Murphy Jensen Steers Kastles To Another Playoff Sport

Written by: Staff on 22nd July 2013

Murphy Jensen Steers Kastles To Another Playoff Sport |

Murphy Jensen knew there was a target on the Washington Kastles. They were playing tennis and winning – and having fun. Players on other Mylan World TeamTennis teams openly talked about wanting to play for the Kastles and “Coach Murphy.” And all the breaks seem to in favor of the team.

So a few hours before the Kastles set the all time professional sports unbeaten winning steak of 34, Murphy was talking about the road forward to winning a third consecutive Mylan WTT title. He didn’t say it outright but he was prepared to have his team rebound from a loss he suspected would be somewhere in the future.

The Kastles won that night – and then they lost the next two matches. As Jensen projected, all the shots starting falling the wrong way for the Kastles. Teams were spoiling to beat them. And the coach who never had substituted a player during the two 16-0 perfect seasons found himself jiggering a lineup and order of play to make things happen and get the Kastles back on track.

“We were coming in to win two matches to make history and that took a lot out of us,” Jensen said after those losses. “These other teams don’t play to win the championship, they play to beat the Kastles.”

It is that blunt passionate style of assessment, done in the spirit of a love of the game and all who are on the court, that makes Jensen a popular figure by many in the game – even when they are across the net from him or his team.

In fact, before loss number two Jensen was on the courts during team warmup for the opposite team, the Springfield Lasers, doing something he loves to do talk tennis. This time the jawing was with Laser’s marquee player Andy Roddick, a part owner of the WTT, who in the spirit of tennis brashness earlier in the week said he hoped the Kastles would remain undefeated until the Lasers game — so he could help end the streak.

The two were joking and talking shots and things that were happening in the game. When Roddick left the court he said what seemed natural: “See you coach.”

Roddick did little to help his team but they gave the Kastles a second loss in a row and the first ever at Kastles Stadium on the Wharf.

Then it was time for Coach Jensen to get to work. Two loses do not end a season. He steadied his lineup, shaped the practices, picked up his tired team and reminded them it was time to win again.

This is, after all, the same coach who promised that Washington would win the WTT tile in 2009 even after the team lost its first four matches. And they did.

“He is with you on every point,” Martins Hingis, who joined the Kastles this year, said to reporters before a match.

During a crucial moment in Saturday’s duel against arch rival the New York Sportimes, Murphy exhorted the crowd noting that “if we win tonight we are in the playoffs.” The crowd responded — much like most do when a Jensen’s pep talk roars.

“There’s nothing not to love about Washington, DC, and the Kastles fans,” said Jensen. “They support the Kastles team better than any other World TeamTennis franchise. It helps to win, but the atmosphere is created by those fans and the players feed off of that.”

The Kastles secured the top seed in the Eastern Conference with Sunday’s tight win over Boston. That means the conference championship will be held on their home court and, if they prevail Thursday, the title match will be Sunday in Washington.

Jensen’s stern gazes, exuberant bench support and demanding practices make him a coach that others seek.

Twenty-one different players have represented the Kastles during Jensen’s tenure, but the results have stayed the same. Breeding a culture of teamwork and togetherness, Jensen has led Washington to three of the last four World TeamTennis championships and a historic 34-match winning streak.

“ I tell the guys every day ‘If we play for one another, leave it all out there and don’t beat ourselves, we’ll be successful’,” Jensen said. “They might beat one of us, they might beat two of us, but to beat all five of us — to win all five events and get enough games to take us down — that’s a tough task.”

Jensen says that he and his players share a trust with one another on and off the tennis court. For three weeks each summer, they become a family.

That means ‘Kastles Karaoke’ sing-alongs on rides to the stadium, dinners as a team after every match and overcoming unexpected adversity.

Jensen has won back-to-back WTT coach of the year honors. He says coaching WTT has been one of the greatest tennis experiences of his life, rivaling when he and his brother won the 1993 French Open Doubles Title that was as celebrated for the title as it was for the talk and off court stories.

“When I was first asked to coach the Kastles, (for baseball manager Tommy) Lasorda offered me some great advice, ‘If you can get your team to care about one another, I guarantee you success’,” Jensen said. “We made history and it was magic. This experience has been beyond belief. These guys have made a masterpiece, and this team will never be forgotten.”

So the wins are coming again, even if Jensen’s dog Hemingway has yet to make a court appearance like last year and its a new streak underway.

What will be next for Murphy Jensen? The usual affable guy is more mum on that topic. He runs his center on Sea Island, Ga., and supports a variety of tennis initiatives, such as the Jensen-Schmidt Tennis Academy for Special Needs Individuals.

As Roddick prepares to make his TV plunge, the talk is whether Jensen will return to the small screen. He had a strong base and was a popular Tennis Channel television personality and his commentary on “Murphy’s Guide” was perceptive and sometime provocative, and that base endures.

Jensen is not talking on that subject. At least not until week.

Topics: American tennis news, Andy Roddick, Murphy Jensen, Mylan World TeamTennis, Sports, Tennis News, Washington Kastles, Wtt

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10sBalls_com says:

July 22, 2013 at 8:29 am

Murphy Jensen Steers Kastles To Another Playoff Sport – http://t.co/5Yiv56SfQ2 @murphyjensen @WashKastles @washingtonpost @BleacherReport
TomSquitieri says:

July 22, 2013 at 11:02 am

Timely snapshot of the talented @WashKastles team coach @murphyjensen as @WorldTeamTennis last week begins
http://t.co/ERDMkbgtO4