2023 World Tennis League Explained

The 2023 World Tennis League was a non-ATP/WTA-affiliated exhibition mixed-gender team tennis tournament. It was the second edition of the World Tennis League. The event was held on hard court at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 21 until 24 December 2023.[1]

Defending champions, Team Hawks, failed to qualify for the final, winning only one of three ties.

Team Eagles, composed of Daniil Medvedev, Sofia Kenin, Andrey Rublev and Mirra Andreeva, won the title, defeating Team Kites (Stefanos Tsitsipas, Aryna Sabalenka, Grigor Dimitrov and Paula Badosa) in the final, 29–26.[2]

Format

The teams played each other in a round-robin format. The ties consisted of five sets, each with one men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles match. They got one point for each game they won in a tie. If the team that won the fifth set was leading the tie, the tie was over. If the team that won the fifth set was trailing in the match, the match went to overtime. If the leading team won one game in overtime, it won the match tie. If the overall game score became equal, a first to 10 'super shoot-out tiebreak' was played, which was worth one game point plus two bonus points.

Following the round-robin phase, the top two teams faced off in the final on 24 December 2023.[3]

Teams and players

16 players were drawn into four teams (Eagles, Falcons, Hawks, Kites).[4]

Eagles Falcons Hawks Kites
width=160Player !Rank width=160Player !Rank width=160Player !Rank width=160Player !Rank
Men #1 align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"3 align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"10 align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"9 6
Men #2 Andrey Rublev5 align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"138 align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"11 14
Women #1 align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"33 align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"4 align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"1 2
Women #2 align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"57 align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"26 align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"20 64
Alternate align=center style="border-right: 1pt black solid"272 140

Results

21 December 2023: Falcons def. Hawks 27–24
width=120 Event !width=300 Falcons !width=300 Hawks !width=60 Score !width=70 Total
Men's doubles Taylor Fritz / Sumit Nagal Hubert Hurkacz / Casper Ruud7–6(8–6)7–6
Mixed doubles Sorana Cîrstea / Taylor Fritz Caroline Garcia / Hubert Hurkacz6–213–8
Women's doubles Sorana Cîrstea / Elena Rybakina Caroline Garcia / Iga Świątek6–419–12
Men's singles Taylor Fritz Casper Ruud1–620–18
Women's singles Elena Rybakina Iga Świątek4–624–24
Super shoot-out Elena Rybakina Iga Świątek[10–8]25–24
Super shoot-out tiebreak winning bonus2–027–24
21 December 2023: Kites def. Eagles 27–22
width=120 Event !width=300 Kites !width=300 Eagles !width=60 Score !width=70 Total
Women's doubles Paula Badosa / Aryna Sabalenka Mirra Andreeva / Sofia Kenin6–36–3
Mixed doubles Paula Badosa / Stefanos Tsitsipas Sofia Kenin / Daniil Medvedev6–412–7
Men's doubles Grigor Dimitrov / Stefanos Tsitsipas Daniil Medvedev / Andrey Rublev6–7(3–7)18–14
Men's singles Grigor Dimitrov Andrey Rublev3–621–20
Women's singles Aryna Sabalenka Mirra Andreeva6–227–22
22 December 2023: Kites def. Falcons 33–30
width=120 Event !width=300 Kites !width=300 Falcons !width=60 Score !width=70 Total
Women's doubles Paula Badosa / Aryna Sabalenka Sorana Cîrstea / Elena Rybakina6–7(5–7)6–7
Men's doubles Grigor Dimitrov / Lloyd Harris Taylor Fritz / Sumit Nagal6–7(5–7)12–14
Mixed doubles Paula Badosa / Lloyd Harris Sorana Cîrstea / Taylor Fritz5–717–21
Men's singles Grigor Dimitrov Taylor Fritz6–323–24
Women's singles Aryna Sabalenka Elena Rybakina7–6(7–2)30–30
Super shoot-out Aryna Sabalenka Elena Rybakina[10–6]31–30
Super shoot-out tiebreak winning bonus2–033–30
22 December 2023: Eagles def. Hawks 31–28
width=120 Event !width=300 Eagles !width=300 Hawks !width=60 Score !width=70 Total
Mixed doubles Mirra Andreeva / Andrey Rublev Iga Świątek / Hubert Hurkacz2–62–6
Women's doubles Mirra Andreeva / Sofia Kenin Caroline Garcia / Iga Świątek6–48–10
Men's doubles Daniil Medvedev / Andrey Rublev Hubert Hurkacz / Casper Ruud7–6(7–1)15–16
Women's singles Sofia Kenin Caroline Garcia7–522–21
Men's singles Daniil Medvedev Hubert Hurkacz6–7(4–7)28–28
Super shoot-out Daniil Medvedev Hubert Hurkacz1–0(10–4)29–28
Super shoot-out tiebreak winning bonus2–031–28
23 December 2023: Eagles def. Falcons 22–18
width=120 Event !width=300 Eagles !width=300 Falcons !width=60 Score !width=70 Total
Mixed doubles Mirra Andreeva / Andrey Rublev Vera Zvonareva / Taylor Fritzcancelled
Women's doubles Mirra Andreeva / Sofia Kenin Sorana Cîrstea / Vera Zvonareva6–46–4
Men's doubles Daniil Medvedev / Andrey Rublev Taylor Fritz / Sumit Nagal6–412–8
Women's singles Sofia Kenin Sorana Cîrstea6–418–12
Men's singles Daniil Medvedev Taylor Fritz3–621–18
Overtime Daniil Medvedev Taylor Fritz1–022–18
23 December 2023: Hawks def. Kites 20–19
width=120 Event !width=300 Hawks !width=300 Kites !width=60 Score !width=70 Total
Men's doubles Hubert Hurkacz / Casper Ruud Grigor Dimitrov / Lloyd Harris4–64–6
Mixed doubles Caroline Garcia / Hubert Hurkacz Paula Badosa / Lloyd Harriscancelled
Women's doubles Caroline Garcia / Iga Świątek Paula Badosa / Aryna Sabalenka6–310–9
Women's singles Iga Świątek Aryna Sabalenka4–614–15
Men's singles Casper Ruud Grigor Dimitrov6–420–19

Standings

A team received 2 bonus points for each super shoot-out tiebreak won. The top two teams qualified for the final.

Rankwidth=100 Teamwidth=70 Tieswidth=70 Gameswidth=70 Bonus
points
width=70 Points
total
1Kites2–177–72279
2Eagles2–173–73275
3Falcons1–273–77275
4Hawks1–272–73072

Final

24 December 2023: Eagles def. Kites 29–26
width=120 Event !width=300 Eagles !width=300 Kites !width=60 Score !width=70 Total
Mixed doubles Mirra Andreeva / Daniil Medvedev Paula Badosa / Stefanos Tsitsipas6–7(5–7)6–7
Women's doubles Mirra Andreeva / Sofia Kenin Paula Badosa / Aryna Sabalenka7–513–12
Men's doubles Daniil Medvedev / Andrey Rublev Grigor Dimitrov / Lloyd Harris6–319–15
Women's singles Sofia Kenin Aryna Sabalenka6–425–19
Men's singles Andrey Rublev Grigor Dimitrov3–628–25
Overtime Andrey Rublev Grigor Dimitrov1–129–26

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: World Tennis League comes to Abu Dhabi for Season 2 in December 2023. Zawya. 26 July 2023.
  2. Web site: World Tennis League: Kenin inspires Eagles to lift trophy. Tennis Majors. 24 December 2023.
  3. Web site: World Tennis League 2023: Players, teams, schedule, order of play and more. Sportskeeda. 21 December 2023.
  4. Web site: 2023 World Tennis League Draw - Tsitsipas & Badosa Teamed Up. Yardbreaker. 11 November 2023.