The 2016

San Diego Aviators The San Diego Aviators are a World TeamTennis (WTT) team that plays at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California in the United States. The team is the successor to two WTT franchises. The first was created in 1995, as the New York O ...

season was the 22nd

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

of the

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

World TeamTennis World TeamTennis (WTT) is a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973. The league's season normally takes place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA take a ...

(WTT) and its third playing in San Diego County, California. Led by 2016 WTT Male Most Valuable Player,

Ryan Harrison Ryan Harrison (born May 7, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. Harrison has won one career ATP title in singles at the 2017 Memphis Open to go along with four in doubles, including the 2017 French Open. Before turning 16, Harriso ...

, and Coach of the Year John Lloyd, the Aviators had 8 wins and 4 losses, the best regular-season record in WTT. They went on to defeat the

Orange County Breakers The Orange County Breakers are a World TeamTennis (WTT) franchise founded in 2003, owned by Laguna Beach businessman Eric Davidson. The Breakers won the WTT Championship in 2004, 2017 and 2021. In 2014, the franchise moved to Greater Austin, Texas ...

, 25–14 in extended play, in the WTT Finals to win the King Trophy as WTT champions.

Raven Klaasen Raven Klaasen ( ; born 16 October 1982) is a South African professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 7 in August 2019, and has won 19 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, includi ...

was named WTT Finals Most Valuable Player. The league title was the third in franchise history and the first since moving to San Diego.

Season recap

Front-office changes

Jim Ault was named the new general manager and assistant head coach of the Aviators with Tamara Sarafijanovic as assistant general manager. Prior to the start of the 2016 season, Billy Berger's name no longer appeared on the team's website as CEO or minority

owner Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

New logo

On February 29, 2016, the Aviators started using a new

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...

on their website and Facebook page. The new logo retains the use of red and white that was featured in the 2015 logo.

Draft

James Blake, who played for the team as a wildcard in 2015, was assigned by WTT to Aviators as a designated player. He was selected with the Aviators' first pick in the

marquee player A marquee player is an athlete who is considered exceptionally popular, skilled, or otherwise outstanding, especially in professional sports. Its name comes from theater marquees, on which the names of the stars of productions in said theater ar ...

portion of the

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...

. The Aviators did not protect 2015 marquee player

Madison Keys Madison Keys (born February 17, 1995) is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 7 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), a ranking she first achieved in October 2016. Keys has played in one Grand Sla ...

, and they did not make a selection in the second round of the marquee player portion of the draft. In the roster portion of the draft, the Aviators protected

and

Darija Jurak Darija Jurak Schreiber (née Jurak; ; born 5 April 1984) is a Croatian professional tennis player. Her career-high doubles ranking is world No. 9, achieved on 15 November 2021. Her best WTA ranking in singles of 188 she reached in April 2004. ...

. They chose

Shelby Rogers Shelby Rogers (born October 13, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 30 in singles achieved August 2022 and No. 40 in doubles, achieved February 2022, and has won six singles and two doub ...

with their first-round selection, leaving 2015 amateur and winner of the 2015 US Open boys' singles title, but now turned

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

Taylor Fritz Taylor Harry Fritz (born October 28, 1997) is an American professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on October 10, 2022, and a doubles ranking of ...

unprotected. The protection of Jurak and the selection of Rogers also meant that the Aviators could not protect

Květa Peschke Květoslava Peschke (née Hrdličková; born 9 July 1975) is a Czech retired professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles. She reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 26 in November 2005, winning one WTA singles title ...

, the last remaining member of the team who played for the franchise when it was known as the

New York Sportimes The New York Sportimes were a professional tennis team competing in World TeamTennis (WTT). The team was originally based in eastern Long Island from 2000 to 2002, before moving to Westchester County, New York in 2003, and then to New York City in ...

, and

Chanelle Scheepers Chanelle Scheepers ( ; born 13 March 1984) is a retired South African tennis player. She won one singles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 12 singles and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit in her career. On 10 Octobe ...

. The Aviators chose Daniel Evans with their third-round selection in the roster player portion of the draft. They elected not to select a roster-exempt player in the fifth round.

Harrison replaces Evans

On July 8, 2016, Daniel Evans withdrew from WTT. On July 15, 2016, the Aviators announced the signing of

as a roster player to fill the spot created by Evans's departure.

A rivalry is born

The Aviators opened their season with a four-game series against the

, who were returning to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

after playing the previous two seasons as the

Austin Aces The Austin Aces were a World TeamTennis (WTT) team in Austin, Texas, USA. The team was known as the Newport Beach Breakers from 2003 until the 2011 season and as the Orange County Breakers during 2012 and 2013, before moving to Texas for the 2014 ...

. When the Breakers last called Orange County their home in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

, the Aviators had not yet moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and were known as the New York Sportimes. While the teams did not have any history as geographic

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

, the franchises did meet in the 2005 WTT Finals with the Sportimes earning the title with a 21–18 victory over the Newport Beach Breakers. The two franchises also boasted the best regular-season records in WTT over the past two seasons with the Aviators achieving the feat in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, and the Aces doing so in 2015. The Aviators hosted the opening match on July 31, 2016. After dropping the first two sets, including a loss by James Blake in the opening set of men's singles, the Aviators regrouped and won the next two sets of men's and women's doubles to tie the match at 15 all. It was Blake and

in the men's doubles set and

and

in women's doubles. The teams exchanged breaks in the final set of mixed doubles, before Jurak and Klaasen won the set tiebreaker, 5–2, to give the Aviators a 20–19 victory. The following evening, the Breakers hosted the Aviators in their first home match in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

since 2013. For the second straight match, the Breakers won the first two sets to take an early lead, and the Aviators responded with set wins in men's and women's doubles. Klaasen and

won the men's doubles, and Jurak and Rogers won the women's doubles. The Aviators faced a 17–16 deficit heading into the final set of men's singles. After the players each held serve in three of their four service games, Steve Johnson secured a 22–20 victory for the Breakers by winning a tiebreaker over Harrison. The teams returned to Carlsbad for the third match of their series on August 2, 2016. This time, the Aviators dominated play in the early part of the match. Harrison won the men's singles set, 5–2. Rogers followed with a 5–1 set win in women's singles. Harrison teamed with Klaasen for a 5–2 set win in men's doubles, and the Aviators had a 15–5 lead after three sets. After the Breakers won the fourth set of women's doubles to cut the lead to 18–10, they sent the match to extended play by winning a fifth-set tiebreaker in mixed doubles. However, the Aviators broke

Alla Kudryavtseva Alla Alexandrovna Kudryavtseva (; born 3 November 1987) is a retired Russian tennis player. Kudryavtseva won one singles title and nine doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as two singles titles and 15 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Cir ...

's serve in the first game of extended play to secure a 23–15 victory. The following evening in Orange County, the Breakers won the opening set of men's doubles, and the Aviators responded by winning the next three sets, two of them in tiebreakers, to take a 17–16 lead to the final set. Rogers and Harrison won the women's and men's singles, and Klaasen and Jurak followed with a set win in mixed doubles. However, Jurak and Rogers fell behind a break early in the fifth set of women's doubles and were unable to break back. The 5–2 set win gave the Breakers a 21–19 victory. The four matches in four nights ended in a split and had quickly developed the feel of a rivalry. "It definitely starts to get a little personal," said the Breakers'

Nicole Gibbs Nicole Gibbs (born March 3, 1993) is an American retired tennis player. She won seven singles and five doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 25 July 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 68. On 19 September 2016, she peaked at ...

. "Things got a little feisty tonight, so it was a good night to bring the cameras. We were getting in each other's faces, and there were some big 'Come ons'. Definitely some emotional moments."

Winning streak

Following the series with the Breakers, the Aviators opened a four-match homestand by hosting the expansion New York Empire on August 5, 2016.

won the opening set of men's singles in a tiebreaker and teamed with

for a 5–2 set win in the third set of men's doubles.

won the second set of women's singles in a tiebreaker. Klaasen teamed with

to take the final set of mixed doubles, 5–3, and seal a 24–18 victory. The following day, the Aviators signed

Ernests Gulbis Ernests Gulbis (, born 30 August 1988, nicknamed "Lord", "The Gull" or "Ernie") is a Latvian professional tennis player. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schütt ...

as a substitute player. Gulbis opened the Aviators' match that evening against the five-time defending WTT champion

Washington Kastles The Washington Kastles is one of eight franchises that compete in World TeamTennis. Based in Washington, D.C., since 2008, the Kastles won the WTT championship in the 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 seasons. The team is named for Kastle S ...

by taking the men's singles set, 5–2. He later paired with Klaasen for a 5–2 set win in the third set of men's doubles. Jurak teamed with Rogers to take the fourth set of women's doubles and with Klaasen to take the fifth set of mixed doubles, both by 5–3 scores, to give the Aviators a 21–15 win. The Aviators got off to a quick start the following evening as Harrison won the opening set of men's singles, Rogers won the second set of women's singles, and Harrison and Klaasen took the third set of men's doubles to build a 15–8 lead against the

Springfield Lasers The Springfield Lasers are a World TeamTennis franchise. The franchise was purchased and donated to the city of Springfield, Missouri by the Cooper family in 1996. They play their home matches at Cooper Tennis Complex, Mediacom Stadium at Cooper ...

. The Lasers battled back, winning the fourth set of women's doubles in a tiebreaker and the fifth set of mixed doubles, 5–2, to send the match to extended play with the Aviators leading, 21–18. After the Lasers held serve in the first game of extended play, Klaasen held serve to clinch a 22–19 Aviators victory. On August 8, 2016, the Aviators hosted the

Philadelphia Freedoms The Philadelphia Freedoms is a tennis team currently competing in World TeamTennis. Overview The team traces its origins to WTT's inaugural season, in 1974. The original team starred tennis legend and social pioneer Billie Jean King, who h ...

in their final home match of the season. Harrison won the opening set of men's singles and teamed with Klaasen to take the third set of men's doubles. Rogers posted a 5–0 set win in the second set of women's singles. After the Freedoms won the fourth and fifth sets, Klaasen, playing mixed doubles with Jurak, held serve in the opening game of extended play to secure a 23–15 win and a perfect home record of 6 wins and 0 losses. The Aviators opened their season-ending four-match road trip against the Kastles. Rogers won the second set of women's singles, 5–3, over

Madison Brengle Madison Brengle (born April 3, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. Her biggest success she had in early 2015, reaching her first WTA Tour final in January, followed by a fourth round major event appearance at the Australian Open. ...

and then teamed with Jurak to win a tiebreaker in the fourth set of women's doubles that gave the Aviators an 18–17 lead. Harrison won the final set of men's singles, 5–3, to seal a 23–20 victory, the fifth straight for the Aviators, and improve the team's record to 7 wins and 2 losses.

WTT Finals berth

After a loss to the

, the Aviators headed to Forest Hills Stadium for their first match in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

since July 23, 2013, when they were the home team playing as the New York Sportimes. Players appearing in that 23–15 overtime loss to the

for the Sportimes were

Anna-Lena Grönefeld Anna-Lena Grönefeld (also spelled Groenefeld; born 4 June 1985) is a German former professional tennis player. Competing as a professional from 2003 until 2019, she won one singles title on the WTA Tour, at the 2006 Mexican Open, and reached t ...

Robert Kendrick Robert Bradley Kendrick (born November 15, 1979) is an American retired professional tennis player. He turned professional in 2000. His career-high singles ranking is World No. 69, achieved in July 2009. Early life Robert Kendrick was born to ...

and Jesse Witten. But on August 12, 2016, the Aviators would be the road team facing the New York Empire. The Aviators won four of the five sets led by

who won the opening set of men's singles and teamed with

to close out the match in the final set of men's doubles.

paired with Klaasen to win the third set of mixed doubles and with

to win the fourth set of women's doubles. The 24–16 victory gave the Aviators 8 wins and 3 losses and clinched their berth in the WTT Finals. It was the first Finals appearance for the franchise since 2010, when they lost playing as the New York Sportimes and the first postseason appearance for the Aviators since

. On August 13, 2016, the Aviators signed Nick Monroe as a substitute player to fill in for Harrison in the final match of the regular season. During their final regular-season match against the

, the Aviators clinched the best overall record in WTT, when the

defeated the

, 25–19 in extended play. The Aviators later lost their match against the Freedoms to fall to 8 wins and 4 losses, an identical record to that of the Breakers. Since the teams split their four matches during the regular season, the tie in the

standings Standings or rankings are listings which compare sports teams or individuals, institutions, nations, companies, or other entities by ranking them in order of ability or achievement. A table or chart (such as a league table, a ladder or a leaderb ...

was broken by most games won in head-to-head matches, which favored the Aviators, 82–77. Being the top seed in the WTT Finals resulted in the Aviators being treated as the home team and having the option to set the order of play.

Harrison named MVP and Lloyd Coach of the Year

was named 2016 WTT Male Most Valuable Player. Harrison led the league in winning percentage in men's singles and was also second in men's doubles behind teammate

. John Lloyd was named 2016 WTT Coach of the Year.

WTT Finals

The Aviators met their new rivals, the

, in the WTT Finals on August 26, 2016, at Forest Hills Stadium in New York City. The Aviators won the first four sets, all by 5–2 scores.

and

opened with a set win in mixed doubles.

followed by beating 2016 WTT Female Most Valuable Player

in women's singles. Klaasen teamed with

in men's doubles. Jurak and Rogers took the fourth set of women's doubles to give the Aviators a 20–8 lead.

Dennis Novikov Dennis Novikov (born 6 November 1993 in Moscow, Russia) is an American professional tennis player born in Russia. He won both the singles and doubles titles at the USTA Boys 18s National Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 2012. As a resul ...

won a tiebreaker against Harrison in the final set of men's singles to send the match to extended play with the Aviators leading 24–13. Novikov held serve in the opening game of extended play. However, Harrison, who won a US Open qualifying match earlier in the day to secure a spot in the

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

tournament, held serve in the second game, giving the Aviators a 25–14 victory and the 2016 King Trophy. It was the third WTT championship in franchise history and the first since moving to San Diego. The previous titles came in 2005, playing as the New York Sportimes and in 2008, playing as the New York Buzz. It was the first time in franchise history that the Aviators finished with WTT's best regular-season record and followed up by winning the league championship. Klaasen was named WTT Finals Most Valuable Player. "It feels really nice to get the MVP award, but it feels a bit undeserving, because our whole team played very well," said Klaasen. "We were apart for four days, and when we saw each other again last night, it felt like we had been apart for a year. Our team chemistry has been great. We will be friends for the rest of our lives." Aviators coach John Lloyd said, "It brings a lot of memories back; I played back in the US Open, when it was on

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns a ...

and

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

. In fact, on this court I lost to the great Björn Borg. It was nice to play on this beautiful court. To come back and win this title was great."

Event chronology

* March 25, 2016: The Aviators protected

and

and selected James Blake,

and Daniel Evans at the WTT Draft. The Aviators left

and

unprotected. * July 8, 2016: Daniel Evans withdrew from WTT for undisclosed reasons. * July 15, 2016: The Aviators signed

as a roster player. * August 6, 2016: The Aviators signed

as a substitute player. * August 12, 2016: With a record of 8 wins and 3 losses, the Aviators clinched a berth in the WTT Finals with a 24–16 road victory against the New York Empire. * August 13, 2016: The Aviators signed Nick Monroe as a substitute player. * August 13, 2016: With a record of 8 wins and 3 losses, the Aviators clinched the best regular-season record in WTT, when the

defeated the

, 25–19, in extended play. * August 26, 2016: The Aviators won the King Trophy as WTT champions, when they defeated the

, 25–14 in extended play, in the WTT Finals. It is the third WTT championship for the franchise and the first since moving to San Diego.

Draft picks

Since the Aviators had the second-worst record among WTT's nonplayoff teams in 2015, they selected second in each round of the draft. The league conducted its 2016 draft on March 25, in

Key Biscayne, Florida Key Biscayne is an island town in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The population was 12,344 at the 2010 census. Key Biscayne lies south of Miami Beach and east of Miami. The village is connected to Miami via the Rickenbacker Causeway, originall ...

. James Blake, who played for the team as a wildcard in 2015, was assigned by WTT to the Aviators as a designated player. The selections made by the Aviators are shown in the table below.

Match log

Regular season

WTT Finals

Team personnel

''References:''

Players and coaches

* John Lloyd, Coach * James Blake *

* Nick Monroe *

Front office

Fred Luddy Fred Luddy (born ) is an American billionaire businessman, and the founder of ServiceNow, a cloud computing company. Early life Luddy grew up in New Castle, Indiana, the son of an accountant father and a Catholic-school teacher mother. Luddy we ...

, Principal Owner * Jack McGrory, Minority Owner * Jim Ault, General Manager Notes:

Statistics

Players are listed in order of their game-winning percentage provided they played in at least 40% of the Aviators' games in that event, which is the WTT minimum for qualification for league leaders in individual statistical categories. ;Men's singles - regular season ;Women's singles - regular season ;Men's doubles - regular season ;Women's doubles - regular season ;Mixed doubles - regular season ;Team totals - regular season ;Men's singles - WTT Finals ;Women's singles - WTT Finals ;Men's doubles - WTT Finals ;Women's doubles - WTT Finals ;Mixed doubles - WTT Finals ;Team totals - WTT Finals ;Men's singles - all matches ;Women's singles - all matches ;Men's doubles - all matches ;Women's doubles - all matches ;Mixed doubles - all matches ;Team totals - all matches

Transactions

* March 25, 2016: The Aviators protected

and

and selected James Blake,

and Daniel Evans at the WTT Draft. The Aviators left

and

unprotected. * July 8, 2016: Daniel Evans withdrew from WTT for undisclosed reasons. * July 15, 2016: The Aviators signed

as a roster player. * August 6, 2016: The Aviators signed

as a substitute player. * August 13, 2016: The Aviators signed Nick Monroe as a substitute player.

Individual honors and achievements

The following table shows individual honors bestowed upon players and coaches of the San Diego Aviators in 2016.

led the league in winning percentage in men's singles and was second behind teammate

in men's doubles.

was third in WTT in winning percentage in women's singles. Klaasen and

were tied for sixth in WTT in winning percentage in mixed doubles.

References

External links

San Diego Aviators official websiteWorld TeamTennis official website
{{2016 in tennis San Diego Aviators season San Diego Aviators 2016 San Diego Aviators 2016

Season recap

Front-office changes

New logo

Draft

Harrison replaces Evans

A rivalry is born

Winning streak

WTT Finals berth

Harrison named MVP and Lloyd Coach of the Year

WTT Finals

Event chronology

Draft picks

Match log

Regular season

WTT Finals

Team personnel

Players and coaches

Front office

Statistics

Transactions

Individual honors and achievements

See also

References

External links