Darling Center to be home court for Las Vegas pro tennis team

Editor’s Note: The Las Vegas Neon, the World Team Tennis franchise that was set to call the Darling Tennis Center home, won’t be coming to Las Vegas after all.

The franchise was folded March 5 by the league after owner Deepal Wannakuwatte had the assests of Sacramento-based medical supply company, International Manufacturing Group Inc., frozen by a federal judge, according to a Las Vegas Review-Journal article.

Wannakuwatte was arrested Feb. 20 in Sacramento on federal fraud charges. His family owned the franchise when it competed as the Sacramento Capitals.

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Not all the neon is on the Strip. Mayor Carolyn Goodman officially welcomed Mylan World Team Tennis and the Las Vegas Neon Feb. 4 to the Darling Tennis Center, 7901 W. Washington Ave.

“I’m excited that we will have action-packed and electrifying professional tennis making its home in Las Vegas,” she told attendees.

The franchise will move from Sacramento, Calif., this year and be renamed the Las Vegas Neon. The coach has yet to be announced. Its home facility will be the Darling Tennis Center. Cox Communications, which sent its mascot, was recognized as the first founding sponsor of the Las Vegas Neon. World Team Tennis has been around since 1974.

Kolleen McNamee, the Sacramento Capitals’’ general manager since 2012, thanked Sacramento for “28 wonderful seasons” and said, “We’d been looking for a permanent site, and we heard of the city of Las Vegas. I came here and made a visit, and as soon as I walked through those double doors out to the stadium court, this is what I had envisioned for a professional tennis team. This is a wonderful facility with amazing staff.”

McNamee will stay on as the Las Vegas Neon’s general manager. She said Sam Querrey would be part of the team. Querrey is ranked 55th in the Association of Tennis Professionals. The rest of the Neon team is set to be drafted on March 11.

The Las Vegas Neon plans to play 14 regular-season matches, seven at the Darling Tennis Center. The Mylan regular season is July 6-23.

“It’s a big deal,” said Sandy Foley, facility manager at the Darling Tennis Center. “It’s professional, so — obviously there are professional events on the Tennis Channel and USTA (United States Tennis Association), we already brought those in — but this is actually having our own home team here.”

She said it would be a chance for the community to show support in a local setting. The first week of March will see the schedule and ticket prices appear on the website, lasvegasneontennis.com.

“And they’ll be very inexpensive tickets for (the community), and they can come out and enjoy the fun,” Foley said. “It’s something that will continue as long as the community supports it. There’s no long-term contract. I think it’s more about if they’re supported. They want to stay here, obviously. They … want a permanent home. I think this is a great facility for it. I think there’s no better World Team Tennis facility in the country right now.”

Foley gave kudos to Querrey and Lonny Zimmerman, deputy director of the city’s Department of Leisure Services, for helping facilitate the move.

“This beautiful stadium court deserves to have a professional event,” Foley said at the announcement ceremony. “I hope all of you bring your friends, your family and support professional tennis in Las Vegas. We want to keep the Las Vegas Neon right here where they belong.”

Ryan Wolfington, executive director of USTA-Nevada, said he knew of the move, “but I was sworn to secrecy. To have the first professional sports team be a tennis team is cool for us and having Sam Querrey, who is one of the best players in the world, as our marquee player is huge. I was just at the Davis Cup, and I wanted to tell everybody (the news). I’ve seen World Team Tennis because I’m from the East Coast, in Philadelphia where Billie Jean (King) has her team, and it’s fun. It’s what tennis should be. It’s exciting, it’s loud, it’s music, not boring. It’s fan-driven; even the court itself is four different colors. I mean, it’s exciting.”

World Team Tennis has its season in the summer, as the professionals are traveling to the Grand Slams and Davis Cup the rest of the year. So July is the month when they have time to play. Won’t triple-digit heat be a factor?

“When I first moved from the East Coast, I fell in love right away with the Vegas nights in the summer,” Wolfington said. “Vegas nights in the summer are the perfect weather. These are night matches. Day matches would never work. … The beautiful thing that Fred Darling and the city did was to build this center court because events from all over the world will want to come here because it’s already built. Otherwise, you have to spend $100,000 to $200,000 to build a stadium, and that’s what they were doing in Sacramento. … So, here, they save (that money) right off the bat.”

With the move, the Neon joins the Western Conference, which includes the San Diego Aviators, Austin Aces and Texas Wild.

“We really believe, with the support that we’ve received so far, that this community is going to embrace this team,” McNamee said.

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 702-387-2949.