By: Ben Raby
WASHINGTON- The Washington Kastles overcame an early 10-2 deficit and beat John McEnroe's New York Sportimes 18-17 in World Team Tennis action from Kastles Stadium at CityCenter DC.
The Sportimes (7-2) cruised to identical 5-1 wins in mixed doubles and women's singles just in time for McEnroe, 49, to take the court for his singles match against 22-year-old Scott Oudsema. But that's when this WTT match started to turn.
Oudsema used an over-powering serve to beat McEnroe 5-2, and get the Kastles (5-3) back in the match. McEnroe meanwhile would say afterward that he was never really into the match himself.
"I wish I had played better," he said. "It's hard to get as into it when you're playing like crap."
McEnroe and partner Brian Wilson then dropped a 5-4 set to Oudsema and Justin Gimelstob and suddenly the Kastles had all the momentum heading into the final event of the night, women's doubles.
"I blew it," McEnroe said. "I feel bad for the team because we were winning so big, and then it was just close enough where [the Kastles] had hope. So you feel bad. I feel bad for them."
Sure enough with the capacity crowd of 2,200 rallying behind the home side, the Kastles doubles tandem of Mashona Washington and Sacha Jones earned a 5-1 win, forcing a super tiebreaker to decide the match with the score tied at 17.
"That's maybe where a home team can come in," said McEnroe. "They get you going a little more, and at the same time, we got flat. I think we just figured we were going to win."
The Kastles took the super tiebreaker 7-5, winning the match 18-17. With the win Washington pulls within a game-and-a-half of the first place Sportimes. The Kastles visit Boston on Thursday, and host defending champion Sacramento Friday night from Kastles Stadium. (Photo credit: Allen Clark, http://www.offwingphoto.com/)
WASHINGTON- The Washington Kastles overcame an early 10-2 deficit and beat John McEnroe's New York Sportimes 18-17 in World Team Tennis action from Kastles Stadium at CityCenter DC.
The Sportimes (7-2) cruised to identical 5-1 wins in mixed doubles and women's singles just in time for McEnroe, 49, to take the court for his singles match against 22-year-old Scott Oudsema. But that's when this WTT match started to turn.
Oudsema used an over-powering serve to beat McEnroe 5-2, and get the Kastles (5-3) back in the match. McEnroe meanwhile would say afterward that he was never really into the match himself.
"I wish I had played better," he said. "It's hard to get as into it when you're playing like crap."
McEnroe and partner Brian Wilson then dropped a 5-4 set to Oudsema and Justin Gimelstob and suddenly the Kastles had all the momentum heading into the final event of the night, women's doubles.
"I blew it," McEnroe said. "I feel bad for the team because we were winning so big, and then it was just close enough where [the Kastles] had hope. So you feel bad. I feel bad for them."
Sure enough with the capacity crowd of 2,200 rallying behind the home side, the Kastles doubles tandem of Mashona Washington and Sacha Jones earned a 5-1 win, forcing a super tiebreaker to decide the match with the score tied at 17.
"That's maybe where a home team can come in," said McEnroe. "They get you going a little more, and at the same time, we got flat. I think we just figured we were going to win."
The Kastles took the super tiebreaker 7-5, winning the match 18-17. With the win Washington pulls within a game-and-a-half of the first place Sportimes. The Kastles visit Boston on Thursday, and host defending champion Sacramento Friday night from Kastles Stadium. (Photo credit: Allen Clark, http://www.offwingphoto.com/)
No comments:
Post a Comment