World TeamTennis Final Wraps Fun Season
by Fran Stuchbury
Published on August 5, 2015 under World TeamTennis (WTT)
Austin Aces
Sam Querrey of the Washington Kastles in the WTT Finals
(Washington Kastles, Credit: MAVPP)
The 2015 World TeamTennis season came to a close Sunday. This was my first season covering WTT, and I knew attending the championship was the only way to complete my coverage of the league and its 40th season.
I relished the chance to attend another championship, having already covered six ArenaBowls, two arenafootball2 ArenaCups, two United Football League Championships, a CFL Grey Cup at Montreal in 2001 and a Major League Lacrosse Championship at Villanova in 2003.
I had an easy commute from the Philadelphia area, going on a two hour Amtrak train ride to Washington, D.C. While eating lunch I received an invite from the Washington Kastles to attend the WTT Finals Celebration. I jumped at the opportunity, and I was the only member of the media at the event. I made the most of it by talking to a lot of people.
I first spoke with Austin Aces owner Lorne Abony, who has owned the team for two seasons, and asked him how he wants to emulate what the Washington Kastles have accomplished since Washington has been so successful as winners of five of the last six King Trophies. Abony responded, "We are trying to build with core players that have been with the team for a long period time, and have a great team working together like the Kastles have in WTT, having young players that will play for the Aces for many seasons to come."
Aces head coach Rick Leach, in his fourth season, was named WTT Head Coach of the Year. He said, "It's a huge honor. I never received any honors from coaching, and it's a big thrill for me. I couldn't have done it without the great play of all the team members. I owe it all to them. To finish the season 12-2 in WTT is quite an accomplishment."
The Aces' Teymuraz Gabrashvili was named the league's Male MVP. He said of WTT, "It gives me the opportunity, and I can say for sure I could not have won this award without my teammates. Thanks to them I am standing here. I hope tomorrow I can show why I was named MVP and lead the Aces to a championship."
The Aces' Alla Kudryavtseva, who was named WTT Female Rookie of the Year felt the same. She said "I was so honored to get the award; it was something I dreamed about. I knew I was going to love the whole atmosphere. I love the fans, I loved the engagement, and I loved the music. My team has been amazing and I was trying to contribute as much as I could. To get the award was the icing on the cake, and I want to thank WTT for presenting it to me."
On the other side of the net, Anastasia Rodionova of the Washington Kastles was named WTT co-MVP. She said, "This season was very challenging, and I wouldn't be able to get this award without my teammates, coach Murphy Jensen, the owner of the team, Mark Ein, and everyone from the Kastles organization. Because of the great support, I was able to play my best tennis during the season and win the WTT MVP award."
I asked Kastles coach Murphy Jensen how much of an advantage it is for the home team coach to pick the order of matches, (men's singles, men's doubles, women's singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles) and he said, "I think it's only the advantage if you get to play home. It's a strategic advantage being able to pick the order. You can play your team the way you want to play your team. At the end of the day, you have to win games; the more games you win the better you are going to do."
I asked WTT CEO/Commissioner Ilana Kloss if expansion to the New York market next season was possible, especially with WTT having a headquarters in New York City. She replied, "Absolutely, New York is a very important market because you have the U.S. Open, and there is so much competition for people's choices and entertainment. We really need to make sure we find the right location and that is a huge issue. We have identified some potential owners, and I really feel it's a matter of finding the correct location. If we're in New York, it's important we get it right."
Leif Shiras, tennis analyst with the Tennis Channel since it launched since 2003, has worked WTT games this season including the championship match on ESPN2. "I think the best thing is that when you're watching the match, you never know whether it's going be a single shot, a single backhand pass, an unforced error, a single game in one event and what player will produce that moment that can suddenly turn the match around in one team's favor. That's what I think Billie Jean King boiled the game down to. It's those moments where you really have to be watching closely because a single play can change the match. The excitement, that drama, that intensity is what we all want in tennis.
"In tennis matches for the U.S. Open, you may be able to skip the first couple of games, but in WTT you can't afford to do that. Everything is valuable, everything is pressurized, and everything is meaningful to the result. You have to be into WTT at all times, that's what makes it so interesting."
Sunday was the Championship. The Kastles have an awesome introduction when they present the team, complete with cheerleaders, pyrotechnics and the best Master of Ceremonies in sport, Leighton Condell. The opening gets the Kastles fans so pumped up before the match even starts.
The Washington Kastles won the King Trophy for a record fifth straight time, defeating the Austin Aces 24-18.
In the first match, mixed doubles, the Kastles' Martina Hingis and Leander Paes defeated Aces Alla Kudryavtseva and Teymuraz Gabashvili, 5-2 to give the defending champs a solid early lead.
Women's doubles followed with Washington's Hingis and Rodionova defeating Austin's Elina Svitolina and Kudryavtseva, 5-4. In WTT, when it is 4-4, they play a nine-point tie breaker with the first to five points winning.
In the third match, men's doubles, the Kastles' Leander Paes and Sam Querrey defeated Aces Teymuraz Gabashvili and Jarmere Jenkins, 5-3, giving Washington a healthy 15-9 advantage through the first three events.
Men's singles was up as the fourth match, and Washington's Sam Querrey extended the lead by one when he defeated Teymuraz Gabashvili, 5-4, placing the Kastles on the brink of the title.
In the fifth and final match, women's singles, The Austin Aces struck back with Svitolina defeating the Kastles' Madison Brengle, 5-3, which made the score at that time Kastles 23, Aces 18. But the match was not yet over due to WTT's extended play rule. The Kastles had to win one more game to win the championship. Austin, on the other hand, had to win five straight games to knot the score at 23-23 and force a super tiebreaker. In WTT, is substitution is allowed at that point, and while the Kastles did consider subbing Martina Hingis for Brengle, Brengle instead rebounded quickly to take the deciding game 4-1, cementing a 24-18 win for Washington.
Brengle was originally only going to play for one week with the Kastles, but when the top-ranked women's player in the world, Serena Williams, was unable to play, Brengle was asked to stay with the Kastles the remainder of the season.
The Kastles were understandably thrilled with their fifth consecutive championship, sixth in the last seven seasons in WTT.
Kastles owner Mark Ein exclaimed, "It's sort of indescribable; everyone (championship) is hard, never take any of them for granted. It's been one season at a time, and matches can turn on a single point. Being able to win at home in front of our fans is great."
Washington Master of Ceremonies Leighton Condell added, "It's wonderful; it's unbelievable as well as exhilarating at the same time. The Kastles are a family: from the mascots to everyone else we are a family, and it was fantastic."
Kastles head coach Murphy Jensen said, "It's an absolute dream come true; the way our team performed was iconic. The team did everything I hoped and expected of them, and they are the best team in the world."
Jensen was especially happy for Leander Paes who has been a part of all six Kastles Championships and was named Finals MVP. "Leander Paes is amazing," said Jensen. "He is a god on the tennis court, and one of the tennis gods, remembered as one of the greatest doubles players in history in the world."
Martina Hingis said, "It's amazing to bring it home for the sixth time. I was part of it for the last three seasons; it was a great journey that I cherish a lot."
Kastles fans were also elated with another title.
Fan Barbara Jones exclaimed, "I am so excited; great game, very competitive, good team and I really loved it."
A.J. Olic, a 10-year-old tennis player in the crowd, agreed, "It feels really good. At the end it was getting close, but we pulled it off so yes I am thrilled."
Billie Jean King has emphasized how important it is for young kids to play tennis since they are the future of the sport.
King summarized the championship and the 40th season of WTT play: "It's really exciting because I know we are in good hands with people like Mark Ein and the players that are playing. So I hope the next 40 seasons will be even better. I think it will be with our major sponsor Mylan; Venus Williams and Andy Roddick being minority owners. We have stronger owners in the league now and can start to expand. We are going to have to go slowly to get the right owners."
WTT Commissioner/CEO Ilana Kloss on the atmosphere in Washington D.C. added, "I think it was electric and it's really exciting to be in our 40th season and for the Kastles to make league history in winning five consecutive championships, six overall. It's terrific. I think the Austin Aces, in their first final, they didn't get off to a great start but I think being at home for the Kastles is huge. As far as the 40th season we couldn't have asked for a better show and better ending."
Over a three week period I covered eight WTT matches: six Philadelphia Freedoms matches, the Eastern Conference Championship and the Championship. It was the most fun I have had covering a league in quite some time.
It was the first championship I have attended since I covered the UFL Championship between the Las Vegas Locomotives and the Florida Tuskers in Omaha, Nebraska back in Thanksgiving week of 2010 that Las Vegas won 23-20. I forgot how much I missed being in that type of environment.
Monday while waiting to return home I bought a Washington Redskins t-shirt to show my support to Washington head coach Jay Gruden, who was a former Arena Football quarterback and head coach. He also was the head coach of the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League. I covered both leagues for OurSports Central.
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Covering the Philadelphia Freedoms and WTT season became part of a personal journey for me. In April, my father unexpectedly passed away, and his death really hit me hard. I ended up losing interest in most activities. My friends tried to help me snap out of it, but I knew I had to do that myself.
I also knew my dad would have wanted me to go on with my life; do the things that make me happy. He would have never wanted me to feel down.
I had to get back to covering sports which is always what made me the happiest. So I decided to push myself and give covering the Philadelphia Freedoms a shot. I had been aware of the team for years, but due to a busy schedule had not been able to attend any matches.
When I found out my friend Dave Leno was named the public address announcer/master of ceremonies for the Freedoms, I grew more curious about the league and decided to give it a shot. I figured the worst case scenario was I could at least reconnect with Dave.
Leno has covered the U.S. Open the last two years for U.S. Open radio which also simulcasts on Sirius XM ESPN Radio Extra. He broadcasts college football and basketball for ESPN, Olympic sports with Big Ten Network, Japanese baseball and the New York Cosmos for One World Sports among many other assignments. He also broadcasts USA field hockey for Comcast/NBC Universal Sports Network.
Before I covered my first home game I made sure to find out as much about WTT as I could. I followed the Facebook pages of all seven teams in the league, so I would get updates since social media is a big part of WTT.
On Monday, July 23rd I watched my first WTT match between the Freedoms and the San Diego Aviators on ESPN3. It was a lot of fun and when the score was tied 21-21, the match went to a 13-point super tie-breaker, which the Aviators took 7-5. The match took place in San Diego, and I was up late at night but it was well worth it.
When I told people I was covering the Philadelphia Freedoms of WTT, many had no idea what the league was all about, so I decided in my first story I had better do some explaining about WTT play itself. I immediately got hooked at the Freedoms home opener against the Boston Lobsters, won by Boston 21-17. I enjoyed seeing every version of tennis: men's singles, men's doubles, women's singles, and women's doubles and mixed doubles. That turned into my first ever tennis story "A Newbies Guide to WTT."
I received a lot of positive feedback from people who read the story. Leno told me it was a great way to break down WTT and introduce people to the sport.
I originally planned to give the Freedoms some coverage, but that morphed into providing WTT some national coverage and finding the most interesting story lines. I've always loved doing interviews. With WTT I tried to be as diverse as possible covering all different aspects of the league.
To that end, I completed interviews with Kastles owner Mark Ein, Freedoms General Manager Barbara Perry, California Dream Coach David Macpherson and WTT CEO/Commissioner Ilana Kloss. WTT Senior Vice President of Communications Rosie Crews was helpful in arranging the interviews and giving me positive feedback on them.
I really wanted to interview WTT Co-Founder/Philadelphia Freedoms Billie Jean King. I was able to set up a time through her publicist Tip Nunn who had read my other interviews.
When I interviewed King, we sat at the bench while the Freedoms were practising. She provided detailed answers which gave me plenty of material for the interview. It was published on July 30th, and I heard a lot of positive feedback from people who read it.
That same day I got a call from Leno asking me if I had an interest in travelling with him to Washington to see the Freedoms play the Washington Kastles in the playoffs. Within an hour I was off to Washington with Dave to see that match.
Very shortly after arriving, I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I saw a guy 10 feet in the air on stilts getting fans pumped up. He was Kastles In-Game Host/Master of Ceremonies Leighton Condell.
I thought I interviewed people on every single aspect on WTT, but I knew I was wrong when I saw Condell not only getting the fans excited, but putting smiles on their faces. I knew I had to talk with him.
When the Kastles defeated the Freedoms, I was able to get my interview with him and got my picture taken with him. Hands down Leighton Condell is the best Master of Ceremonies in sports!
I ended up accomplishing more from the spur of the moment road trip to D.C. than I bargained for. It helped me get used to knowing what goes on at Kastles games, so I knew what to expect on Sunday for the title match. Doing the interview with Leighton was the icing on the cake.
Within WTT, people say they want to copy the success the Kastles have had on the court. I'm convinced they should also talk about the work Washington does off the court as well. The public relations staff is outstanding; they did everything they could to help me out at the championship. The Washington franchise is full of classy professionals from top to bottom.
When I started covering WTT, my friends saw me transform back to being my old self. Some who have been following my work for years have told me they will follow WTT much more closely now. My WTT stories have been shared so much on social media such as Facebook and Twitter by WTT, WTT teams, and tennis fan sites.
I have been contributing to OurSports Central for over 14 years. I feel my WTT coverage has been some of the best work I have done. Traffic in the WTT section on OSC has more than doubled compared to last season.
Years from now I will look back at this experience as something that helped re-energize me when I was going through a difficult time in my life, and I will always be grateful for that.
I do have some good news for WTT fans. I still have one more interview that will be published in the near future: Finals MVP and WTT ambassador Leander Peas of the Kastles.
Many thanks to Mid Atlantic Video & Photography Production for the below photo gallery. If anyone has any questions or comments about my WTT coverage feel free to drop me an email at arenazone@yahoo.com, and I will be more than happy to get back to you.
Images from this story
World TeamTennis Stories from August 5, 2015
- World TeamTennis Final Wraps Fun Season - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury
- World TeamTennis Final Wraps Fun Season - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury
- World TeamTennis Final Wraps Fun Season - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
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