WTT Washington Kastles

Watch Mylan WTT Finals Today at 5 pm on ESPN Networks

Published on July 27, 2014 under World TeamTennis (WTT)
Washington Kastles News Release


What is it about the Washington Kastles and Springfield Lasers that brings them back to the Mylan WTT Finals, head-to-head, for the third time in the last six years?

For the Kastles, it's consistency. Team captain Leander Paes was there in 2009 when Washington saved three championship points against the Lasers. He shared last season's WTT Finals win over Springfield with the same three teammates that he will have today: Martina Hingis, Bobby Reynolds and Anastasia Rodionova .

For the Lasers, it's persistency. In their 19th season, Springfield is still seeking its first league title -- this time with an entirely different lineup than the Lasers squad that lost 25-12 to the Kastles last summer.

Consistency and persistency clash again today on team tennis' biggest stage, with live WTT Finals coverage beginning online at 5 pm on ESPN3.com and continuing on television at 6 pm on ESPN2.

Washington is playing for its fifth WTT title in six years and fourth in a row, which would tie the record set by the Sacramento Capitals from 1997 through 2000. The Kastles closer Reynolds is retiring after today's match, providing him and his teammates even more motivation to leave Springfield as champions.

The Kastles would be wise to forget their last trip to Springfield. Hingis, the league's No. 1-rated women's singles and doubles player, was unavailable on July 18, when the Lasers beat a listless Paes, Reynolds, Rodionova and substitute Shelby Rogers 24-10 -- Washington's worst loss in franchise history.

When the same two teams met on July 22 at the Smith Center, Hingis returned and made the difference in the Kastles' 23-15 victory. Coach Murphy Jensen hopes that Hingis will be the X-Factor again this afternoon, but Springfield also has one of its core players back in action.

British doubles specialist Ross Hutchins missed Tuesday's match in Washington after a strong showing against Kastles the first time around.

Hutchins is one of four Lasers newcomers after a series of injuries appeared to jeopardize Springfield's season altogether.

The Lasers lost 2013 WTT Male MVP Jean-Julien Rojer and 2013 WTT Female Rookie of the Year Alisa Kleybanova just before the season, then Top 20 doubles player Anna-Lena Groenefeld hurt her hip in Springfield's second match.

That left the league's No. 1-rated men's singles player Michael Russell to lead a merry-go-round of replacements and substitutes -- 10 men and women in all have represented Springfield in 2014.

Barring any last-minute aches and pains, Russell, Hutchins, Olga Govortsova and Liga Dekmeijere comprise the lineup that will contend for the King Trophy.

The Mylan WTT Finals may be more than 1,000 miles from D.C., but Kastles fans can stay close to the action by watching HD live streaming at 5 pm on ESPN3.com. Access is provided through your cable username and password.

ESPN2 is scheduled to join coverage in progress at 6 pm following the BB&T Atlanta Open final. While you watch, don't forget to join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

SET-BY-SET PROJECTIONS

MS - B. Reynolds (WAS) vs. M. Russell (SPR)

It's ironic that the last match of Reynolds' career will come against his countryman Russell, a long-time rival who may never retire. The 36-year-old has finished each of the last five seasons ranked in the ATP Top 100. Though he's 2-6 against Reynolds in tour-level matches, Russell defeated the Kastles closer 5-1 and 5-3 during the WTT regular season. What a way to go it would be for Reynolds avenge those losses today.

WS - M. Hingis (WAS) vs. O. Govortsova (SPR)

Washington's Rodionova (5-4) and Sloane Stephens (5-2) both defeated Govortsova during the first two Kastles vs. Lasers matches. But the Belarusian is no pushover, as she showed in the Western Conference Championship by routing World No. 31 Daniela Hantuchova 5-0. In her first match ever against Govortsova, Hingis brings the best singles record in the league and a lifetime of experience on tennis' biggest stages.

MD - L. Paes/B. Reynolds (WAS) vs. R. Hutchins/M. Russell (SPR)

One shot separated Reynolds, Paes, Russell and Hutchins when they met in Springfield on July 18. In the only break point of the set, the Lasers broke Reynolds en route to a 5-2 win. With Huchins injured and Fritz Wolmarans in his place, Washington won men's doubles 5-4 on July 22. Hutchins and Russell are coming off a stunning 5-3 upset of World No. 1s Bob and Mike Bryan that clinched the West title on Thursday.

WD - M. Hingis/A. Rodionova (WAS) vs. L. Dekmeijere/O. Govortsova (SPR)

Dating back to the 2013 season, Hingis and Rodionova are 15-2 in their last 17 sets, earning them WTT's No. 1 and No. 2 women's doubles ratings respectively. When they met Govortsova and substitute Abigail Spears on July 22, they cruised to a 5-2 victory by breaking Springfield's serves three times. The Latvian veteran Dekmeijere has yet to face the Kastles this season. She is 4-1 in sets and 24-11 in games with Govortsova.

MXD - L. Paes/M. Hingis (WAS) vs. R. Hutchins/O. Govortsova (SPR)

If there's one set that the Kastles clearly have an advantage in, it's mixed doubles. Paes may have lost mixed 5-1 with Rodionova on July 18, but he and Hingis have harmony all to themselves. The former World No. 1s are 16-2 as a team, boasting a major edge in experience over their opponents. With Paes' presence at the net and Hingis' feel from the baseline, the Kastles will be keen to win mixed by as large of a margin as possible.

KEY FOR THE KASTLES - PLAY LIKE YOU'RE AT HOME

John-Laffnie de Jager has been named WTT Coach of the Year three times, but he's done his best work in 2014, his eighth season with Springfield.

The South African Davis Cup captain has led his Lasers back to the WTT Finals despite its disabled list and disappointing start: Springfield lost its first three matches by a combined four games.

Things got so tough that de Jager went down his South African depth chart for injury substitutes, calling up Wolmarans and Jean Andersen.

With his team playing for its first-ever title in front of its home crowd, de Jager confronts his all-too-familiar foe, the Kastles.

Washington's history in pressure-packed WTT and tour-level matches could be the intangible that Springfield's inexperienced team is lacking.

Paes and Hingis alone have combined to win 29 Grand Slam titles. Nobody on the Springfield team has ever reached a Grand Slam semifinal.

The Kastles are 4-0 with the King Trophy on the line; the Lasers are 0-4 going back to WTT Finals losses in 1999 and 2001 and including Washington's wins over Springfield in 2009 and 2013.

Boasting the same four players from their rout of Springfield in the 2013 title match, the Kastles will be confident as they play for their fifth WTT Championship in six years. Media, spectators and even other teams comment on the aura that now surrounds the Kastles after so many years of extraordinary success.

That being said, three of Washington's four losses this season came on the road (two without Hingis). The Kastles have never had to play the role of visitor in the WTT Finals, winning two of their titles at Kastles Stadium and the other two at a neutral site in Charleston, S.C.

History is on the line tonight: Either the Kastles will win their record-tying fourth straight WTT title or the Lasers will lift the King Trophy for the first time after nearly two decades of trying.

Watch the 2014 Mylan WTT Finals live at 5 pm on ESPN3.com and continuing at 6 pm on ESPN2.

Wild-and-Crazy Washington Kastles Travel Schedule

First Look Ever at What it Takes To Play 16 WTT Matches in 21 Days

After packing their bags for the last road trip of 2014, the Kastles received one final reminder of their grueling travel schedule, which began less than three weeks ago.

More than 1,000 miles separate the Smith Center from Springfield, site of today's Mylan WTT Finals. One last journey means that the Kastles will have spent some 40 hours and 14,000 miles in planes, trains and automobiles this season.

For Kastles captain Leander Paes, the whirlwind began at Wimbledon on July 6. One day later he would be kicking the Kastles season off in Boston. Two days earlier, he was playing in the Wimbledon men's doubles semifinals.

Following a Grand Slam tournament, most tennis pros are unwinding from stress by traveling home to see family, taking extra time to explore London or even jet-setting to an exotic island for vacation.

Not the Kastles.

Paes' trans-Atlantic flight gave him only one day to change surfaces and strategies -- from best-of-five sets on grass to first-to-five sets on hard courts. More than 3,000 miles and seven hours later, he touched down in Boston and went on to lead the Kastles to a 24-16 win.

The Wimbledon-to-WTT transition has historically been even tougher. In past seasons, Paes (2012) and Martina Hingis (2013) were still playing at Wimbledon the day before the Kastles' first match, forcing them to fly from England and represent Washington all in the same day.

As a Kastles fan, you already know that Mylan World TeamTennis is unlike any other professional tennis event, featuring franchises spread out across the country. But you may not realize the amount of travel that goes into playing 16 matches in 21 days.

If a pro tennis player on the WTA or ATP World Tour chooses to play tournaments in three consecutive weeks, he or she will compete in, at most, three different cities.

Compare that to one particularly demanding stretch last week when the Kastles played in four different cities on four consecutive nights: Washington on July 16, Philadelphia on July 17, Springfield on July 18 and Boston on July 19.

With their post-match adrenaline keeping them up close to 1 am on match nights, Kastles players lost valuable sleep to catch five flights this season at 6 am or earlier. Playing tennis on less than five hours of sleep each night is no easy task, yet the Kastles somehow made it look simple time and again at the Smith Center.

The wear and tear of travel on a WTT player is immeasurable. But the miles and minutes certainly are.

WASHINGTON KASTLES 2014 TRAVEL SCHEDULE

DATE ORIGIN DESTINATION MILES HOURS

7/06 Wimbledon Boston 3,270 7

7/08 Boston Dallas 1,770 4

7/09 Dallas Washington 1,330 3

7/11 Washington Austin 1,525 3.5

7/12 Austin Washington 1,525 3.5

7/17 Washington Philadelphia 140 1.5

7/18 Philadelphia Springfield 1,100 4.5

7/19 Springfield Boston 1,410 4

7/20 Boston Washington 440 1.5

7/23 Washington Philadelphia 140 1.5

7/24 Philadelphia Washington 140 1.5

7/26 Washington Springfield 1,030 5

TOTAL 12 TRIPS TO 6 U.S. CITIES 13,820 40.5

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