WTT Washington Kastles

Roddick on Streak: "I'D Love to be Part of Ending It"

July 7, 2013 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Washington Kastles News Release


The Washington Kastles have won 32 consecutive Mylan World TeamTennis matches -- just one victory shy of the major U.S. pro sports record.

If Andy Roddick has it his way, the Kastles will tie the all-time mark on Monday, break it on Tuesday, and then extend it on Wednesday.

That would put the Kastles' streak at 35 when Roddick leads the Springfield Lasers into Kastles Stadium at The Wharf (Tickets).

"I certainly hope it's still alive when we get there July 11," Roddick told reporters last week. "I'd love to be a part of ending it."

Joining Roddick for his highly-anticipated clash with the Kastles are 13th-ranked men's doubles player Jean-Julien Rojer, two-time Grand Slam doubles champion Vania King, former Top 20 player Alisa Kleybanova and 2007 WTT Finals MVP Rik De Voest.

A 4-10 record in 2012 allowed Springfield coach John-Laffnie De Jager to retool his roster with the top picks in the WTT Marquee, Roster Exempt and Roster Player Drafts, which he used to scoop up Roddick, King and Kleybanova respectively.

Suddenly, a worst-to-first turnaround isn't a far-fetched fantasy for Springfield, especially with the big-serving Roddick scheduled for five matches this season.

Roddick left the ATP World Tour last September after amassing 32 singles titles and 33 Davis Cup wins, cementing his status as one of the greatest team tennis players in the world.

Personable and powerful -- he once hit a 155 mile-per-hour serve -- Roddick is no stranger to success in the nation's capital. The fan favorite routinely played to packed crowds at the Citi Open, where he went 30-6 with three championships in nine tournament appearances.

Roddick returned to tennis headlines in December when he shocked World No. 2 Andy Murray 6-2, 6-3 at the Miami Tennis Cup less than four months after the Brit won the US Open and Olympic gold medal.

The Kastles are expected to counter Roddick with 6-foot-8 Kevin Anderson, setting up a singles showdown between two of tennis' biggest servers. Anderson and Roddick have split four career matches on the ATP World Tour, with the new Kastle winning their most recent meetings at Delray Beach in 2012 and Beijing in 2011.

Roddick has never shared the court with Rojer before as a professional, though they grew up playing juniors tournaments together in the late-1990s. Now they are expected to be men's doubles teammates against the highly-experienced pair of Bobby Reynolds and Leander Paes .

Together, Reynolds and Paes have posted a 31-11 men's doubles record and won three of the last four WTT Male MVP awards.

That's not to say that Roddick and Rojer will be completely overmatched. Rojer broke into the doubles Top 10 for the first time on April 1 after winning the Sony Open with Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of the Texas Wild.

In doing so, Rojer captured the very same ATP Masters 1000 title that the Kastles captain Paes swept in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

As intriguing as the men's matchups are between the Kastles and Lasers, so too are the storylines among the women.

The 24-year-old King has rejoined Springfield after a season in Sacramento, having led the Lasers to the 2009 WTT Finals at the original Kastles Stadium following an MVP campaign. But she failed on three championship points against Olga Puchkova of the Kastles, who clinched Washington's first WTT title.

King, who went on to win the Wimbledon and US Open doubles titles in 2010, may be entrusted to play singles for Springfield once again.

That's because Kleybanova has only played three tournaments on the USTA Pro Circuit this season in her comeback from Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Washington coach Murphy Jensen counters with second-year Kastle Anastasia Rodionova and her doubles partner on the WTA Tour Alla Kudryavtseva, who is serving as a substitute on Thursday night.

Rodionova finished 2012 as the top-rated mixed doubles player in WTT and has plenty of familiarity with her counterparts from the Lasers. She has partnered and played against both King and Kleybanova at WTA tournaments during her career.

As she showed seven times last year, Rodionova is capable of playing three sets for Washington if needed. But Kudryavtseva can play singles and doubles as well, and her experience alongside Rodionova should bode well for the Kastles.

Washington is 6-1 all-time against Springfield, but not without its fair share of close calls. During their 32-match unbeaten run, the Kastles have posted 21-20 and 20-18 victories over Springfield.

And that was before the arrival of Roddick, whose first match in DC since 2010 is sure to be one of the hottest events of the summer.

Only a limited number of tickets remain on Ticketmaster.com to see the streaking Kastles battle Roddick and the Lasers on Thursday. Don't wait until match day to secure your seats, because just like a Roddick first serve, they are flying by in a flash!

Kudryavtseva, Kops-Jones to Substitute for Kastles

Rodionova's WTA Doubles Partner to Play in DC on Thursday Night

The Kastles' complete 2013 roster has been set, with Alla Kudryavtseva and Raquel Kops-Jones serving as substitutes for the three matches that Martina Hingis is unavailable to play.

Kudryavtseva joins the Kastles on the road against Texas on Wednesday and at home against Springfield on Thursday. Kops-Jones returns to the Kastles at Sacramento on Saturday after playing four matches for Washington in 2012.

Second-year Kastle Anastasia Rodionova is currently Kudryavtseva's partner on tour, so the two should be a formidable pair for the Kastles. They've played 11 tournaments together overall, winning the 2010 WTA doubles title in 's-Hertogenbosch. Earlier this spring, Kudryavtseva and Rodionova reached the semifinals of Rome and Estoril.

Kudryavtseva is also a talented singles player, having reached the third round at the US Open in 2011 and the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2008, when she defeated World No. 2 Maria Sharapova in straight sets. The 25-year-old Russian has been ranked as high as No. 27 in doubles and No. 56 in singles.

Kastles fans will remember Kops-Jones fondly after she filled in nicely when Rodionova left for the London Olympics last July. Kops-Jones and Treat Huey went 4-0 in mixed doubles to help Washington to four straight victories at the end of the 2012 regular season.

Kops-Jones is currently ranked a career-high No. 11 in doubles, having won four titles in 2012 with her tour partner Abigail Spears of the New York Sportimes. Kops-Jones and Spears ended last season as the hottest team on the WTA Tour, winning 16 of their final 18 matches.

With the addition of Kudryavtseva and Kops-Jones, the complete Kastles roster is as follows:

Martina Hingis: July 8-9, July 15-24

Kevin Anderson: July 8-11

Leander Paes: July 8-24

Bobby Reynolds: July 8-24

Anastasia Rodionova: July 8-24

Alla Kudryavtseva: July 10-11

Raquel Kops-Jones: July 13



World TeamTennis Stories from July 7, 2013


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