The 2016 San Diego Aviators 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 pol ...

of the franchise in

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 San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

. Led by 2016 WTT Male Most Valuable Player, Ryan Harrison, and Coach of the Year

John Lloyd John Lloyd may refer to: Artists, writers, and entertainers *John J. Lloyd (1922–2014), American art director and production designer *John Lloyd (graphic designer) (born 1944), co-founder of design consultancy Lloyd Northover *John Lloyd (journa ...

, 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 A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

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 wordma ...

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 portion of the draft. 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 The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's ...

, 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. They chose Shelby Rogers with their first-round selection, leaving 2015

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

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 skil ...

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 w ...

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, and Chanelle Scheepers. 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 Ryan Harrison 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 area, 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 po ...

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 fact ...

, the Aviators had not yet moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

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 o ...

, 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 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. 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 Darija Jurak and Shelby Rogers 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 Ryan Harrison 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. "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. Ryan Harrison 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. Shelby Rogers won the second set of women's singles in a tiebreaker. Klaasen teamed with Darija Jurak to take the final set of mixed doubles, 5–3, and seal a 24–18 victory. The following day, the Aviators signed Ernests Gulbis as a substitute player. Gulbis opened the Aviators' match that evening against the five-time defending WTT champion Washington Kastles 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 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 Philadelphia Freedoms (1974), original team starred tennis legend and social pi ...

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. I ...

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 Springfield Lasers, the Aviators headed to

Forest Hills Stadium A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

for their first match in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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 Washington Kastles 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,

and

Jesse Witten Jesse Witten (born October 15, 1982 in Naples, Florida) is an American professional list of male tennis players, tennis player. He is a graduate of Lely High School and the University of Kentucky, where he majored in kinesiology. College career ...

. 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 Ryan Harrison 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. Darija Jurak paired with Klaasen to win the third set of mixed doubles and with Shelby Rogers 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 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, 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 Benjamin Nicholas Monroe (born April 12, 1982) is an American professional tennis player. He has won 4 ATP World Tour doubles titles and 13 ATP Challenger Tour titles in his career. College career Monroe had a highly successful college caree ...

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 Washington Kastles 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 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

Ryan Harrison 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

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. Darija Jurak and

opened with a set win in mixed doubles. Shelby Rogers followed by beating 2016 WTT Female Most Valuable Player Nicole Gibbs in women's singles. Klaasen teamed with Ryan Harrison 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 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 The New York Buzz was a professional tennis team competing in World TeamTennis (WTT). The team was originally based in Schenectady, New York from 1995 to 2007, before moving to Albany, New York in 2008, and Guilderland, New York in 2009. The team ...

. 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

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 an ...

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 Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former world No. 1 tennis player. Between 1974 and 1981, he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimb ...

. 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 Darija Jurak and selected James Blake, Shelby Rogers and Daniel Evans at the WTT Draft. The Aviators left

and Chanelle Scheepers unprotected. * July 8, 2016: Daniel Evans withdrew from WTT for undisclosed reasons. * July 15, 2016: The Aviators signed Ryan Harrison as a roster player. * August 6, 2016: The Aviators signed Ernests Gulbis 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

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 Washington Kastles 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

, they selected second in each round of the draft. The league conducted its 2016 draft on March 25, in Key Biscayne, Florida. 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

, Coach * James Blake * Ernests Gulbis * Ryan Harrison * Darija Jurak *

* Shelby Rogers

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 wen ...

, 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 Darija Jurak and selected James Blake, Shelby Rogers and Daniel Evans at the WTT Draft. The Aviators left

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

in men's doubles. Shelby Rogers was third in WTT in winning percentage in women's singles. Klaasen and Darija Jurak 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 San Diego Aviators

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