An Evening With World Team Tennis

As many of my fellow FanHousers understand all too intimately, sports blogging can often morph into part-time, but year-round obsession. As somebody who has covered the NHL as a blogger for seven seasons, I've come to appreciate just how difficult the life of a typical NHL beat writer can be.

Just when you think the season is over and you might get a little bit of a break, you discover that you're dead wrong. In the NHL, that means understanding that just as you get finished covering the Stanley Cup Finals, the NHL Awards Show is only a couple of days away. After that, the NHL Entry Draft arrives like a freight train, followed pretty quickly by the start of the free agent signing period, now better known as "Xmas in July".

Don't get me wrong, there's no sport in the world that I love more than hockey, and it's been that way since I first stepped on the ice with a stick in my hand as a six-year old kid. It's just that sometimes I'd like to leaven my sports diet with something different from time to time.

That's why I was more than happy to put the NHL aside for one evening, and take a seat inside Kastles Stadium, one of the simplest, yet most attractive venues I've ever visited, for an evening with Serena Williams, the Washington Kastles, Boston Lobsters and World Team Tennis.



Yes, I know that Williams isn't the only member of the Washington Kastles, the new and local entry on the WTT circuit, but you couldn't tell that to the sold out crowd that filled the temporary tennis stadium. Those folks were there to see Serena, and Serena only, just a few days after her crushing loss to her sister Venus in the Ladies Final at Wimbledon.

The evening started right at 5:30, as Williams, clearly jet-lagged from a plane ride that originated in Paris earlier in the day, was forced to answer the same sort of dopey questions the press always throws at her at pre-tournament dog and pony shows. When one reporter noted that she seemed depressed last Saturday after dropping the Wimbledon Final, Serena replied: "Really?" managing to mix just enough charm with a heaping helping of sarcasm that had us all laughing.

Up next was a short walk to Kastles Stadium, a venue that proves that sometimes, great things can come in small packages. As you can see from the above photo, it's situated right in the middle of downtown Washington, just a few blocks West of Verizon Center, home of the Wizards, Caps and Mystics. With high rises surrounding the court on three sides, it was easy for hotel guests across the street or even some folks working late to catch parts of the match for free. Mix in a cool Summer breeze and we had a perfect evening for tennis.

When I first contacted the Kastles about credentials earlier in the year, I was a tad surprised to find that they had yet to secure a venue. Now, after spending an evening watching tennis inside this temporary venue, I'm having a hard time imagining a better choice.

As for the tennis, let's just say WTT strives to keep things simple. The teams play five sets:

• One each of men's and women's singles;

• One each of men's and women's doubles; and

• One set of mixed doubles.

The traditional tennis scoring system is junked as too. Teams play to four points a game (counting 1-4 instead of 15-30-40-Game) with no ads, and a "let" -- when a serve is in but strikes the net cord -- is considered to be in play. Five games wins a set, but every game counts toward a team's total. If the team that wins the fifth and final set is leading, the match is over. However, if the trailing team wins the set, the match goes into Overtime.

In OT, if the leading team manages to win just one game, the match ends. But if the trailing team can keep winning games and tie the score, the match goes to a supertiebreaker, with the two players remaining on the court playing to seven points to decided the match.

As you might imagine, the effect is rather relaxed, though it's clear the rules for the final set and overtime are designed to serve as a showcase for the best player on the court. This night, that meant Washington saved Williams for the last set of women's singles, with the unheralded Marie-Eve Pelletier serving as cannon fodder.

Not that it should have gotten to the point where Washington needed Serena to save the team's bacon. As I'm sure many of you might recall, the top male player on the team is the recently retired player turned broadcaster, Justin Gimelstob. He managed to play men's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles, and couldn't suck enough. His highlight of the night came when he managed to win a point on two-straight lets, something that allowed him to play a little bit to a crowd he had otherwise taken completely out of the match with his horrid play.

As my friend Allen Clark put it later:

Justin Gimelstob played bad, there is no way to sugar coat this. Both the serve and service return hurt Gimelstob in the doubles match and then he blew a 4-1 lead in his singles match with Jan-Michael Gambill, eventually losing in a tiebreaker.

Of course, Gimelstob's play -- which led one fan to cry out, "Make believe you're Venus!" -- couldn't have been more ironic given all the dust he kicked up before the WTT ever got onto the court this season, thanks to a volley of insults he lobbed at Anna Kournikova a few weeks back. Though it was all a bit silly, Gimelstob apologized, though it appears he'll be paying the price for some time to come.

With Gimelstob playing like a dog, it was more or less up to a fatigued Williams to pick up the slack. And pick up the slack she did, winning the final set 5-2 to force OT. She quickly won two more games, closing the gap to 21-19, while delivering Pelletier a tennis lesson she won't soon forget. But with Williams threatening to win a third straight game in OT, Pelletier somehow managed to put her away to end the match.

So should you give the WTT a chance? As long as you're not looking for the sort of serious tennis you'd find at a regular stop on the men's or women's tour, the WTT is definitely worth the price of admission, at least in Washington where the venue is top notch. It's a fun, but long evening.

But beware, the big stars in the WTT normally only make one appearance at home per season -- Williams's appearance on Tuesday was her first and only time in Washington this season -- so don't expect to see all the big names every time you come out. Be sure to check the schedule ahead of time to see who's on tap that night, as more than a few big names are set to visit every city over the course of the season.

So, will I be back? Sure, and more than once. John McEnroe is scheduled to come to town on July 15, and you can bet I don't want to miss the match on July 23 when Kournikova and St. Louis come to town. I'm sure that Billy Jean King (that's her signing an autograph at the left), the legend behind the WTT, will be expecting Gimelstob to make some kind of public apology to Kournikova. I wouldn't want to miss that.