Breakers’ time arrives

The Newport Beach Breakers’ season begins tonight at 7 against the Sacramento Capitals at Newport Beach Country Club, where Breakers Stadium has been built.

The new venue is sure to draw some memorable moments with the likes of Anna Kournikova (tonight), Pete Sampras (Tuesday) and Maria Sharapova (July 25) coming. As for the Newport Beach Breakers, they carry high expectations, too. They’re expected to be a work of art, at least in Coach Trevor Kronemann’s eyes.

“If you can paint a perfect picture, it’s been painted,” said Kronemann, the first-year Breakers coach who has been involved with World Team Tennis as a player, commentator and coach for 18 years. “It’s a masterpiece. These guys are all consummate professionals and they all love to compete.”

The Breakers, who won the WTT title in 2004 before losing in the championship match the last two seasons, have a mix of young and old on this year’s incarnation of the squad. On the men’s side, Ramon Delgado and Rick Leach both return.

Delgado, a 30-year-old from Paraguay, has consistently competed in men’s singles for Newport Beach and is in his fourth year with the Breakers. Delgado, who was the WTT Finals MVP in 2004 and had a career-high singles ranking of No. 52 in 1999, is one of the team’s most beloved members. In the past, he has had his own fan club while playing for the Breakers, “Desperate Housewives for Ramon Delgado.”

Kronemann said he’s impressed that Delgado is a fast-starter in the sets, which he said is critical in the WTT format.

“He puts a lot of balls into play,” Kronemann said. “In this format, you don’t have time to work your way into a match. It’s tough to recover from one break of serve. It’s kind of the shooting match at high noon; you take a couple of steps and then ‘bang.’ He puts a lot of balls into play.”

Leach, meanwhile, returns as a doubles specialist for the Breakers. Leach, 42, won five Grand Slam doubles titles and reached the No. 1 doubles ranking in 1990.

“The best way for me to describe Rick is that he’s like that fine wine sitting in the basement,” Kronemann said. “He gets better with age. He’s just kind of a quiet professional who goes about his business. There’s only a handful of great doubles players, and you’d have to put him right up there.”

Pete Sampras, who many consider the greatest tennis player ever, won a record 14 Grand Slam titles. Sampras, 35, joins the Breakers for a home match Tuesday, is also scheduled for three road matches and is looking to rebound from a so-so season last year for Newport Beach.

“In reality, he did underperform last year,” said Kronemann, who coached the Springfield Lasers against Sampras’ Breakers in a 25-12 Newport Beach victory July 16, 2006. “But he’s a champion. He wants to one-up that showing, and he’s been playing a lot. I think Pete’s a little bit more prepared this year. It’s going to be an awesome experience for him to compete here in Newport.”

On the women’s side, there are two newcomers in Michaela Pastikova and Lauren Albanese. Pastikova, 27 and from the Czech Republic, played for the country in the Fed Cup in 1998 and 2004. She has been ranked as high as No. 89 in the world in women’s singles and No. 35 in doubles, both during the 2005 season.

“I really haven’t seen her that much,” Kronemann said. “But she has the ranking and the respect of the other players on the WTA Tour.”

Albanese, 17, was born in Florida and still resides there. She won an International Tennis Federation (ITF) event in Wichita last July and, playing in her first tour-level main draw, reached the second round at the U.S. Open last August.

“She’s really feisty and loves to compete,” Kronemann said. “She’s an up-and-coming player who has yet to hit her stride, and she has a great personality.”

Add in Maria Sharapova, the No. 2-ranked women’s player in the world who will play a home date with the Breakers on July 25, and the prognosis looks bright.

Kronemann said Sacramento, the five-time WTT champion who the Breakers play at home tonight and on Tuesday, is probably the toughest competition in the Western Conference. That makes the first week of the season critical.

The Breakers also play at Sacramento on July 21, a match where the Capitals are expected to have former Grand Slam champion Lindsay Davenport, who is married to Rick Leach’s brother, John.

“They have lots of experience and they’re very good in this format,” Kronemann said. “They’re always very tough, but we have a good chance to bring the World Team Tennis title back to Newport Beach.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or at [email protected].