In 2015, the average attendance was approximately 950, even though the first 1,000 fans at the gates for the Western Conference Championship Match who had an online code were admitted for free.
Although the team's new home court was not immediately announced, officials with a desirable venue in Orange County had reportedly reached out to the Aces to lure them back.
"[2] On February 17, 2016, WTT announced that the Breakers had traded former world number 1 male player Andy Roddick to the expansion New York Empire for undisclosed consideration.
In the first two rounds of the roster player portion of the draft, the Breakers protected Nicole Gibbs and 2015 WTT Female Rookie of the Year Alla Kudryavtseva.
In the third round, the Breakers selected Scott Lipsky, who played for the now-defunct Boston Lobsters in 2015, and left Jarmere Jenkins unprotected.
In the fourth round, the Breakers selected Dennis Novikov and left 2015 WTT Male Most Valuable Player Teymuraz Gabashvili unprotected.
[4] On April 29, 2016, the Breakers announced that they had re-signed Steve Johnson, a resident of nearby Redondo Beach, California, as a wildcard player.
While the teams did not have any history as geographic rivals, the franchises did meet in the 2005 WTT Finals with the Sportimes earning the title with a 21–18 victory over the Newport Beach Breakers.
The two franchises also boasted the best regular-season records in WTT over the past two seasons with the Aviators achieving the feat in 2014, and the Breakers, playing as the Austin Aces doing so in 2015.
Dennis Novikov got the Breakers started by holding all four of his service games and converting one of three break-point opportunities against James Blake for a 5–3 set win in men's singles.
After the players exchanged breaks, Steve Johnson secured a 22–20 victory for the Breakers by winning a tiebreaker in men's singles over Ryan Harrison.
Gibbs and Kudryavtseva came up with an early break and then held serve the rest of the way to take the women's doubles set, 5–2, and give the Breakers a 21–19 win.
"[10] Following their season-opening series with the Aviators, the Breakers had a day off to prepare for the second match of their five-match homestand against the five-time defending WTT champion Washington Kastles.
They had suffered injuries to both Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey and lost Leander Paes, Martina Hingis and Anastasia Rodionova to Olympic duty.
The newly signed pair, both making their WTT debuts, opened the match by losing the men's doubles set to Scott Lipsky and Dennis Novikov, 5–2.
Gibbs and Kudryavtseva closed out the sweep of all five sets by taking women's doubles and giving the Breakers a 25–10 victory in the worst loss in the Kastles' franchise history.
Lipsky, Novikov, Gibbs and Kudryavtseva each won two events in a 25–8 rout of the Empire during which the teams only spent one hour and 15 minutes on the court.
But Gibbs and Kudryavtseva closed out the match in women's doubles by converting their only break-point opportunity while not facing one on their own serve to give the Breakers a 23–17 victory.
After Novikov dropped a tiebreaker in the final set of men's doubles, he won the first game of extended play to secure a 22–19 victory over the Lasers.
Dennis Novikov won a tiebreaker against 2016 WTT Male Most Valuable Player Ryan Harrison in the final set of men's singles to send the match to extended play with the Aviators leading 24–13.
References:[32][33] Players are listed in order of their game-winning percentage provided they played in at least 40% of the Breakers' games in that event, which is the WTT minimum for qualification for league leaders in individual statistical categories.