2022 World Tennis League Explained

The 2022 World Tennis League was a non-ATP/WTA-affiliated exhibition mixed-gender team tennis tournament. It was the inaugural edition of the World Tennis League. The event was held on hard court at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 19 until 24 December 2022.^[1]

Team Hawks, composed of Alexander Zverev, Elena Rybakina, Dominic Thiem and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, won the title,^[2] after defeating Team Kites (Félix Auger-Aliassime, Iga Świątek, Holger Rune and Sania Mirza) in the final, 32-25.

Format

18 players were drawn into four teams (Falcons, Eagles, Kites, Hawks). The teams played each other in a round-robin format that consist of one men’s singles match, one women’s singles match and a mixed doubles match. They got one point for each game they win in a tie, plus one bonus point for a win in a third-set match tiebreak and five bonus points for winning the tie.^[3] Following the round-robin phase, the top two teams faced off in the final on 24 December 2022.^[4]

Teams and players

	Falcons	Eagles	Kites	Hawks
width=180	Player !	Rank	width=180	Player !	Rank	width=180	Player !	Rank	width=180	Player !	Rank
Men #1		align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	5		align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	22		align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	6		12
Women #1		align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	5		align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	4		align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	1		21
Men #2		align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	28		align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	354		align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	11		102
Women #2		align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	13		align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	46		align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	–		368
Men #3			align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	–	Sebastian Ofner	align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	193
Women #3				align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"	327

Results

19 December 2022: Kites def. Eagles 35–27

Event	width=250	Kites !	width=250	Eagles !	width=130	Score !	width=60	Games !	width=60	Bonus !	width=60	Total
Mixed doubles	E Bouchard / H Rune	B Andreescu / N Kyrgios	2–6, 3–6	5–12	–	5–12
Women's singles	Iga Świątek	Caroline Garcia	6–3, 6–4	12–7	–	17–19
Men's singles	Félix Auger-Aliassime	Nick Kyrgios	7–5, 6–3	13–8	–	30–27
Tie winning bonus					5–0	35–27

20 December 2022: Hawks def. Falcons 35–27

Event	width=250	Hawks !	width=250	Falcons !	width=130	Score !	width=60	Games !	width=60	Bonus !	width=60	Total
Mixed doubles	A Pavlyuchenkova / D Thiem	P Badosa / G Dimitrov	7–5, 3–6, [4–10]	10–12	0–1	10–13
Women's singles	Elena Rybakina	Aryna Sabalenka	0–6, 6–1, [10–6]	7–7	1–0	18–20
Men's singles	Alexander Zverev	Novak Djokovic	6–3, 6–4	12–7	–	30–27
Tie winning bonus					5–0	35–27

21 December 2022: Eagles def. Falcons 38–31

Event	width=250	Eagles !	width=250	Falcons !	width=130	Score !	width=60	Games !	width=60	Bonus !	width=60	Total
Mixed doubles	B Andreescu / R Bopanna	A Sabalenka / G Dimitrov	6–2, 6–7^(4–7), [7–10]	12–10	0–1	12–11
Women's singles	Caroline Garcia	Paula Badosa	6–4, 6–3	12–7	–	24–18
Men's singles	Nick Kyrgios	Grigor Dimitrov	6–7^(5–7), 3–6	9–13	–	33–31
Tie winning bonus					5–0	38–31

22 December 2022: Kites def. Hawks 42–31

Event	width=250	Kites !	width=250	Hawks !	width=130	Score !	width=60	Games !	width=60	Bonus !	width=60	Total
Mixed doubles	S Mirza / F Auger-Aliassime	E Rybakina / A Zverev	5–7, 6–3, [5–10]	11–11	0–1	11–12
Women's singles	Iga Świątek	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	6–4, 6–3	12–7	–	23–19
Men's singles	Félix Auger-Aliassime	Dominic Thiem	7–6^(7–2), 7–6^(7–6)	14–12	–	37–31
Tie winning bonus					5–0	42–31

23 December 2022: Hawks def. Eagles 40–24

Event	width=250	Hawks !	width=250	Eagles !	width=130	Score !	width=60	Games !	width=60	Bonus !	width=60	Total
Mixed doubles	A Pavlyuchenkova / D Thiem	B Andreescu / N Kyrgios	4–6, 6–4, [7–10]	10–11	0–1	10–12
Women's singles	Elena Rybakina	Caroline Garcia	7–5, 6–1	13–6	–	23–18
Men's singles	Alexander Zverev	Andreas Seppi	6–4, 6–2	12–6	–	35–24
Tie winning bonus					5–0	40–24

23 December 2022: Kites def. Falcons 36–26

Event	width=250	Kites !	width=250	Falcons !	width=130	Score !	width=60	Games !	width=60	Bonus !	width=60	Total
Mixed doubles	S Mirza / H Rune	P Badosa / G Dimitrov	6–2, 4–6, [10–5]	11–8	1–0	12–8
Women's singles	Iga Świątek	Aryna Sabalenka	6–1, 6–3	12–4	–	24–12
Men's singles	Sebastian Ofner	Novak Djokovic	7–6^(7–5), 0–6, [7–10]	7–13	0–1	31–26
Tie winning bonus					5–0	36–26

Standings

A team received 5 bonus points for each tie won and 1 bonus point for each third-set match tiebreak won.^[3] The top two teams qualified for the final.

Rank	width=100	Team	width=70	Ties win–loss	width=70	Games won	width=70	Bonus points	width=70	Points total
1	Kites	3–0	97	16	113
2	Hawks	2–1	94	12	106
3	Eagles	1–2	83	6	89
4	Falcons	0–3	81	3	84

Final

24 December 2022: Hawks def. Kites 32–25

Event	width=260	Hawks !	width=260	Kites !	width=110	Score !	width=60	Games !	width=60	Bonus !	width=60	Total
Women's singles	Elena Rybakina	Iga Świątek	6–3, 6–1	12–4	–	12–4
Men's singles	Alexander Zverev	Félix Auger-Aliassime	4–6, 3–6	7–12	–	19–16
Mixed doubles	A Pavlyuchenkova / D Thiem	S Mirza / H Rune	7–6^(7–4), 6–3	13–9	–	32–25

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: Nick Kyrgios excited for Wimbledon final "rematch" with Novak Djokovic in World Tennis League. sportskeeda. 17 November 2022.
2. Web site: High-flying Hawks steal the show in Dubai. Kaleej Times. 24 December 2022.
3. Web site: The Kites rally to clinch victory on the opening night of World Tennis League. Gulf News. 19 December 2022.
4. Web site: Novak Djokovic, Iga Swiatek at World Tennis League, Rafael Nadal v Casper Ruud: Who's playing which exhibition?. Eurosport. 16 November 2022.