This article appeared in the online edition of the "Daily Gazette" on April 5, 2000



Pierce to play for Electrics 

"I think it's going to be a great season, and I think we did a good job recruiting some names to come 
here and play." 
Nitty Singh
Electrics general manager


By BILL BUELL
Gazette Sportswriter

Martina Navratilova will be back, Mary Pierce will be her teammate and Monica Seles will make an 
appearance as a member of the opposition when World TeamTennis begins its sixth season this summer at 
Schenectady's Central Park.

Navratilova returns to the Schenectady County Electrics lineup in July, and may play as many as five 
home matches. Also donning an Electrics uniform in July will be Pierce, ranked fourth in the world. 
She will play one home match at Central Park, while Seles, a member of the Hartford FoxForce, will
play one away match for her team in Schenectady.

"I think it's going to be a great season, and I think we did a good job recruiting some names to come 
here and play," said Nitty Singh, general manager of the Electrics. "We're going to have the three M's 
- Martina, Mary and Monica. To get those three is unbelievable."

World TeamTennis conducted its marquee player draft Tuesday in Chicago, and along with Pierce, 
Navratilova and Seles, both Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, and two-time French Open champion Jim 
Courier have signed on to play WTT this summer. They won't, however, be playing in Schenectady.

The Williams sisters will play one home and away match for their respective teams (Serena for the
Delaware Smash, and Venus for the St. Louis Aces), while Courier will play three home matches for the 
New York Hamptons, Patrick McEnroe's new WTT franchise, and one away match.

Pierce, whose only Grand Slam title came at the 1995 Australian Open, is 25 and still one of the game's 
biggest stars. She was the second pick in Tuesday's draft, by the Kansas City Explorers, after St. 
Louis took Venus Williams. The Explorers then traded Pierce to Schenectady for financial considerations.
Singh used her first-round selection, picking sixth, to protect the rights to Navratilova.

Mary was considering playing last year, and there was some talk about her coming here," said Singh, who
declined to discuss details of the deal. "We had the opportunity this year, so we made a deal with them. 
She's a great player, and it's going to be great to have her here."

Pierce also will play an away match for the Electrics, but the dates of both of her WTT appearances 
won't be finalized until the schedule is completed next week.

Seles, a nine-time Grand Slam singles champion, has dropped to No. 7 in the world rankings. She recently
returned to the tour after being sidelined by a wrist injury.

"I don't know [Monica] at all, but I've always rooted for her," Singh said of Seles, who was off the tour 
for more than two years after being stabbed by a fan during a change- over at the 1993 German Open in 
Hamburg. "It wasn't easy for her to come back after the problem she had."

The WTT schedule will be run from July 10-30, with the playoffs tentatively set for September, immediately
following the U.S. Open.

The league expanded from seven to nine teams this year, and the Electrics will play in the East Division, 
with the Hartford FoxForce, New York and Delaware. St. Louis, Kansas City, the Springfield Lasers, the 
Sacramento Capitals and the Idaho Sneakers will make up the West Division.

The Electrics will play seven home matches and seven away matches.

Ilana Kloss, WTT executive director, is happy with the influx of big names signing on to play this summer.

"This is a tremendous draft," said Kloss. "We have a great group of players who have played for their
countries in Davis Cup and Fed Cup competitions. They have all excelled in the team game, which is very 
important for success in the World TeamTennis format."

Venus and Serena Williams played for WTT co-founder and president Billie Jean King on last year's U.S. 
Federation Cup team, so the addition of those two players didn't come as a surprise to Singh.

"She's known the Williams sisters and their father for years, and she was one of the few people the father
had respect for," said Singh. "All these people have faith in Billie Jean. She's the reason why they're all
playing."

World TeamTennis will conduct its regular player draft Tuesday. Amer- ican T.J. Middleton and Great
Britain's Samantha Smith, two members of the Schenectady roster last year, are not playing WTT this year.

Middleton has retired from the tour, and Smith is recovering from ankle surgery. American Geoff Grant and 
Australian Louise Pleming, the two other members of the Electrics' lineup last year, have signed on to play
WTT, but Singh can't say if they'll be back in Schenectady this summer.

"I have to talk to some people, and wait to see what happens," said Singh, who will pick sixth in the draft.
"I have no idea who's going to be picked before we go." 


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