4.0 Boston Scientific Team
3.0 Thomson Reuters team.
The Medtronic 4.5 team won the National Championship for its division and three other Twin Cities World TeamTennis (WTT) teams brought back honors to their home state at the 2009 Advanta World TeamTennis National Championships in Indian Wells, Calif. Fifty recreational and corporate teams were present, representing 20 states. A clinic hosted by WTT co-founder Billie Jean King highlighted the weekend tournament, which was held October 30-November 1.
Medtronic won its division in a tense overtime match played under the lights in Indian Wells. Members of the team were captain Wenmei Qi, Josh Bliss, Andrea Schmaelzle and John Collingwood.
The 4.0 team representing the Twin Cities, from Boston Scientific, survived two tense matches which went into WTT overtime, then finished the weekend with fifth-place honors by winning yet another overtime match. Teammates included Kella Prill, Eric Bailey, Jennie Bonnette, captain Anu Kamath, Cheryl Laudenbach, Ken Gutzman and Tanya Kvam.
The 3.5 team from Boston Scientific finished second at the event. Making the trip to California were Kunal Paymaster, Bharat Jain, captain Holly Rockweiler, Nancy Curren and Gregg Wohlers.
The Twin Cities 3.0 team from Thomson Reuters also participated at Nationals, making it to the semifinals. Teammates include Jelena Tarbuk, captain David Kumoro, Rita Van Pelt and Srinivas Siddabathuni.
World TeamTennis recreational and corporate programs feature year-round leagues that use the unique coed team format created in the 1970s by Billie Jean and Larry King. More than 490,000 tennis players of all levels have competed in WTT recreational and corporate leagues in parks, schools, clubs, and tennis facilities in more than 1,000 cities.
WTT teams advance to the national finals by either qualifying from their respective division in six WTT recreational league qualifying tournaments, or by winning their local corporate league. All matches use the WTT format, a fun, fast-paced co-ed team format that encourages equal contributions from both genders. A team has a minimum of four players, two men and two women. Matches feature six no-ad sets: men's and women's doubles, men's and women's singles and two sets of mixed doubles.
For more information on corporate World TeamTennis in the Twin Cities, visit
www.wtttwincities.com
, send an e-mail to the Twin Cities WTT League Director Bob Williams at bobfwilliams@playwtt.com, or call Bob at 763-488-9986.