In a perfect world, all fathers would have shared their honorary day this past weekend with their children and families.  The day would revolve around families devoting their love, happiness and joy to their wonderful fathers.  

 

But like all dreams, the world isn’t a utopia and sometimes, fathers can’t be home on their special day.  Professional athletes often find themselves in this position, as they are constantly on the road, in different time zones, working hard to provide for their families.  Tennis players generally miss a majority of observed holidays and occasions, given the length of their season and continuous weekly appearances in events.  Wimbledon offers players an exceptional opportunity to spend their time off the court with their loved ones, as many competing in the tournament at the All England Club rent out houses or apartments in the Wimbledon Village to enable their friends and family to stay with them.  It’s a rare occurrence for tennis professionals to come home to a support system after a day’s work on the courts, which is why so many players consider Wimbledon their favorite tournament.

Like Wimbledon, World TeamTennis creates a family friendly environment.  Despite some of the hectic travel schedules during the WTT season, many of the player’s spouses, children, parents, siblings and close friends are right there supporting the one they love.  Some players even lease a place for a month in their home team’s city so that their families have a stable residence for a few weeks.  It allows fathers (and mothers) playing WTT to let their children see their parent’s job in action.  WTT Pro League teams make sure to accommodate the player’s children with fun-filled activities, such as face-painting and coloring books, as it’s never easy for an energy-filled kid to watch three hours of tennis!

We’d like to salute all of our players and coaches who are fathers. Check out how many WTT players are dads!

Players

Coaches

• Chuck Adams (NY Sportimes) – son Charlie, 1.
• Wayne Bryan (Sacramento Capitals) – twin sons Mike and Bob, 32. (Mike is 2 minutes older!)
• Brent Haygarth (Kansas City Explorers) – sons Courtlin, 14, and Miles, 12.
• Murphy Jensen (Washington Kastles) - son William, 10.
• Trevor Kronemann (Newport Beach Breakers) – daughters Anika, 10, and Nadia, 5; son Nik, 3.
• Rick Leach (St. Louis Aces) – daughter Paulina Christine, 16.
• Bud Schultz (Boston Lobsters) - sons Christo and Luke; daughter Hailey.

“What To Watch For – Day One”

Wimbledon begins on Monday and two 2010 WTT Marquee Players will be on Court 1 to begin their campaigns for a title.  Andy Roddick (Philadelphia Freedoms) plays American Rajeev Ram and Venus Williams (Washington Kastles) follows against Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay.

2009 Wimbledon Girls' Junior Champion Noppawan “Nok” Lertcheewakarn (Philadelphia Freedoms) makes her main draw major debut against Andrea Hlavackova on Court 14.

Other WTT players in action include the Freedoms’ Ramon Delgado, who earned entry as a lucky loser.  He faces Russia’s Teimuraz Gabashvili on Court 6. Qualifier Jesse Witten (NY Sportimes) squares off against Frenchman Michael Llodra, who is coming off a title at Eastbourne.  The two are third up on Court 8.  Jarmila Groth (Kansas City Explorers), who hopes to build on a breakout performance at the French Open where she reached the 4^th round, plays Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic, last up on Court 15.