Kastles Lose in Heartbreaking Opener to Aces

It was opening night. The stadium was full and energy was high. Washington Kastles premier star, Venus Williams, hosted a kids clinic before the match and then a press conference. She was the feature of opening night and the anticipation was high.

During the press conference, a young aspiring tennis player softly asked what her advice would be for a young tennis player.

“It is important to build your technique on the court,” Williams answered. “However, people often don’t realize that the mental game is very important, probably the most important. It’s not about talent… anyone can get the balls. [It’s] about what you have going on ‘upstairs.’ That is what makes a champion.”

She then went on to explain how she uses visualization before her matches and the mental techniques she has developed to train her mind to be prepared for any match.

As a former college tennis player myself, it is interesting to experience this professional tennis team: how it is structured, its format and scoring; and then to explain this to people that have never attended a match of this caliber before. It is very different than backyard tennis.

As most people are aware, typical matches for women contain two out of three sets while men play three out of five sets. Each set is six games with the points obtained progressing as Love (0), 15, 30, 40 and then Game, meaning that set is finished.

This is not the case with the Washington Kastles Tennis Team. There are five matches in an event and the format is: Men Singles, Women’s Doubles, Men’s Doubles, Women’s Singles and lastly Mixed Doubles for a total of five matches. Each match is five games, and the scoring is done in points 1-4, the first one to four wins the game. Then all points are added up at the end of the match.

This is an interesting concept developed by the great tennis start, Billy Jean King, who invented the World Team Tennis League.

The most fascinating thing is that there is an interesting “twist” in the final match. For example, going into the final mixed doubles match last night the score was Aces 17 and Kastles 14. Obviously the latter still had an opportunity to clench the win. But even if the spread was more than five points, then the rule in the pros is that, if the losing team for the final match (the Kastles) were to win consecutive games, then the match continues regardless of the score until they are either broken.

As a former Division One player myself, this was a fascinating twist which held the audience and kept the excitement high. People wanted to stay to watch the final match. There was always the hope of the magic comeback.

Some highlights of the match were as follows:

In Match one, it was Washington’s Denis Kudla (USA) whose highest singles ranking was No.90 in July of 2013 vs. Austin’s Teymuraz Gabashvili (Russia), whose highest singles ranking was No. 52 in April of 2014. This was a great match. It was very close at 2-2 going into Game 5.

In Game 5 , Kudla was serving and hit a big cross court forehand winner to take the game at 4-3. Both players held serve and the score was 4-4 going into Game 7. A tiebreaker was played; the format being the first one to win 5 points wins. Kudla took the win in a tiebreaker, 5-4.

The second match was women’s doubles and featuring Williams and Anastasia Rodionova (Australia) versus Aces Nicole Gibbs (USA) and Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia).

In Game 1, Gibbs served and Austin held their serve.

In Game 2 Williams served. One pivotal part in the game was at 2-2 and when Gibbs hit an unforced error into the net. Of course, Venus then held serve. Kudryavtseva then served and held.

In Game 4, Rodionova served , Williams made an unforced error and hit a forehand into the net. The Aces broke and took the game.

In Game 5 Gibbs served and Anastasia hit a big winner. Gibbs double-faulted and hit a big winner to win and hold serve.

In Game 6, Williams served. The Aces brought all they had and put the pressure on. The Kastles made a lot of unforced errors and the Aces broke serve, ending the match 5-1. This hurt the Kastles going into Match 3. They would need to put some points on the board.

Match 3 was the Men’s Doubles with the Kastles Leander Paes (India) who had just finished winning the men’s mixed doubles at Wimbledon with Martina Hingus. He paired up with teammate Dennis Kudro against Aces Jarmere Jenkins and Gabashvili.

Match 4 was the Women’s Singles featuring Venus Williams vs. Aces Gibbs. Venus started the match and held her serve. She went on to break Gibbs’ serve and was up 4-3, when Williams hit a big net winner and won the match 5-3.

Going into the final Match 5, the score was Aces 17, Kastles 14. The Kastles still had a chance to win. It was exciting because Washington had not lost at home and going into the season, the team was in pursuit of a record-breaking fifth consecutive Mylan World Team Tennis Championship. Over the last four seasons, the Kastles are 58-6 and have won four consecutive King Trophies as well, making them league champions. There was a lot on the line and they needed to win this match.

The final match was mixed doubles with the Kastles Williams and Paes versus the Aces Gabashvili and Kudryavtseva. The Aces got a lead of 4-2 with Leander serving and Gabashvili hit a big winner and knocking a great passing shot past Williams. It was 4-4 and the audience was going crazy… there was a lot of loud cheering and action in the packed stadium, knowing how important this win was. Kudryavtseva served (she’d serves three double faults in the final game but that wasn’t enough to prevent them from taking the win) and Kudryavteseva hit a huge forehand down the line, taking the match. The final score of the last match was 5-4 in favor of the Aces. This brought the overall match score 17-22 Aces.

The next home match will be held Thursday, July 16 at 7:00 pm. The Kastles will host the San Diego Aviators.