Mayotte makes return to game with Lobsters

MARTINA NAVRATILOVA Original Lobster

"What ever happened to Tim Mayotte?" was a question on a popular tennis message board in 2005. The replies had the Springfield native in various places doing various jobs, but the former tennis star was actually in New York falling back in love with the game that had left him "completely burned out."

Mayotte can now be found coaching the Boston Lobsters - a member of World Team Tennis, a coed professional league cofounded in 1974 by Billie Jean King.

Mayotte was hired in March and his first match is 1 p.m. today, when the Lobsters open their season at the New York Sportimes.

The team's home opener is at 7 p.m. Monday against the Delaware Smash, and Venus Williams Night will be July 10 when the Lobsters play Williams and her team, the Philadelphia Freedoms.

Today's match will mark Mayotte's slow but steady return to tennis. He retired from the ATP tour in 1992, having won 12 singles titles and peaking at No. 7 in the world singles rankings following his silver medal at the Olympics in 1988. He even made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon in 1982, before losing to John McEnroe.

After his retirement, Mayotte spent five years as a television analyst and also was a member of the ATP board of directors. He then became "completely burned out with tennis and traveling," he said. He took some time off, mostly to tend to his son who was born in 1996, but also to escape the game.

For the past four years he has been coaching players at a New York tennis club.

"As I taught, I kind of fell back in love with the sport," Mayotte said.

Up the road, the Middleton-based Lobsters were undergoing serious changes. In March, Lobsters owner Bahar Uttam moved the team from Harvard University to Ferncroft Country Club because he wanted the team to play outdoor tennis.

Uttam, who has owned the team for four years, also hired a sports management and marketing company to represent the team. And, Uttam said, he wanted a new coach.

Enter Mayotte.

"I thought it would be nice to get him back into New England and be the coach of the Lobsters," Uttam said.

It fell together nicely from there: Mayotte was from the area, his brother John was the team's general manager, Mayotte had spent the past four years coaching, and was ready to get involved with the game again.

"It felt like the right time for me," Mayotte said.

Mayotte addressed the team yesterday at its first meeting. Uttam also spoke and mentioned all the success of recent Boston professional sports franchises.

"I said, 'Hey, you happen to be in a city that excels in sports, so let's join them,' " Uttam joked.

Living up to the lofty standards of the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics seems unrealistic, but Mayotte said he's looking forward to coaching professional players rather than the above-average-but-not-quite-professional players he coached in New York.

Mayotte will coach eight-time ATP tour champion (three singles and five doubles) Jan-Michael Gambill, the third overall pick in the draft, and Raquel Kops-Jones, who was drafted in the fourth round of the draft and recently advanced to the third round in women's doubles at Wimbledon.

And he'll also coach Martina Navratilova, considered the greatest tennis player of all time with 344 singles and doubles titles as well as 21 major titles. It is certainly special, Mayotte said, because he remembers the original Lobsters team from 1974 that included Navratilova.

"Now she's playing for us again, it's really amazing," Mayotte said.

But Mayotte isn't planning to spend his time coaching Navratilova.

"I'll just basically give her the balls and get out of the way," he joked. "She literally doesn't need any coaching."

Lobsters at a glance
Coach: Tim Mayotte
Roster: Martina Navratilova, Jan-Michael Gambill, Amir Hadad, Marie-Eve Pelletier, Raquel Kops-Jones.
Home court: Ferncroft Country Club, Middleton

SCHEDULE
Today: at NY Sportimes, 1 p.m.; Sunday: at NY Buzz, 7; Monday: vs. Delaware, 7; Tuesday: at Washington, 7; July 10: vs. Philadelphia, 7; July 12: vs. NY Buzz, 7; July 13: vs. NY Sportimes, 4; July 14: at Kansas City, 8:05; July 16: vs. Springfield, 7; July 17: at Philadelphia, 7:30; July 18: vs. Washington, 7; July 19: vs. Newport Beach, 7; July 21: at Newport Beach, 10; July 22: at Sacramento, 10:30.