Tag Archives: tennis

Essential DC, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, Sports Fix, The District
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The New King of the Kastles

Murphy Jensen by Max

The inaugural season of the Washington Kastles, DC’s very own World TeamTennis team, was wildly successful, selling 94% of their seats and all of their boxes, an amazing feat by any standards.  In response to this great demand, their second season proves to be even bigger and better.  The Kastles Stadium (currently under construction) will again be located in the heart of downtown on the corner of 11th & H Streets NW, will be expanded to nearly 3,000 seats, and will also host an additional “marquee player game” as well as the WTT Championship Finals.  The icing on the cake however is the addition of their new head coach, ex pro and TV personality, Murphy Jensen.

I had a chance to sit down with Jensen to discuss what he hopes to bring to the team this season.  If you know anything about Murphy and his exuberant, gung ho personality, it may come as no surprise that interviewing him was like herding cats.  Cats on a Red Bull diet.  What I’d imagined to be a well executed, fifteen minute set of questions and answers, turned into an hour long chat with one of the most high energy individuals I’ve ever met.  During our conversation we covered topics ranging from his excitement to be a part of the Kastles, his comedy travel show Murphy’s Guide,  his advice on shaving your head, the first time he drove a Porsche, playing tennis with “41”, and of course what he loves about DC.  Many of his responses were as if they came from a politician in that they were long-winded and never really answered my question, but in the end I left the Kastles office thinking to myself, “That is one awesome dude.”

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Sports Fix, The Features
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Sports Fix: Hangin’ By A Thread Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Rock the Red’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

Capitals
2nd Round: 2-3, facing Game 6 on Monday night in Pittsburgh.

It’s down to the raggedy edge again for the Caps. After starting 2-0 against the Penguins, the Pens have picked up 3 running, two of them in Overtime. The Caps are short on momentum right now, and that may well be their undoing. Ovechkin has been en fuego, and leads the NHL in post-season goals, but a pair of costly mistakes have cost the Caps their lead on the series.

Tonight, they’ll face elimination in Pittsburgh, much as they faced it two weeks ago in New York. Varlamov will need to be superlative, and the Caps will have to play aggressive & razor-sharp hockey. The good news is, Brashear’s coming off the bench after the end of his suspension, so that’ll return some hard-hitting power to the Caps’ side. The puck drops at 7pm, and can be seen on Versus. C-A-P-S CAPS CAPS CAPS! Endanger the Penguins!

Nationals
Record: 10-19
Last Two Weeks: 6-6
Place: Last in the NL East

Well, we’re still the worst team in major league baseball. But, in the last two weeks, the Nats have played a lot better than their opening two weeks. Shairon Martis has been pretty much amazing, his last outing with a 5-hit complete game over the Cardinals last week. Jordan Zimmermann’s still 2-1, and though his ERA is over 5, he’s still got a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio. And, of course, mid-season number-one-draft-pick-to-be Stephen Strasburg threw a no-hitter last week against Air Force. If the Nats can get together with a decent deal with Scott Boras, he’ll be up and pitching in DC by the end of the summer. Ryan Zimmerman’s got a 28-game hitting streak as it stands right now, as well. Get that up to 30 games and maybe he’ll get the credit he’s due. The Nats have three more games on the road against the Giants before coming home for a long homestand. Just think, 9 more wins and they’re at .500.
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Life in the Capital, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed, The District
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Only Two Kastles Games Left!

Sacha Jones

Sacha Jones by Max Cook

While the Washington Kastles lost their match yesterday (23-19) against the Philadelphia Freedoms, they played their hearts out until the bitter end. Thanks to an intense women’s singles effort by Sacha Jones, the game went into overtime where she was quickly defeated by Audra Cohen, 1-0.

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Featured Photo, Life in the Capital, Special Events, Sports Fix, The District
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Washington Kastles Stop ‘Big Mac’

Mashona Washington

Mashona Washington by Max Cook

In a dramatic come-from-behind victory, the Washington Kastles showed John McEnroe and the New York Sportimes that they are not to be messed with on their home court. What started out looking like an easy New York win, the match became a slug fest that came down to a women’s doubles “Supertiebreaker”. Mashona Washington and Sacha Jones out dueled Milagros Sequera and Hana Sromova, beating them 7 to 5 and giving the Kastles an 18-17 win.

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