Vegas Rollers coach says safety bubble could be idea worth keeping

Instead of the finals from Wimbledon Sunday, tennis fans in dire need of a serve-and-volley transfusion will have to settle for the World Team Tennis opener pitting the Vegas Rollers against the expansion Chicago Smash (or two other televised WTT matches).

The coronavirus takes no prisoners.

This is the first time Wimbledon has been canceled since World War II. It also is the first time WTT, which has carried on in various shades of obscurity since 1974, will play its entire season in a health bubble.

It also raises an intriguing question. If all goes well at The Greenbrier in West Virginia, could convening at a neutral site be something the tennis teamsters (and others on the sports periphery) consider on a permanent basis amid a reimagining of the games people play?

“I think if it does well with the TV audience, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it continue like this,” said the Rollers’ Australian-born coach Tim Blenkiron, who teamed with Luke Smith to win the 1997 NCAA doubles championship at UNLV.

“Obviously, you can understand the reason for the way they did it before — so many cities could watch, be exposed to it. But if they can get it done on TV, and it’s better for the players and safer, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it move that way full-time.”

Aces round the clock

This year, the entire season — 63 matches among nine teams plus playoffs — will be jammed into 19 consecutive days at The Greenbrier, a resort built on 11,000 acres in the Allegheny Mountains where Sam Snead, Tom Watson and Lee Trevino have held the title of golf pro emeritus.

Blenkiron said if one has to be confined to a bubble for two-plus weeks, none may be more luxurious than the one at The Greenbrier.

“I think playing in the one spot is going to be pretty awesome, and being able to televise three matches (per day) is going to be great for tennis fans,” Blenkiron said.

Without totally thinking it through, he agreed one could make a strong case for removing the bubble when Dr. Anthony Fauci says it is OK to do so and conducting every season in communal fashion.

“The big challenge last year was the travel, and they threw us in the deep end by making us play in five cities in five nights — that was our introduction to World Team Tennis,” Blenkiron said of the itinerant mixed-gender league that has teams in New York; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Orlando, Florida; Chicago; Springfield, Missouri; Las Vegas; San Diego and Orange County, California.

Normally played during a summer break in the Association of Tennis Professionals and Women’s Tennis Association schedules, WTT in its past iterations has attracted some of the game’s greatest players and personalities — Billie Jean King, Rod Laver, Chris Evert, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Martina Navratilova, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Maria Sharapova and Venus and Serena Williams, to name a few.

Chest bumps verboten

But instead of a showcase for stars, the WTT season is expected to serve as a trial bubble for this year’s U.S. Open, as well as a blueprint for similar biospheres being constructed for the continuation of the NBA and NHL seasons.

That it is happening at The Greenbrier is perhaps no coincidence. During the 18th century, when it was known as White Sulpher Springs, people of means would spend the summer “taking the waters” at the hideaway to relieve rheumatism and other diseases during the “sickly season.”

A 2,500-seat tennis stadium — WTT matches will be limited to 500 spectators practicing social distance — did not exist then, so it is doubtful people of that era touched rackets in lieu of shaking hands to eliminate the spread of disease, which is now the protocol.

Francis Tiafone, rated No. 81 in the world, already has been banned from playing in WTT matches for the Washington Kastles. The young American tested positive for COVID-19 after defeating the Rollers’ Sam Querrey in an exhibition tournament in Atlanta last weekend.

Blenkiron said social distancing rules will prevent the Rollers’ popular Bryan brothers, Bob and Mike, from punctuating points with exuberant chest bumps, as well as rein in his own enthusiasm for a well-placed passing shot.

“No high-fives, no hugs — which is going to be very difficult for me, mate, I’ve got to be honest with you,” he said of playing tennis in a bubble, which, he still believes, is better than not playing at all.

Contact Ron Kantowski at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow @ronkantowski on Twitter.