1976 World Team Tennis season
| 1976 World Team Tennis season | |
|---|---|
| League | World Team Tennis |
| Sport | Team tennis |
| Duration | May 1 – August 27, 1976 |
| Number of matches | Regular season: 220 (44 for each team) scheduled; 219 played Postseason: minimum of 7, maximum of 11; 8 actually played |
| Number of teams | 10 |
| World Team Tennis Player Draft | |
| Top draft pick |
 Linky Boshoff
|
| Picked by | San Diego Friars |
| Regular season | |
| Top seed | New York Sets |
| Season MVP | Male:  Sandy MayerFemale: Chris Evert
|
| Eastern Division | |
| Season champions | New York Sets |
| Runners-up | Pittsburgh Triangles |
| Western Division | |
| Season champions | Phoenix Racquets |
| Runners-up | San Francisco Golden Gaters |
| Division Championship Series | |
| Eastern Division champions | New York Sets |
| Western Division champions | San Francisco Golden Gaters |
| World Team Tennis Finals | |
| Venue |
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (deciding Match 3) Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena (Matches 1 and 2) |
| Champions | New York Sets |
| Runners-up | San Francisco Golden Gaters |
| Playoff MVPs | Male: Sandy Mayer Female: Billie Jean King
|
The 1976 World Team Tennis season was the third season of the top professional team tennis league in the United States. Led by regular season and playoff male most valuable player Sandy Mayer and female playoff most valuable player Billie Jean King, the New York Sets swept the San Francisco Golden Gaters in the WTT Finals to win the league championship.
The 1976 World Team Tennis season included 10 teams split into two divisions (Eastern and Western). Each team was scheduled to play a regular-season schedule of 44 matches.
The top two teams in each division qualified for the playoffs and met each other in the division championship series. The first-place team was given a choice of hosting either the first and third or second and third matches of the series. The division champions met in the best-of-five World Team Tennis Finals with the lower seed hosting the first two matches and the higher seed hosting the remaining matches.
Each match comprised one set each of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. Starting with this season, the order of play for the entire match was determined by the coach of the home team. Games were decided by the first player or doubles team to reach four points with no-ad scoring. Each set ended when one team had won either six or seven games and had an advantage over its opponent of at least two games. Sets that were tied 6–6 were decided by a tiebreaker. Set tiebreaker games were nine total points with the first player or doubles team to reach five the winner. An advantage of only one point was needed to win a tiebreaker game. Starting this season, if the team that won the final set was trailing in the match, the match went to overtime with the same players who participated in the final set remaining on the court. The leading team was required to win a game to end the match. If the match was tied at the end of five sets, or if the trailing team won enough games in overtime to tie the match, a super tiebreaker game was played between the players who participated in the final set using the same format as the set tiebreaker games.
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