Breakers hoping for diamond in rough

Preparing for a sports draft, wether it’s fantasy or real, is like

cramming for year-ending exams. There are long nights studying. At

times, you suffer from information overload. Then, finally, the big

day comes. It’s Draft Day. Tensions rise, pressure builds, your hands

get sweaty.

You wonder if the players you yearn for most will still be on the

board when it’s your pick.

For the Newport Beach Breakers, the newest World Team Tennis

franchise, it’s not a typical draft, in which you anxiously await

your turn at a No. 1 pick. They already know the score. It’s a matter

of filling out the roster as deemed most appropriate by the league.

It will be the first time out of the draft chute for Breakers

General Manager Lisa Fortman, who has sworn to confidentiality and

cannot talk about any possible players, aside from the team’s already

signed marquee player -- Lindsay Davenport, who will play two of

seven home matches for the Breakers in July when the season heats up

at Palisades Tennis Club.

The Breakers are one of three league owned and operated teams,

along with the Delaware Smash and Philadelphia Freedoms, named for

Elton John, league executive director and co-founder Billie Jean

King’s longtime friend and supporter. Jeff Harrison, who manages both

the Delaware and Philadelphia franchises for the league, will work

closely with King and Fortman on Draft Day, which will be conducted

Wednesday.

“We’re going to be following a lot of what the two other

successful programs do out there,” Fortman said. “(Harrison) is our

blueprint. He’s a lot of what we do between the league and the other

two franchises ... you stick with a good thing when it has proven to

be successful. This is Jeff’s third team, and I’m looking at his

direction and the league’s direction as one of the three league

teams.”

After a nine-year absence, Newport Beach is back in World Team

Tennis. The team has already announced it will be selecting Davenport

as their No. 1 draft pick.

Davenport, who has plans [according to an insider] this month to

marry former USC All-American and Adoption Guild Tennis Tournament

champion Jon Leach, played last year for the New York Buzz. The team

traded her rights to Newport Beach in exchange for their first round

pick in the draft. The Buzz will now have the fourth pick in round

one.

Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Davenport have already committed to

the 2003 season. Other top players expected to throw their names into

the draft pool include Meghann Shaughnessy, John McEnroe, James

Blake, and Martina Navratilova.

The draft is comprised of four or five rounds with the top pick

going to the Kansas City Explorers for the second consecutive year.

Returning franchises have the right to protect players from the

previous year’s roster. Teams draft in reverse order of the 2002

regular-season final standings.

The league has already announced the defending champion Sacramento

Capitals have protected the rights to Agassi. In addition, the St.

Louis Aces have protected the rights to Roddick.

World Team Tennis, entering its 23rd season, runs July 7-27 with

the top teams from each conference (Eastern and Western) advancing to

the season-ending championship.

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The Newport Beach Breakers will probably announce a coach soon,

but don’t expect Robert Van’t Hof’s name to come up, because the

local resident and former Davenport coach is reportedly committed to

following his son, Kaes, compete in national tournaments in the

summer. Kaes Van’t Hof, a Mater Dei High standout, is ranked 24th in

the nation in the boys 16s.

A source close to the franchise said former USC Coach and

Palisades member Dick Leach and Newport Beach Tennis Club Director of

Tennis Scott Davis are two candidates to coach the Breakers.