The Delaware Smash was a

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)

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to inf ...

that was founded in 1987 as the New Jersey Stars. The team moved to

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

in 1996, and changed its name to the Smash. The franchise won three WTT championships—in 1994 and 1995, as the Stars and in 2003, as the Smash. The franchise folded after the 2008 season.

Team history

Inaugural season

The Stars were founded in 1987, by commercial

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to othe ...

Larry Rosenthal. They played their home matches at the Somerset Hilton in

Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey Franklin Township is a township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. It is centrally located in the Raritan Valley region, within the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 62 ...

in a new stadium which was built for the team and had a seating capacity of 1,200. Rosenthal chose to put the team in

Central Jersey Central Jersey is the central region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The designation of Central New Jersey is a distinct administrative toponym. Geographic area and descriptions While the State of New Jersey is often divided into North and ...

instead of

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 ...

, because he believed Somerset County was a hotbed for

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

enthusiasts, and said, "We know we have a minimum of 600 to 700 spectators for each home match." The Stars' mascot was a wizard that put a hex on the opposing team. Rosenthal also hired male dancers who usually performed on ladies' night at the Somerset Hilton lounge to wear skimpy

costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people. The term also was tradition ...

s and heckle female opposing players. The first match in Stars history was on July 11, 1987, a 24–21 loss on the road against the

Miami Beach Breakers Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at t ...

. The team's first home match was also a loss to the Breakers, 24–21, on July 15, 1987. The 1987 Stars featured JoAnne Russell, Molly Van Nostrand,

Hank Pfister Hank Pfister (born October 9, 1953) is a former tennis player from the United States, who won two singles titles (1981, Maui and 1982, Newport) during his professional career. The right-hander reached his highest individual ranking on the ATP ...

and player-coach

Colin Dibley Colin Dibley (born 19 September 1944) is a former tennis player from Australia. Dibley once held the title for the fastest serve in the world at 148 m.p.h. During his professional career, he also won four singles and seventeen doubles titles. ...

. The Stars were winless in their inaugural season, losing all 14 of their matches.

A trip to the TeamTennis Final

The Stars returned in 1988, with a completely new lineup and vastly improved results. Player-coach Peter Fleming led

Jenny Byrne Jenny Byrne (born 25 February 1967) is a former tennis player from Australia who turned professional in 1987 and retired from the tour in 1997. Her career-high world rankings were world No. 45 in singles (in 1989) and world No. 27 in doubles ( ...

Belinda Cordwell Belinda Jane Cordwell (born 21 September 1965) is a sports commentator and a former professional tennis player from New Zealand, who represented her native country at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. A former world top 20 player, her best res ...

, Matt Mitchell and Chip Hooper to a record of 9 wins and 5 losses and an appearance in the TeamTennis Final. The Stars' regular-season record was good for third place in the league and put them in the TeamTennis Semifinals against the South Florida Breakers. Byrne and Cordwell were a formidable pair in women's doubles, winning 57% of their regular-season games. The semifinal match was originally scheduled for August 2. However, TeamTennis granted the Breakers' request to push the match back by a day, because South Florida had its final two regular-season matches on the previous two days and wanted an extra day to prepare for the Stars. With the Breakers winning those final two matches, they finished 10–4, one match ahead of the Stars and hosted the semifinal match at Deer Creek Tennis Resort in

Deerfield Beach, Florida Deerfield Beach is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States, just south of the Palm Beach County line. The city is named for the numerous deer that once roamed the area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 86,859. It is a principal ...

. The Stars dominated the match from start to finish and won all five sets on their way to a 30–15 victory. Fleming and Hooper opened the match with a 6–2 set win over Horacio de la Peña and 1988 TeamTennis Male Most Valuable Player Blaine Willenborg in men's doubles. Hooper followed by taking the men's singles set, 6–4, over de la Peña. Byrne and Corwell took care of Susan Mascarin and Heather Ludloff in women's doubles, 6–3, and Byrne dominated Mascarin in the singles, 6–1. The final set of mixed doubles went to a tiebreaker, which was won, 5–3, by Fleming and Byrne over Willenborg and Ludloff. The Stars played the match under protest following the league's decision to postpone it by a day. Stars owner Larry Rosenthal threatened to sue TeamTennis if his team had lost. After the match, he said, "Even with seven days rest, we were still going to beat the heck out of them tonight." On August 7, 1988, the Stars faced the defending champion Charlotte Heat in the TeamTennis Final in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. In a close match, the Heat prevailed, 27–22.

Move to Chatham

In 1989, the Stars relocated to a 1,200-seat grandstand court at the Center Court Tennis Club in

Chatham Borough, New Jersey Chatham is a borough in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, Chatham's population was 8,962,Billie Jean King and International Management Group and would relocate to the Bob Carpenter Center on the campus of the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...

in Newark for the 1996 season. IMG had previously owned the Florida Twist, which folded after the 1995 season. Home matches for the club were played at the DuPont Country Club in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington (Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

in 1998 and 2000 to 2003, the

's Bob Carpenter Center in 1999, and then at courts near

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...

headquarters (2004–2006) before returning to the country club in 2007. During the initial years the Smash played at DuPont Country Club, the matches were played on har-tru club courts. The team transitioned to hard courts when it moved to AstraZeneca, and continued to play on hard courts when it returned to DuPont CC. In order to be in compliance with WTT regulations, a temporary hard court was laid during the summer on two of the courts at the country club.
/sup> On January 30, 2009 the owner announced that the Smash would be closing down due to lack of sponsorship.

Final season squad

Mariaan de Swardt Mariaan de Swardt (born 18 March 1971) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa, who was active from 1988 to 2001. She twice represented her native country at the Summer Olympics, in 1992 and 1996, and was a member of the South ...

, Head Coach *

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. ...

Ryler DeHeart Ryler DeHeart (born March 1, 1984 in Kauai, Hawaii) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached his singles career high ranking of 174 on May 3, 2010. He was coached by Brad Dancer. DeHeart resides in Champaign, Illinois. Profes ...

Christina Fusano Christina Fusano (born November 27, 1980) is an American former professional tennis player. She attended Ponderosa High School in Shingle Springs, California, where she was an all-league volleyball and basketball player. In tennis, she was the ...

Chris Haggard Chris Haggard (born 28 April 1971) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa. After finishing runner-up in the NAIA national men's tennis championship singles draw in 1991 while playing for Auburn University-Montgomery, Hagga ...

Liezel Huber Liezel Huber (née Horn; born 21 August 1976) is a South African-American retired tennis player who represented the United States internationally since August 2007. Huber has won four Grand Slam titles in women's doubles with partner Cara Blac ...

References

External links

* Defunct World TeamTennis teams Sports in Wilmington, Delaware Sports clubs disestablished in 2009 2009 disestablishments in Delaware Sports clubs established in 1987 1987 establishments in New Jersey