updated 5:17 p.m. ET May 6, 2006

NEW YORK - Pete Sampras, Martina Navratilova and Anna Kournikova will play on throwback multicolored courts at World Team Tennis events this summer.

The 12-city venues will sport multicolored DecoTurf courts, the official surface for the July 6-26 matches. Sampras is making his WTT debut with the Newport Beach Breakers. Navratilova will play for the Boston Lobsters and Kournikova will compete with the Washington Capitals.

The multicolored WTT court design was popular in the 1970s, when the league was co-founded by Billie Jean King and Larry King. The patchwork of colors include blue, green, brown and maroon.

“We brought the multicolored court back for last year’s WTT finals and received rave reviews from the fans and players,” said Jason Spitz, WTT vice president of marketing.

The coed format with four players on each team features no-ad scoring, on-court coaching and instant replay. Each match is five sets, with one set each of men’s and women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

The WTT begins its 31st season, and the top two teams from the Eastern and Western conference advance to the semifinals. The finals are July 30.

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