World Team Tennis: America's Failed Attempt to Popularize Tennis

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  • Опубліковано 18 гру 2024
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  • @Nswix
    @Nswix Рік тому +244

    This happens in my sport, MMA, every couple years. People need to quit trying to turn an individual sport into a team sport.

    • @Ckaionoriega
      @Ckaionoriega Рік тому +7

      Americans*

    • @KazeShikamaru
      @KazeShikamaru Рік тому

      They do.

    • @JK-vc7ie
      @JK-vc7ie Рік тому

      How is MMA your sport. You actually fight competitively in a ring?

    • @Nswix
      @Nswix Рік тому +31

      @@JK-vc7ie I wrestled and boxed amateur from kindergarten through college and went 5-2-1 between 22-25 years old, before failing to get on The Ultimate Fighter and then moved on to other ventures. Still train and watch every event though.

    • @JK-vc7ie
      @JK-vc7ie Рік тому +7

      @@Nswix legit!

  • @bhavikn28
    @bhavikn28 Рік тому +45

    The Taylor Townsend game was crazy back then. It is even more crazy to watch it again

  • @rafaelcoelho5226
    @rafaelcoelho5226 Рік тому +40

    Storytelling and editing at it's finest. Best tennis channel on UA-cam

  • @chennis134
    @chennis134 Рік тому +33

    "World's best tennis talent" *shows Donald Young*

    • @-theislander-5888
      @-theislander-5888 Рік тому +1

      you do realize how good you have to be to be even top 200?
      like worldwide.
      nevermind

  • @daz2041
    @daz2041 Рік тому +13

    Man that court is real funky

  • @edwardcorty6003
    @edwardcorty6003 Рік тому +37

    I always respect the amount of homework you do for these videos--very entertaining!

  • @alecmorariu6291
    @alecmorariu6291 Рік тому +73

    You should upload more often your videos are always 10/10

  • @anonamenoname986
    @anonamenoname986 Рік тому +65

    Ah yes, my favorite yearly uploads

    • @burntoast09
      @burntoast09 Рік тому +2

      facts

    • @Nswix
      @Nswix Рік тому +10

      I'm not surprised. They look like they take a ton of work.

    • @anonamenoname986
      @anonamenoname986 Рік тому +3

      @@Nswix yeah but not almost 3 months

    • @BeyondTheCourt543
      @BeyondTheCourt543 Рік тому +4

      @@anonamenoname986 he doesn’t do this full time obviously, he probably has a job and does this for fun.

    • @ewanoliphant9448
      @ewanoliphant9448 Рік тому +9

      You’re acting a bit entitled mate. The videos are brilliant and he clearly spends a lot of time on them. As someone else said he’s probably working as well. Just appreciate that he uploads them at all.

  • @johnnycajxrt
    @johnnycajxrt Рік тому +11

    I was just thinking about you yesterday.
    “Man, it’s really been awhile since I watched a video from Cult Tennis. Did I actually subscribe, or just intend to?”
    Lo and behold today, I’m graced with another very interesting and informative video from you.

  • @arischaer1084
    @arischaer1084 Рік тому +12

    Honestly i'm just glad it existed, because being a ball kid for New York Empire was really amazing

  • @taylorsutton500
    @taylorsutton500 Рік тому +18

    Company I work for used to provide the scoring and graphics for WTT. Crowd was actually pretty in to it in 2019, then covid hit and it all went downhill from there. The last year in 2021 it was at Indian Wells, a huge tennis venue, and the place was sadly barren. WTT went under again after that

  • @jayzerbeam9733
    @jayzerbeam9733 Рік тому +19

    thank you for acknowledging the one true 🐐, Donald Young

    • @emjay2045
      @emjay2045 Рік тому +1

      😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

  • @jessg101
    @jessg101 Рік тому +7

    OMG finally an upload!!!!

  • @David15
    @David15 Рік тому +16

    Audience at the Houston Astrodome was 30,000, not 300,000. Good video anyway!

  • @ObiWon1089
    @ObiWon1089 Рік тому +5

    Boise, Idaho used to have a team in the 90- early 2000s we had Andy Roddick and the Bryan Brothers on the same team. Pretty epic. At the end of the matches Dwayne Bryan (dad) and the brothers would put on a rock concert. Our venue was crap though, I was a ball kid and the players would always complain about lack of fans and the court. It was a blue mat placed on an ice hockey area surface.

  • @spinshotballmachine
    @spinshotballmachine Рік тому +3

    I don't understand how your so small every video you have is so easy to watch that even someone who doesn't like tennis could easily enjoy it

    • @adrianm5740
      @adrianm5740 Рік тому

      Amazing content is always posted but there needs to be more videos more often

  • @mwu365
    @mwu365 Рік тому +3

    Lmao I love the New York Sets and the dedication to the NY/NJ rhyme scheme.

  • @rockvilleraven
    @rockvilleraven Місяць тому

    Used to volunteer for the Washington Kastles who played home games inside GW's Smith Center. They had all kinds of talent, one of the Willaims sisters was the marquee player for big matches, a young Francis Tifoe who wore "Big Foe" on the back of his shirt, the number one ranked mixed double with Leander Paes and Martina Hingis. The name Kastles was the name of their owner Mark Ein who was CEO of Kastle systems. The last year it sucked because they moved to the roof of Union Market, and some matches were moved indoors when it rained, it only held 600 fans. They did win 4 WTT Titles in a row. Ein now runs the Mudocaway Citi Open tennis torment in DC every year and is a partner in the Washington Commanders ownership group.

  • @lawrenceeverglade7493
    @lawrenceeverglade7493 Рік тому +5

    This also happened in cricket at around the same time and although the rebel tournament folded, it was so successful that they literally invented a whole new format of the game just to bring the players back.

  • @Azeria
    @Azeria Рік тому +7

    it’s really funny how often Americans come in to sports and try and ‘fix’ them but instead just walk all over why people already play and watch them, in the modern era I’d say F1 is probably the only exception, but that’s because they focused on marketing the sport that already existed first, before making big changes.

    • @marcoaurelio4903
      @marcoaurelio4903 Рік тому +1

      I find fascinating the MLS thing... How americans try very hard to not understand a simple and universal sport like football (the real one)

    • @parkercrossland410
      @parkercrossland410 Рік тому

      Rowdy, alcohol-infused, low intelligence, physical, cheap. These 5 traits of American sports love are why tennis as a whole won't ever reach the heights of other major sports in America. It's stupid, but so are a vast majority of sports fans in this country.

    • @parkercrossland410
      @parkercrossland410 Рік тому +1

      @@marcoaurelio4903 Most get it, but have short attention spans and want to be wowed every few minutes with something physically insane or with scores. This is why basketball and football fit the bill. Making the average American think is something they don't want to have to do,

  • @Sealdrop
    @Sealdrop Рік тому +4

    good video

  • @mnm1273
    @mnm1273 Рік тому +69

    World team tennis? And it's exclusively American. Classic.

    • @sameerkashyap1750
      @sameerkashyap1750 6 місяців тому +3

      😭😭 World Champions of the NBA

    • @BigPurp9
      @BigPurp9 5 місяців тому +1

      June is now my least favourite time of the year because I have to listen to Yanks fail to understand the meaning of the word “World”😭😂

  • @tucoramirez6058
    @tucoramirez6058 Рік тому +3

    I only ever heard about it because of the Elton John song, Philadelphia Freedom.

  • @tmarenfilm
    @tmarenfilm Рік тому +3

    Babe wake up a new Cult Tennis video just dropped

  • @OneChallengeRemaining
    @OneChallengeRemaining Рік тому +7

    Would love to see an in depth look into the opening of balls a week ahead of Wimbledon. Or was that just a rumor?

  • @Stoked4Good
    @Stoked4Good Рік тому +2

    I got a chance to see Pete Sampras via WTT and others. I've played and competed in this format as well. Hope it comes back soon enough!

  • @cregenda
    @cregenda Рік тому +5

    Wow I’ve never heard of WTT! And I’m a big tennis fan

  • @tellusmore
    @tellusmore Рік тому

    Welcome back!

  • @wongjefx980
    @wongjefx980 Рік тому +19

    In few years, there will be a story about the rise of Pickleball, the impact to tennis, the competing tours and tennis players and celebrity owners.

    • @user-oj7co5wm8g
      @user-oj7co5wm8g Рік тому +3

      And hopefully it’s utter flop.

    • @JakeLesser
      @JakeLesser Рік тому

      No because pickleball is really gay.

    • @barisay7244
      @barisay7244 Рік тому +1

      Pickleball is fun to play, but not to watch, therefore it will never impact tennis tours.

    • @marcoaurelio4903
      @marcoaurelio4903 Рік тому

      Around here the phenomenon is with beach tennis!
      Why!!

  • @wongjefx980
    @wongjefx980 Рік тому +4

    What happened this year with the Hopman Cup ending two years ago, the ATP Cup last year and this year's United Cup...which looks like the Hopman Cup?

    • @bryantndongmo4780
      @bryantndongmo4780 Рік тому +2

      ikr its hella confusing. i think its just rebrandings of the same tournaments

    • @bryanmartin5901
      @bryanmartin5901 Рік тому +1

      They stayed under the radar so as not to get negative press, but the ATP Cup was viewed as sexist and exclusivist. Originally they planned on waiting till 2024 to unveil the new United Cup event (which replaced ATP Cup), but Craig Tiley and Tennis Australia decided instead to move forward with only 2-3 weeks of planning. United Cup was a TREMENDOUS success with record-breaking sales and attendance and viewership. I thought it was quite fun to watch. Only Nadal complained, because he lost both his matches and refused to play the mixed because he lacks humility and refused to play for the fans who paid to come see him play mixed doubles. I don't get how he gets away with it, he's such a nasty complainer, if he doesn't get his way, he threatens to boycott or quit (just like Madrid 2012, his comments about changing the year-end finals to clay, since he has never won it, etc. etc.)

    • @sach8906
      @sach8906 Рік тому +2

      @@bryanmartin5901 " I don't get how he" - you should realize that you hate him, then you will get it 🙂

  • @TTBoy22-ij6th
    @TTBoy22-ij6th Рік тому +1

    I was reading on Chris Evert's wikipage that she bypassed the French Open a number of times to play this rubbish. Add that & the fact she didn't play the Australian Open much she could of possibly won 25 slams & be considered the GOAT.

    • @kjmcindoe6408
      @kjmcindoe6408 Рік тому +1

      I guess the 1.2 million dollars was too hard to decline. No point in complaining about it now. It's fair to say she possibly missed out on 3 more French Opens but she would have found Australia (then played on fast grass) a much tougher prospect.

  • @Texaslawhorn
    @Texaslawhorn 5 місяців тому

    I really enjoyed WTT here in Washington, DC. I'm sad that it wasn't more popular overall.

  • @daxlowery1826
    @daxlowery1826 Рік тому

    Where did you get that Indiana Loves footage?

  • @teeks8713
    @teeks8713 Рік тому

    That Townsend match is the funniest thing I have seen in a while

  • @sakshamgoyal8737
    @sakshamgoyal8737 Рік тому

    there is premier tennis league now in India, they are trying to take a more organic approach for tennis league. Hoping that works.

  • @rockvilleraven
    @rockvilleraven Місяць тому

    New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's first sports franchise he owned was the World Team Tennis Boston Lobsters, which got their name because the Lob is the most powerful shot in tennis and Lobsters are a New England delicacy in almost all seafood restaurants in that region. His big name marquee player was Martina Navratilova. The matches were shown on HBO which used to show a lot of sports before ESPN started. He was making decent money but the other teams were going bankrupt so he paid off everyone, and it shut down and that incarnation of WTT Folded. He learned about sports ownership with the Lobsters which he uses today with the Pats.

  • @sameerkashyap1750
    @sameerkashyap1750 6 місяців тому

    I don't think even if more money was thrown at it, it would ever work.
    I mean, sometimes a single set goes to an hour, how do you finish a team match consisting of 4 players at least. Do you shorten what a set means, like, it is a mess.

  • @EnglishroG
    @EnglishroG Рік тому +5

    WTT starts from the idea that Tennis is flawed and needs improvement. It doesn't, and the WTT makes "improvements" that actually make the game worse.

  • @cannonfodder15
    @cannonfodder15 Рік тому

    You could also make a video on the international tennis premier league and it's downfall

  • @devpatel7154
    @devpatel7154 Рік тому

    I hate how my uni team plays this format instead of 6 singles and 6 doubles. So match day is always 1 men’s singles 1 women’s singles mixed doubles and men’s and women’s doubles

  • @Symphonicrockfran
    @Symphonicrockfran Рік тому +4

    USA, what a weird place

    • @DanesinTexas
      @DanesinTexas Рік тому +1

      Hey now…pickleball is the fastest growing sport here for years now, so…well…I mean…oh shit, you win 🫣

  • @thegamingbird7439
    @thegamingbird7439 Рік тому +1

    LIV golf vibes

  • @paulmorales1607
    @paulmorales1607 Рік тому

    I consider myself a tennis fan and had no idea about this😂

  • @nightingale3632
    @nightingale3632 Рік тому +1

    The most american thing about World Team Tennis is the "World" in the name but it's a US league.

  • @kangarooswild
    @kangarooswild Рік тому

    coincidentally this sounds a lot like what LIV golf is trying to pull off in the golfing world...

  • @spadecat
    @spadecat Рік тому +4

    Women never have, nor ever will, compete with men in tennis on an equal footing. Riggs was nearly TWICE the age of King, who was playing in the PRIME of her career. Some even say Riggs threw the match to cover his own bets against himself. Every other "contest" between male and female tennis players were decided victories for the men.

  • @andrewwhite1097
    @andrewwhite1097 Рік тому

    The information about The Weeknd is wrong

  • @jeremypearson6852
    @jeremypearson6852 Рік тому +1

    This is a joke right, tennis is already one of the most popular sports? World Team Tennis may not have been successful, but Davis Cup is and has been for decades.

  • @Zentrum234
    @Zentrum234 9 місяців тому

    I am fairly new to tennis fandom but if boggles my mind how a 29 year old female beating a 55 year old male in an exhibition match proves anything 😮

  • @vintagetennisracquetsandso4618

    Tennis is not even top 3 in the world today…. number 4 max, something like this in top sports statistics

    • @blackx715
      @blackx715 Рік тому +1

      pretty sure he said number one solo sport.

  • @booradley6832
    @booradley6832 Рік тому

    I'd love to watch your ITPL story but unfortunately when you advertise something people are interested in, then slap them with a paywall, they wont view it out of principle.
    Maybe dont advertise in a manner that drives customers away?

  • @Y_Fusion_Nova
    @Y_Fusion_Nova Місяць тому

    Riggs was 55 and Billy Jean king was 29

  • @blainekennedy
    @blainekennedy Рік тому +1

    A few years before, Riggs did the same thing and smoked a lady I forget who

  • @reuelray
    @reuelray Рік тому +2

    I agree with another poster that a twenty-nine-year-old woman in her prime, playing a fifty-five-year-old who had been retired for 20 years, was not a legitimate way to gauge women and men's sports. The word even back then was Riggs threw the match for a bigger payday. He had already beaten Margaret Court who is considered the greatest female tennis player ever. People are so stupid. A twenty-nine-year-old against a fifty-five-year-old, would be the equivalent of a twenty-nine-year-old against a nine-year-old. If that match was a true indicator of competition between men and women, why is there a ATP and WTA on the senior level the Challenger level and even the ITF keep the sexes separate. Dude you have a lot of knowledge about tennis tournaments excetera, but you do not understand the game itself. By the way, tennis in America is the highest when there are American male major champions. American female champions basically inspire American females. There hasn't been an American male major champion since Andy roddick in 2003. Although Serena, Venus, Sloane Stephens Sofia kenin and a few more American women have won majors, their victories have not moved the needle much when it comes to popularizing tennis in general here in America. Putting aside all of the politically correct emotional crap, this is a fact.

  • @daniel-wood
    @daniel-wood Рік тому +81

    It's strange to me that the takeaway from a 29 year old Billie Jean King in her prime defeating a 55 year old Bobby Riggs who had been retired for more than a decade is supposed to be that women can compete equally with men

    • @jessg101
      @jessg101 Рік тому +21

      That wasnt the takeaway, the entire world stopped to watch that match. Both players were brought into the stadium in royal chairs. My dad even in india knew abt this match wer tennis isnt even popular. Attention is money, they wanted to milk men vs women or controversies.

    • @daniel-wood
      @daniel-wood Рік тому +19

      @@jessg101 2:56 in the video, "Billy Jean had just shown that female tennis players could be just as good as, if not better than, a man on the opposite side of the court"

    • @JK-vc7ie
      @JK-vc7ie Рік тому +2

      Exactly, should Joker play an old lady?

    • @NotFinnish
      @NotFinnish Рік тому +4

      As it turns out, if you are a better tennis player you will win.

    • @magicjohnson3121
      @magicjohnson3121 Рік тому

      @Luke Kuang who on average is better? Men or women? Who with the same rank is better? A female player or a male player?

  • @maxpowers4436
    @maxpowers4436 Рік тому

    Hawkeye came from the sport cricket which was already doing video review for decades. IT did not inspire hawkeye

  • @spadecat
    @spadecat Рік тому +2

    As for the popularity of tennis, its appeal has always been in the grace and beauty of the game; its sense of style, class and sophistication and its timeless elegance. The infusion of silly gimmicks, rock n roll music and an inane scoring system as a means to appeal to the masses, has, thankfully, failed.

  • @Official.tadiwa
    @Official.tadiwa Рік тому

    There’s a new version of this called premier league I forgot the exact name

  • @olbas2
    @olbas2 Рік тому

    YHonestly no one cares about any of this kind of cups for tennis we just prefer slams and 1000 and 500 point events

  • @parkerying222
    @parkerying222 Рік тому +1

    Great video. Video idea: do a analysis/video on why and how did Djokovic managed to return to Australia and win the Australian open, even after he was supposedly banned for 3 years last year from the government. (Discuss PM Albanese and his decisions as to why he decided to allow him to come to Australia, his controversies/criticisms regarding to spending too much time at the Australian open rather then helping out alien springs)
    Like if you agree

  • @fyukfy2366
    @fyukfy2366 Рік тому +9

    The classic American move of using "world" even though it's only in America

  • @ionikW
    @ionikW Рік тому +3

    Let’s goo

  • @ericlnorton1399
    @ericlnorton1399 Рік тому

    For years this came off as Billie Jean's pet project with stars supporting it as a favor to her.

    • @kevincassidy7385
      @kevincassidy7385 Рік тому

      She should pay the price of publicly being shamed for her role in this debacle. When she dies, the WTT should be the first 20 grafs of the story and then and only then should the obit praise her many accomplishments.

  • @seanhillery1231
    @seanhillery1231 Рік тому +2

    Your audio mix is too loud, bring it down a few db it’s competing with your voice

  • @anthonydecastro6938
    @anthonydecastro6938 Рік тому

    WTT was better off dead and buried. its concept was too USAmerican and did not arouse international interest. the men's and women's tours as they stand now, with the ATP and the WTA collaborating, are much better without WTT or any other tennis platform. besides, it smacked of self-interest on the part of BJK and her husband!!!

  • @wolf-xf6hf
    @wolf-xf6hf Рік тому

    I’d love to hear your thoughts on pickleballs growth because major league pickle ball is similar

  • @lovelylin110
    @lovelylin110 2 місяці тому

    World team tennis

  • @itsme-bn3vy
    @itsme-bn3vy Рік тому

    Why was mattek sands used as the clickbait🥲🥲

  • @drabmajje
    @drabmajje Рік тому

    About time … ???

  • @TheWinezen
    @TheWinezen Рік тому +1

    WE already have Davis Cup and Laver Cup that promote tennis as a team sport. If it needs to be done, do it with dignity and respect for tennis not just fanfare

  • @brandonm8901
    @brandonm8901 Рік тому +8

    Classic American move to create a "world" series exclusively in the US

  • @Adam-ui8iy
    @Adam-ui8iy Рік тому +11

    No one wants Nebula

  • @andre-px8rv
    @andre-px8rv Рік тому +1

    First comment!

  • @moonlightfitz
    @moonlightfitz Рік тому

    🧐🧐

  • @reignandbongao9497
    @reignandbongao9497 Рік тому +3

    This has vibes of Blizzard turning forcing Overwatch into a City Franchise base league, with similar outcomes.

    • @quangnguyenviet1188
      @quangnguyenviet1188 Рік тому +1

      How the hell did Blizzard not think about the travel cost(international btw) for the teams?
      Esports team doesn't make profits except for few, so they barely have money to pay staff and players, also wasting time traveling causing exhaustion instead of training and the biggest problem for city franchise is player transfer. I'm haven't watch Overwatch league but I know that teams rosters always change after a season, 1 main player leave = 16% of the team unlike football, American football or basketball but usually more than 1 player would be replaced and fans coming back just to see a weird squad that doesn't have the familiarity that the the city franchise team normally have which made the fans not attracted as before and bye bye revenue. I won't mention the meta problem because every game has different problems.

  • @ts440s
    @ts440s Рік тому +1

    29 vs 55 now that sounds fair. What bs

  • @yeahnope620
    @yeahnope620 Рік тому +2

    Glad this failed. The Americans took everything that makes tennis classy and graceful and turned it into an absolute mockery, as per usual.

    • @100c0c
      @100c0c Рік тому

      "classy and graceful" tennis people take themselves so seriously it's hilarious

  • @RickeGnool
    @RickeGnool Рік тому +2

    Why am I not surprised that someone tried to Amercanize this sport.

  • @Damian_1989
    @Damian_1989 Рік тому +4

    Americans thinking their experiences and tastes are universal, part infinity

    • @100c0c
      @100c0c Рік тому

      This was marketed towards Americans only

  • @kieranlin6613
    @kieranlin6613 Рік тому +1

    First

  • @MinhLe-kt5zg
    @MinhLe-kt5zg Рік тому

    Only America lol

  • @DanesinTexas
    @DanesinTexas Рік тому

    No one wants to see tennis players goofing around and being careless (which is what happens during the WTT matches). No ❤️ in these matches 👎

  • @twinwankel
    @twinwankel Рік тому +2

    One has to wonder if ATP tennis would even be in good financial footing today if Fed didn't resurrect the sport. The entire sport was dying even then. Tennis is not a great spectators sport unless there are interesting talented players that have magic in their game. Right now, with Fed retired, what do you really have? Not much. There's not one player that I have to watch their every match. It's just not there. I might catch some youtube highlights sometimes but I just don't need to watch boring mechanized tennis over and over. And that's what you have now. Maybe in 10 years, you would do a video on the demise of the ATP.

    • @bryanmartin5901
      @bryanmartin5901 Рік тому +8

      Fed? I think Serena brought much more new viewership to all of tennis, not just women's. Fed has universal appeal, sure, but millions upon millions who would've never bothered watching or playing tennis started playing and watching obsessively because of Venus and Serena. Because their story was unrivaled.

    • @Ronakvevo
      @Ronakvevo Рік тому +2

      Fed done well to make tennis exciting and got me into tennis for that reason. Now there are some interesting personalities and talents like Rublev, Zverev, Fritz, Ali Asim and even Kyrios who make tennis exciting and fun to watch for all ages.
      Women's tennis is as open as ever which makes it so exciting to watch.

  • @kalebball5144
    @kalebball5144 Рік тому +1

    Wait so folks didn't want to watch washed up pros and pro dropouts play tennis in a dumb goofy format where they throw tentacles for challenges....shocking.

  • @sayresrudy2644
    @sayresrudy2644 Рік тому

    tennis is not popular, its *major* events get a 1% share of sports viewership, compared to 30% for events like the Superbowl. That anyone thought WTT would succeed by turning tennis into a silly circus beggars belief. most people will never watch tennis, and most tennis fans will never care about Davis Cup, WTT, or the Olympics...and thank god for that. It is an individual sport, not an exercise in nationalist or group loyalties. The one partial exception is Laver Cup, which basically is a fun exhibition of individual matches with superficial "team" element. Cool video, thanks.

  • @lebbeus
    @lebbeus Рік тому

    Silly and absurd Americans sport rules and formats lmao

  • @noeldacosta7621
    @noeldacosta7621 Рік тому

    Get lost

  • @HiFiMods
    @HiFiMods Рік тому +1

    Only disliked for hearing nebula at the end... co-owned, aha, sure. I don't hear MKBHD talking about it anymore, must've thought it wasn't worth the time... You should do a video on Nebula's Rise and Fall.... :)))))

  • @suewelsh4026
    @suewelsh4026 Рік тому +1

    Your history of this is superficial. If you actually play tennis you would understand it.