Off Wing Opinion

World TeamTennis was co-founded by Billie Jean King, 33 years ago and has now added a team in Washington DC. DC's team is called the Washington Kastles and will play in a stadium built at the location of the former Convention Center.

Yesterday members of the team and city officials kicked off the season with the first practice at the new stadium.

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 7: Members of the Washington Kastles, Washington, DC's new World Team Tennis (WTT) team meet city officials and conduct their first practice at Kastle Stadium in Washington, DC July 7, 2008. (Photo by Allen Clark/www.OffWingPhoto.com)

Tonight will be the home opener for the Kastles as they go up against the Boston Lobsters. Serena Williams will be on hand to play for the Kastles at 7pm tonight. The Kastles are currently undefeated (2-0) in league play.

Mashona Washington, Sacha Jones, and Scott Oudsema joined their captain Thomas Blake for their practice. Team members Serena Williams and Justin Gimelstob were not present. Williams will be playing tonight in the Kastles first home match, while Gimelstob will be sitting out the match for a one game suspension.

The league has a 3-week season, stretching from July 3rd to July 23rd, will have 11 teams vying for the King Trophy.

The format of play is unique from what you see at other professional tennis matches:

• Two men and two women compete on each team.
• The match format consists of five sets
• One set each of men's and women's singles
• One set each of men's and women's doubles
• One set of mixed doubles
• Every game counts as a point in the overall score
• Typical score is 23 - 19
• A team must win the last game of the last set or the match goes into overtime

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 7: Mayor of Washington, DC, Adrian Fenty warmed up with members of the DC's new World Team Tennis (WTT), the Washington Kastles. Fenty and other city officials were on hand for the first practice at Kastle Stadium in Washington, DC July 7, 2008. (Photo by Allen Clark/www.OffWingPhoto.com)

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 10:57 am by Allen Clark and is filed under 2008 Washington Kastles, Tennis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.