Kastles poised to make more tennis and sports history

Written by: Staff on 2nd July 2013

Kastles poised to make more tennis and sports history |

They played arguably the most thrilling, important match of the 2012 World Team Tennis regular season, the one that harkened back to when the outcome would determine who was number one in the world of women’s tennis. It was championship tennis at its finest.

And now Venus Williams and Martina Hingis are teammates – for the WTT champion Washington Kastles.

In the off-season, Hingis moved to the Kastles from the New York Sportimes – the Kastles’ fiercest WTT rival. She will anchor the home stretch of matches as the Kastles seek to win their third straight WTT crown.

“I am really excited about joining the Washington Kastles. The team and its owner are building a great legacy and I look forward to contributing toward that,” said Hingis. “Washington is a great city and the Kastles have a fantastic fan base. I can’t wait to get started in July.”

Joining Hingis, the 2012 WTT female MVP, and Williams, the 2012 championship MVP, will be two-time WTT coach of the year Murphy Jensen, 2012 male MVP Bobby Reynolds, 2011 male MVP Leander Paes, and Anastasia Rodionova — all returning from the 2012 Kastles team.

The Kastles are a strong favorite to win their third consecutive WTT title and their fourth title in five years. Only two other WTT teams have won three or more championships: the Sacramento Capitals, with six, and the Los Angeles Strings, with three.

The 2013 schedule for Mylan World TeamTennis presented by GEICO will start on Sunday, July 7, with 59 matches scheduled throughout July. Conference championships are July 25 with the WTT championship on July 28.

The WTT Eastern Conference has the Kastles, Sportimes, Boston Lobsters and Philadelphia Freedom. In the WTT Western Conference are the Capitals, Springfield Lasers, Texas Wild and Orange County Breakers

The Kastles are on a 32-match unbeaten streak, one short of the all time professional sports best-ever 33-game winning streak by the NBA 1971-72 Los Angeles Lakers. When the Kastles posted their 16-0 mark for 2012, it marked the first time in major U.S. professional sports history in which a team has had consecutive unbeaten seasons. The Kastles are also the only WTT team to post a full unbeaten season.

Hingis will not join the Kastles until after she is inducted in the Tennis Hall of Fame on July 13. It will be left to Williams to lead the Kastles to tying and then breaking the unbeaten streak record.

The Kastles open the season at home on July 8 against, ironically, the Sportimes. The next day, also at home, they will face the Boston Lobsters; the Lobsters are the last team to defeat the Kastles on July 22, 2010, in the final match of the 2010 regular season.

Hingis did not compete in the 2012 WTT championship matches and thus was not on the court when Williams secured the Eastern conference title for the Kastles over the Sportimes. Williams won key tie-breakers during last year’s championship playoffs to seal the Kastles second straight title and keep the team’s unbeaten streak rolling at 32 wins.

Those comebacks were thrilling – but not as gripping as when Williams rallied to defeat Hingis in July. Williams won eight of nine games from Hingis, forcing and then winning in overtime to keep the streak alive.

“We win as a team and we lose as a team,” Rodionova said, “and I think we really like not losing.”

Photo: Venus Williams, Leander Paes and Martina Hingis during a WTT match in Washington in 2010.

Photo credit: Max Cook

Follow 10SBALLS.COM on:

Facebook:

Twitter:

TomSquitieri says:

June 27, 2013 at 5:22 pm

Nice story about my favorite @WorldTeamTennis team. Season starts next month @WashKastles @Marco_amsome @10sBalls_com http://t.co/2AidRQ6CbU
WorldTeamTennis says:

June 28, 2013 at 7:08 am

RT @TomSquitieri: Nice story about my favorite @WorldTeamTennis team. Season starts next month @WashKastles @Marco_amsome @10sBalls_com htt…