-ad scoring. Each set ended when one team had won either six or seven games and had an advantage over its opponent of at least two games. Sets that were tied 6–6 were decided by a tiebreaker. Set tiebreaker games were nine total points with the first player or doubles team to reach five the winner. An advantage of only one point was needed to win a tiebreaker game. Starting this season, if the team that won the final set was trailing in the match, the match went to overtime with the same players who participated in the final set remaining on the court. The leading team was required to win a game to end the match. If the match was tied at the end of five sets, or if the trailing team won enough games in overtime to tie the match, a super tiebreaker game was played between the players who participated in the final set using the same format as the set tiebreaker games.

## Player draft

WTT conducted its player draft for the 1976 season on December 11, 1975, at the Essex House in New York City. Teams made their selections in reverse order of their regular-season finish from the 1975 season. The players chosen in the first five rounds of the draft are listed in the tables below. The biggest news at the draft was the trade of the rights to Ilie Năstase by the New York Sets immediately after they used their third-round pick on him, to the Hawaii Leis. Năstase expressed interest in playing WTT but not in New York, because New York fans had widely criticized him for his on-court behavior and emotional outbursts. The Sets had previously agreed to allow the Leis to negotiate with Năstase with compensation going from Hawaii to New York if the Leis were to reach a deal with him. The Leis immediately announced that they had signed Năstase to a one-year contract worth in excess of $100,000. Leis owner Don Kelleher would not describe the amount with any more specificity than, "It was six figures." The Leis sent undisclosed cash consideration and future draft picks to the Sets to complete the deal.
| No. | Team | Player chosen |
| 1 | San Diego Friars | Linky Boshoff |
| 2 | Hawaii Leis | Erik van Dillen |
| 3 | Cleveland Nets | Arthur Ashe |
| 4 | Indiana Loves | Olga Morozova |
| 5 | Boston Lobsters | Mike Estep |
| 6 | Los Angeles Strings | Dianne Fromholtz |
| 7 | Phoenix Racquets | Rod Laver |
| 8 | San Francisco Golden Gaters | Raúl Ramírez |
| 9 | New York Sets | Julie Anthony |
| 10 | Pittsburgh Triangles | Guillermo Vilas |
| No. | Team | Player chosen |
| 1 | San Diego Friars | Nancy Gunter |
| 2 | Hawaii Leis | Billy Martin |
| 3 | Cleveland Nets | Björn Borg |
| 4 | Indiana Loves | Beth Norton |
| 5 | Boston Lobsters | Roscoe Tanner |
| 6 | Los Angeles Strings | Dick Stockton |
| 7 | Phoenix Racquets | Stan Smith |
| 8 | San Francisco Golden Gaters | Marcie Louie |
| 9 | New York Sets | Phil Dent |
| 10 | Pittsburgh Triangles | Dennis Ralston |
| No. | Team | Player chosen |
| 1 | San Diego Friars | Janice Metcalf |
| 2 | Hawaii Leis | Onny Parun |
| 3 | Cleveland Nets | Jimmy Connors |
| 4 | Indiana Loves | Barbara Jordan |
| 5 | Boston Lobsters | Pam Teeguarden |
| 6 | Los Angeles Strings | John Alexander |
| 7 | Phoenix Racquets | Colin Dibley |
| 8 | San Francisco Golden Gaters | Jeff Borowiak |
| 9 | New York Sets | Ilie Năstase |
| 10 | Pittsburgh Triangles | Marie Neumanová |
| No. | Team | Player chosen |
| 1 | San Diego Friars | Charlie Pasarell |
| 2 | Hawaii Leis | Zenda Liess |
| 3 | Cleveland Nets | Wojciech Fibak |
| 4 | Indiana Loves | Julie Heldman |
| 5 | Boston Lobsters | Janet Newberry |
| 6 | Los Angeles Strings | Sue Barker |
| 7 | Phoenix Racquets | Jeanne Evert |
| 8 | San Francisco Golden Gaters | Mima Jaušovec |
| 9 | New York Sets | Natasha Chmyreva |
| 10 | Pittsburgh Triangles | Lea Antonoplis |
| No. | Team | Player chosen |
| 1 | San Diego Friars | Kazuko Sawamatsu |
| 2 | Hawaii Leis | Manuel Orantes |
| 3 | Cleveland Nets | Valerie Ziegenfuss |
| 4 | Indiana Loves | Lele Forood |
| 5 | Boston Lobsters | Harold Solomon |
| 6 | Los Angeles Strings | Cynthia Doerner |
| 7 | Phoenix Racquets | Butch Walts |
| 8 | San Francisco Golden Gaters | Raquel Giscafré |
| 9 | New York Sets | Víctor Pecci |
| 10 | Pittsburgh Triangles | Brian Gottfried |

## Standings

Reference:
Eastern Division :
| Pos | Team | MP | W | L | PCT | MB |
| 1 | New York Sets | 43 | 33 | 10 | .767 | 0 |
| 2 | Pittsburgh Triangles | 44 | 24 | 20 | .545 | 9.5 |
| 3 | Cleveland Nets | 44 | 20 | 24 | .455 | 13.5 |
| 4 | Indiana Loves | 44 | 19 | 25 | .432 | 14.5 |
| 5 | Boston Lobsters | 43 | 18 | 25 | .419 | 15 |
* 1976 Eastern Division Playoffs
Western Division :
| Pos | Team | MP | W | L | PCT | MB |
| 1 | Phoenix Racquets | 44 | 30 | 14 | .682 | 0 |
| 2 | San Francisco Golden Gaters | 44 | 28 | 16 | .636 | 2 |
| 3 | Los Angeles Strings | 44 | 22 | 22 | .500 | 8 |
| 4 | San Diego Friars | 44 | 13 | 31 | .295 | 17 |
| 5 | Hawaii Leis | 44 | 12 | 32 | .273 | 18 |
* 1976 Western Division Playoffs

## Playoff bracket

Reference:
| Division Championships August 16–19 | Division Championships August 16–19 | Division Championships August 16–19 | WTT Finals August 21–27 | WTT Finals August 21–27 | WTT Finals August 21–27 |
| E1 | New York Sets | 2 | | | |
| E2 | Pittsburgh Triangles | 1 | | | |
| E2 | Pittsburgh Triangles | 1 | 1 | New York Sets | 3 |
| | | | 3 | San Francisco Golden Gaters | 0 |
| W1 | Phoenix Racquets | 0 | 3 | San Francisco Golden Gaters | 0 |
| W2 | San Francisco Golden Gaters | 2 | | | |

## Playoff match results

Reference:
* Home teams are in CAPS.
Of the total of 8 playoff matches, home teams won 5 and lost 3. The higher seeds had 3 wins and 1 loss in their 4 home matches. The higher seeds won 2 of the 3 matchups.

## Individual statistical leaders

The table below shows the individual players and doubles teams who had the best winning percentages in each of the five events in WTT.
| Event | Player(s) | Team |
| Men's singles | Sandy Mayer | New York Sets |
| Women's singles | Chris Evert | Phoenix Racquets |
| Men's doubles | Frew McMillan and Tom Okker | San Francisco Golden Gaters |
| Women's doubles | Françoise Dürr and Betty Stöve | San Francisco Golden Gaters |
| Mixed doubles | Ann Kiyomura and Ray Ruffels | Indiana Loves |

## Individual honors

Reference:
| Award | Recipient | Team |
| Male Most Valuable Player | Sandy Mayer | New York Sets |
| Female Most Valuable Player | Chris Evert | Phoenix Racquets |
| Male All-Star Match Most Valuable Player | Tom Okker | San Francisco Golden Gaters |
| Female All-Star Match Most Valuable Player | Dianne Fromholtz | Los Angeles Strings |
| Male Rookie of the Year | Rod Laver | San Diego Friars |
| Female Rookie of the Year | Chris Evert | Phoenix Racquets |
| Coach of the Year | Fred Stolle | New York Sets |
| Male Playoffs Most Valuable Player | Sandy Mayer | New York Sets |
| Female Playoffs Most Valuable Player | Billie Jean King | New York Sets |

## All-Star Classic

The 1976 WTT All-Star Classic was played on July 10, at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena in Oakland, California. The West overcame a 21–17 deficit after four sets when Betty Stöve and Dianne Fromholtz beat Martina Navratilova and Virginia Wade in a tiebreaker and then proceeded to win three consecutive overtime games to send the match to a super tiebreaker. A crowd of 12,581 fans watched both teams make substitutions for the super tiebreaker. Chris Evert entered for Fromholtz, while Billie Jean King and Evonne Goolagong replaced Wade and Navratilova. Evert forced Goolagong into an error to seal the West victory.