Stevie Johnson World Team Tennis MVP 2021 • With the Winning Orange County Team And Legend Ricky Leach as Captain

2021 WTT Finals 

Presented by Guaranteed Rate

Orange County Breakers 21, Springfield Lasers 13

Men’s Singles: Steve Johnson (Breakers) def. Denis Kudla (Lasers) 5-2

Women’s Singles: Tatjana Maria (Breakers) def. Asia Muhammad (Lasers) 5-2

Men’s Doubles: Steve Johnson/Austin Krajicek (Breakers) def. Marcelo Arevalo/Denis Kudla (Lasers) 5-1

Mixed Doubles: Marcelo Arevalo/Giuliana Olmos (Lasers) def. Austin Krajicek/Desirae Krawczyk (Breakers) 5-1Women’s Doubles: Desirae Krawczyk/Tatjana Maria (Breakers) def. Asia Muhammad/Giuliana Olmos (Lasers) 5-3

The Orange County Breakers claimed their third World TeamTennis title in franchise victory with a 21-13 win over the Springfield Lasers in the 2021 WTT Finals Presented by Guaranteed Rate on Sunday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Steve Johnson was awarded the 2021 WTT MVP after clinching his second career WTT title, finishing second in the league in men’s singles winning percentage at 57.7%. Orange County coach Rick Leach won his second title as coach of the Breakers and is one of four coaches in league history to win a title as a coach and a player, claiming the title as a player in 1996 with the St. Louis Aces.

Johnson and Tatjana Maria helped the Breakers jump out to a 10-4 lead with their victories in their singles matches, with Johnson and doubles partner Austin Krajicek following up with a win in men’s doubles to give Orange County a commanding lead at halftime. Marcelo Arevalo and Giuliana Olmos, the 2021 US Open mixed doubles finalists, helped the Lasers get some momentum going into the final set with a 5-1 win in mixed doubles. Coachella Valley native and three-time Major mixed doubles champion Desirae Krawczyk and Maria closed out the final set with a women’s doubles victory that allowed Orange County to clinch its first WTT title since 2017.

After playing 2 weeks and 3 weekends in the California Desert team tennis is finally over for 2021. 

The teams’ players kept changing but other than some marquee names there were a lot of players no one had heard much about. 

The tennis was good. The schedule was not. The ticket prices were high and the promotion was minimal. The weather was as nice as it could be for November. 

It was the first tourney we ever saw that sold blankets.  

The format is still good after 40 years but the matches were scheduled late in the day and in the evening. Originally it was a day session and night session then they combined the 2 sessions.

Sadly they had a few hundred people as spectators most of the days. The TV doesn’t lie we saw an almost empty stadium until finally a few clubs got together and came if you saw a “clump” of fans.

Only having 5 teams also made it slightly boring watching same teams all those days… hope they maybe understand marketing better if there’s to be a 2022 season. Hope the prices are lower and that they use an option of printed tickets versus only digital tickets.  The ticketing system was down sometimes for days, it required a smart phone and downloading 2 apps to access the venue (one for the ticket “AXS” and Covid19 clearance “CLEAR”).  CLEAR required your vax info sent to them as well as your photo. 

The demographics in Indian Wells don’t necessarily fit that technology. Discretionary spending needs to make tennis realize it’s in the hospitality business. 

We still say the best part of the event was the “CITI Taste of Tennis” party and Kim Clijsters still playing some great tennis!

Highlights

Season MVP: Steve Johnson (Orange County Breakers) Johnson finished second in World TeamTennis in men’s singles winning percentage at 57.7% and a 60-44 games record in 2021. The 2013 WTT Male Rookie of the Year also compiled a 55-50 games record in men’s doubles for a 52.4% winning percentage. In addition to winning 115 total games in WTT this season, Johnson has won four singles titles and one doubles title on the ATP Tour along with finishing as a two-time US Open doubles semifinalist.

Orange County won its third title in franchise history (2004, 2017, 2021).

Breakers’ coach Rick Leach won his second title as a coach and third title overall (1996, St. Louis Aces Player, 2017 + 2021, Orange County Breakers Coach)