WTT Orange County Breakers

Tickets For 2010 Newport Beach Breakers Season On Sale Thursday, April 1

Published on March 31, 2010 under World TeamTennis (WTT)
Orange County Breakers News Release


NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., March 31, 2010 - Tickets, beginning at $10, go on sale Thursday for the 2010 Newport Beach Breakers' World TeamTennis Pro League season, July 6-22. The Breakers will begin the 35th WTT season in search of a second consecutive playoff berth and a WTT title.

Breakers fans who have attended matches in recent years will find famous familiarity on the court. Three-time Grand Slam champion and Manhattan Beach resident Maria Sharapova will be the Breakers' marquee player for a sixth season in her professional career. The 22-year-old Russian will make her lone Breakers appearance on July 20, when the Breakers host the Kansas City Explorers.

American tennis legend and iconic personality John McEnroe, a long-time member of the New York Sportimes, returns to Newport Beach for the regular season finale on July 22, and Laguna Beach resident Lindsay Davenport will compete against the Breakers in front of her Southern California fans as a member of the St. Louis Aces on July 15.

Breakers fans will experience a new atmosphere at Breakers Stadium as the venue moves to 1602 E. Pacific Coast Highway in Newport Beach for six of the Breakers' seven home matches. The new stadium will create a more intimate environment while sustaining the first-class entertainment Breakers fans have come to expect. The Breakers will host the Springfield Lasers July 21 at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Long Beach.

"The 2010 Breakers season will be thrilling as Breakers Stadium will allow our fans to watch some of the best tennis players in the world, past and present, play in a more intimate, energetic environment while enjoying the same conveniences they have become accustomed to receiving," Breakers executive director Jeff Purser said. "Our matches involving WTT's marquee players have typically sold out. As we move into a venue with a slightly smaller capacity, we expect a Breakers ticket to become an even hotter commodity."

Tickets (not including the Breakers-Springfield Lasers match on July 21) and team information can be obtained online at www.NewportBeachBreakers.com or by calling the ticket sales office at 714-352-6301. General admission season tickets ($115 each) and season club seat packages ($1,800; includes six padded seats per match) must be obtained by calling the ticket sales office at 714-352-6301.

General admission tickets for four of the Breakers' six home matches are sold as two-match packages. The "Maria Sharapova" package (good for the July 12 match vs. the Sacramento Capitals and the July 20 match vs. Kansas City, featuring Sharapova) and the "John McEnroe" package (good for the July 6 home opener vs. Sacramento and the July 22 season finale against McEnroe's New York Sportimes) are $45 each.

General admission tickets to the Breakers' July 15 match against the Davenport-led St. Louis Aces - "Ladies Night" - is $17.50. Tickets to the Breakers-Kansas City match on July 9 - "Junior Night" - are $10.

Aside from Sharapova, ranked No. 12 on the WTA Tour, the Breakers return the female components to their 2009 team in USTA Pro Circuit all-time win leader Julie Ditty and Canadian Marie-Eve Pelletier. Together in 2009, Ditty and Pelletier won seven of their 13 women's doubles sets. The Breakers will sport a new dynamic men's duo in Marina del Rey resident Lester Cook and Huntington Beach resident David Martin.

In 2009, the Breakers finished 9-5 in the Western Conference and reached the WTT Pro League semifinals last year before falling to Western Conference champion Springfield, 20-19, in a Supertiebreaker. The Breakers will play 14 matches under the guidance of Trevor Kronemann, who is coaching the team for the fourth consecutive season.

The Newport Beach Breakers gave a 16-year-old Sharapova an opportunity to make her name long before she made her splash on the world tennis scene and became the WTA Tour's glamour girl. Owner of 21 WTA Tour singles titles, she played for the Breakers from 2003-05, playing for the Breakers full-time in 2003 and contributing to their 2004 WTT Championship, and came back to the team in 2007.

Sharapova, the former World No. 1, 2004 Wimbledon champion, 2006 U.S. Open champ and 2008 Australian Open winner, made her WTT Pro League debut in 2002 with the Delaware Smash, becoming the WTT's youngest player in history at the time. Off the court, the 6-foot-2 blonde's image has been as impressive. Sharapova signed with IMG Models in 2003 and has been recognized as one of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People."

Sharapova's WTA Tour breakthrough came the same year she won the WTT title with the Breakers in 2004; she defeated Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final to become the lowest-seeded and second-youngest ladies Wimbledon singles champion in the Open Era, and the third-youngest of all time at 17 years, two months. At year's end, she won the WTA Tour Championship and was named the WTA Tour's Player of the Year and Most Improved Player of the Year. She became the World No. 1 in August 2005. She won five titles in 2006, matching her 2004 haul, highlighted by her triumph over Justine Henin in the U.S. Open final.

McEnroe, 51, claimed the world's No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles during his pro tour career. He won seven Grand Slam singles titles (three at Wimbledon and four at the U.S. Open), nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title during his career. This is the ninth year of WTT Pro League action for McEnroe, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999.

Davenport, 33, played for the Breakers in 2003 and 2008 and holds three Grand Slam singles titles (1998 U.S. Open, 1999 Wimbledon and 2000 Australian Open), a 1996 Olympic gold medal, 55 singles championships and 37 doubles titles on the WTA Tour. The former USC All-American is one of only four women since 1975 who was the year-end World No. 1 at least four times (1998, 2001, 2004, 2005).

Breakers fans can also congregate online and expand the team's fanbase through the team's official fan pages on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Newport-Beach-CA/Newport-Beach-Breakers/73887254402?ref=ts) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/nbbreakers). Register to become a fan or follower of the Breakers at each fan page and meet and chat with new friends and tennis fans and stay up to date on all team and player information.

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World TeamTennis Stories from March 31, 2010


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