Mylan World TeamTennis celebrates its 40th birthday this year. For more on WTT, including this season's schedule, click here.
For 12 years, Wayne Bryan was the face of one of Mylan WTT’s most successful franchises in Sacramento. Long before guiding the Capitals to two King Trophies and earning three Coach of the Year awards, Bryan was simply a fan of the World TeamTennis format. He and wife Kathy took their sons, Bob and Mike, to see the Los Angeles Strings. It was at the Forum where Bryan imagined himself and his boys standing in the shoes of coach John Lloyd and headliner Jimmy Connors.
“It really inspired Mike and Bob. They used to watch the LA Strings,” Bryan tells WTT.com. “We would be sitting there watching and I had a dream that I’d love to coach World TeamTennis and have my boys be good enough to play. Lo and behold, they played for me in Idaho in their first season.”
Bryan was at the helm for the Idaho Sneakers in 1999 when Bob and Mike made their Mylan WTT debuts. He had a second opportunity to coach when he was appointed to lead Sacramento in 2002. It was a match made in heaven, as Bryan guided the franchise to its fifth championship in six seasons. Five years later, he tasted an even sweeter victory by winning a second title in front of a sold-out home crowd.
“Without a doubt, my two highlights were winning the title in 2002 and 2007,” says Bryan. “I will never forget in 2007, when we won in Sacramento, the fireworks went off and I was sitting on the bench basking. People were coming up to me and then that darn gone Sam Warburg got a huge jug of Gatorade and dumped it on my head. I was freezing the rest of the night, as it was kind of cool that evening. I’ll never forget that massive chill with that wonderful thrill of winning the title.
“I was fortunate to have many great coaches to coach against over the years, too. I had great marquee players come to Sacramento like Andre Agassi, Venus and Serena and Mike and Bob. That was always wild and woolly when they came to play against me.”
A longstanding supporter of the innovations WTT brings to the sport and the platform it provides for doubles stalwarts like his children, Bryan is confident the league will continue to be on the cutting edge. “I love World TeamTennis. They’ve always been the first innovator,” Bryan says. “They were the first one to have color and music on the changeovers, ShotSpot was theirs. I think they’ll continue to be innovative. It’s certainly a strong, viable league right now with great people.”