2012 Record: 8-6 (1st in the West, L Conference Championships)
Owner: World TeamTennis
Key Additions: Coco Vandeweghe, Steve Johnson
Key Losses: Anna-Lena Groenefeld, John-Patrick Smith
Returners: None
Head Coach: Trevor Kronemann
The Orange County Breakers had a successful 2012 season before suffering a surprising loss in the Western Conference Championship to their in-state rival, the Sacramento Capitals.
As they begin the 2013 season, they will have to regroup with a brand new line-up led by California native Coco Vandeweghe. Vandeweghe is comfortable playing under the California sun; she made a run to the finals of the WTA event in Stanford last summer. Most recently, she took 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova to three sets at the All-England Club, so she will be high on confidence heading into another season of Mylan WTT.
Subbing for Vandeweghe later in the season will be Latvia’s Liga Dekmeijere. Dekmeijere is a doubles specialist, with 19 ITF doubles titles to her name and a career high WTA ranking of No. 54 (April 2010). The Latvian is no stranger to the Mylan WTT format; in her debut season she was named the 2009 Rookie of the Year.
Another Orange County newcomer is Steve Johnson. The American also had a successful grass-court season, taking an ATP Challenger title in Nottingham to make his top 100 debut and stretching Washington Kastle Bobby Reynolds to five sets at Wimbledon. He will partner with a rising doubles player in Treat Huey. The Philippine star was a finalist at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells and recently reached the Wimbledon third round.
Rounding out the wave of new Breakers is Maria Elena Camerin, who is in the midst of a career resurgence. After making a quarterfinal at the WTA event in Katowice as a qualifier, Camerin continued her good form into Wimbledon, where she came through the qualifying rounds and pushed a big name in Dominika Cibulkova.
Breakers head coach Trevor Kronemann thinks the revamped team is very well-rounded and hopes they can continue the form established by their predecessors. “This is one of the strongest teams we have had in Orange County in a long time. It is difficult to find a weakness in any of our five sets. The dynamic and understanding of what it takes to be on a team is already in place. We will pull from those experiences and each other as the season unfolds.”
From Kronemann’s comments, it’s clear that the Breakers will be looking for revenge against the team that kept them from a meeting with the Kastles in the 2012 Mylan WTT finals.
“The matches that seem to always hit the radar are our matches with Sacramento. The rivalry has been built over the years and seems to come down to how well we preform against them. Last year during the regular season we had the better record, unfortunately in the play-offs they beat us in South Carolina. It looks like all of the teams in the Western Conference have good teams and it will be competitive. It will come down to the team that can stick together and rely on a different hero night in and night out.”
The Breakers have a history of success, but will have to hit the ground running with their new line-up as the season begins if they hope to go further than last year.