Tennis finals coming

The Palisades Tennis Club has given fans an intimate setting at which to watch the Newport Beach Breakers and World Team Tennis.

Now that intimate setting has given Newport Beach the 2006 World Team Tennis Finals. The league selected the Breakers as the host for its championship, to be held July 29-30.

The Breakers are also guaranteed a playoff spot. If Newport Beach is not one of the top two teams in the Western Conference then the Breakers will be pitted against the No. 4 seed in a wild-card match.

“[The Palisades] is a great facility,” said Rosie Crews of GEM, which handles promotions and public relations for the WTT. “The biggest thing about the WTT is you want that intimate environment.”

Also playing a part in the decision made at the owners meetings Feb. 15-16 was the Breakers’ success ? winning the championship in 2004 and reaching the finals in 2005 ? and that Newport Beach has yet to host the finals in the four-year existence of the Breakers.

Newport Beach edged out two other teams for the hosting rights.

The Breakers will also be the beneficiaries of a pair of schedule changes. No longer will there be a large break, nearly two months last season, between the end of the regular season and the four-team playoffs.

This season, the playoffs will begin three days following the regular season. A wild-card match, if necessary, would be played a day after the regular season.

“With the large break, there was a loss of momentum for players and fans,” Crews said. “Now players and fans will be able to hold on to that momentum.”

The Breakers will also benefit from the semifinals and finals being played on Saturday and Sunday respectively, instead of Friday and Saturday like seasons past.

Jenna Silverman, general manager of marketing and operations, said the weekend play will be a boost to fans.

“It allows our fans to be a little more relaxed,” Silverman said. “They don’t have to rush home from work. They can enjoy the experience and make an evening of it.”

There has also been a change in the format of the semifinals. No longer will the semifinals be an in-conference matchup. This season all four teams will be reseeded with No. 1 playing No. 4 and Nos. 2 and 3 squaring off.

“It will add a lot of parity,” Crews said. “There will be no argument about who the best team is.”

Silverman said the choice of Newport Beach should be a source of pride for the city.

“For the fans, they should be proud of that,” Silverman said. “It’s great for us and the team. It brings the four best teams to our city and your team gets to compete against them.”

The Breakers currently hold the No. 11 spot in the March 28 draft, which will include Pete Sampras ? who’s making his first appearance in World Team Tennis.