See Thursday Night's Skirmish For Yourself

I had no idea the event was even televised.

WTT: New York Sporttimes def. Washington Kastles 20-19

WASHINGTON—A contentious and drama filled match between the top two teams in World Team Tennis’ Eastern Conference made for an entertaining Thursday evening in the nation’s capital. With tensions peaking in the men’s doubles, the New York Sporttimes and Washington Kastles aimed blistering shots and blasting words at each other in a match that boiled over more than once.

Women’s Singles: Abigail Spears (NYS) vs. Olga Puchkova (WAS)

Known for her serving woes, it wasn’t much of a surprise when Olga Puchkova chose to return to open the match. The shakiness on serve first popped up at 1-2, when Puchkova double faulted twice to go down 0-3. The youngest Washington Kastle was able to fight back to 2-3, but a loose forehand put her down a break at 1-3.

Spears seemed to have caught some of Puchkova’s serving yips, which made things a little more interesting. Puchkova steadied her groundstrokes to rebreak for 3-4, but then blew a 3-1 lead at 3-4 to give Spears the game and the event. New York Sporttimes lead 5-3.

Between matches there’s a John McEnroe impersonation contest, which consists of three people in wigs shouting at New York Sporttimes player John McEnroe, screaming that he was a jerk. He didn’t seem to know quite how to take it.

Women’s Doubles: Abigail Spears/Christina Fusano (NYS) vs. Olga Puchkova/Rennae Stubbs (WAS)

After she and Spears held easily to open the match, Rennae Stubbs took over. Taking over involved hitting a shot that bounced up into Spears’ face, for which Stubbs apologized copiously, an example that would not be followed in the next event…

Fusano was broken for the second time to give the Kastles the event 5-2, and the overall lead. Washington Kastles 8-7.

And then things got interesting.

Men’s Doubles: John McEnroe/Robert Kendrick (NYS) vs. Leander Paes/Scott Oudsema (WAS)

Six fairly easy holds brought the event to 3-3. Then things got interesting.

After a long exchange on Paes’ serve, Paes ended the point with a drive into Kendrick, which he just barely managed to turn away from slightly, letting the ball strike him in the back. Paes was fired up and ran back to high five Oudsema, without the half-hearted apology customary in such a situation. Kendrick was having none of it, and stood over the net shouting “you’re not gonna apologize?”

Paes didn’t apologize, and so Kendrick’s partner John McEnroe walked around the net to get in Paes’ face. Kendrick and New York coach Craig Adams joined him, with Washington coach Murphy Jensen coming over to monitor the situation.

Serving at 3-4, 1-0, Kendrick then drilled Paes, who was standing at net on the opposite side of the court, with a first serve. The Sporttimes won the point, and it was a long time until the next one.

As Oudsema and McEnroe argued at the net, Puchkova ran over to Kendrick and began yelling at him, leading Craig Adams to come over to yell at her some. Rennae Stubbs didn’t think too highly of this, and began yelling back. Jensen and Adams both protested with the chair umpire, who gave a conduct violation warning to the Kastles, apparently for Puchkova’s behavior.

After the Sporttimes held for 4-4, more arguments with the chair erupted. Rennae Stubbs incurred a point penalty for something, giving the Sporttimes a 1-0 lead in the tiebreak before it even started. The Kastles seemed rattled and didn’t quite recover, losing the first three points to 4-0. A bloop off McEnroe’s racquet then gave Oudsema an opportunity to peg either one of his opponents, but he put it away softly, the crowd appreciative of his taking the high road.

But one point later it was over, the Sporttimes taking the tiebreak 5-1, and evening the match. Tied 12-12.

The tension continued into halftime, with Kastles owner Mark Ein joining Jensen for more arguing

Kendrick approached Ein, and seemed to make peace. The arguments stopped there, but the flame-up, a type of incident unheard of in World Team Tennis, cast a shadow over the night that would last the rest of the match.

A fun shadow, though.

Men’s Singles: John McEnroe (NYS) vs. Scott Oudsema

Surprisingly given Kendrick’s ranking inside the top 100, McEnroe played the singles event for the Sporttimes, taking on Washington’s Scott Oudsema.

It was a classic battle of experience and finesse vs. youth and raw power, with the finesse and court smarts winning with relative ease. The fifty-year old McEnroe conserved energy well, and reflected back Oudsema’s power at sharp angles that slid out of the23-year old’s reach.

The event ended on a game point at 2-4, with an Oudsema shot landing near the sideline. Both players thought they had won the game, and fist pumped. The challenge showed the ball to be just barely wide, giving McEnroe and the Sporttimes the event and the lead. New York Sporttimes lead 17-14.

Mixed Doubles: Robert Kendrick/Abigail Spears (NYS) vs. Leander Paes/Rennae Stubbs (WAS)

The close, tense match was to end on Washington’s forte—mixed doubles, with doubles stars Leander Paes and Rennae Stubbs combining their slam winning forces against the far less heralded team of Kendrick and Spears. Kendrick’s substitution in for the scheduled McEnroe (greeted by boos by the Washington crowd) was a sign of both the Sporttimes’ desire to win as well as McEnroe’s fatigue.

The Kastles had a chance to win the match right then and there if they were able to win the event 5-0 or 5-1, and they came close. They were unable to win either of Kendrick’s service games, however, winning the match 5-2 to force a match deciding super tiebreak. Tied 19-19.

Super Tiebreak: Robert Kendrick/Abigail Spears (NYS) vs. Leander Paes/Rennae Stubbs (WAS)

The sides remained the same from the last event into the deciding event. The tiebreak stayed close until the very end, when at 5-6 Kendrick was able to take advantage of a Rennae Stubbs serve to give New York the victory. New York Sporttimes win 20-19.

As McEnroe and the rest of the New York team rushed to celebrate with Kendrick and Spears, the dejected Kastles were left to compose themselves for the post match autograph section.

It will be interesting to see what if any fallout there is from the ugliness in the men’s doubles. I don’t know that suspensions or fines are ever doled out in World Team Tennis, but if they are, this would certainly seem to be an occasion for them.

Warming Up And Cooling Off

The grass court season leading up to Wimbledon is a mere two weeks, far less surface preparation time than is afforded for any other grand slam. Because the window of preparation is so small, one would think that making the most of the warm-up tournaments on grass would be a direct indicator of success at SW19.

But in the opening round of Wimbledon, that theory has been completely toppled, as smaller titles on the turf heading in have created no significant tailwinds to speak of for the victors at the All-England Club. Rather, these champions have been apparently exhausted by the effort needed to secure the lesser prizes.

Here is how the seven winners of the seven warm-up tournaments have failed fared in the opening round of Wimbledon:

ATP Eastbourne Champion Dmitry Tursunov (Seeded #25 at Wimbledon, lost to unseeded Mischa Zverev 6-4, 6-2, 3-0 ret.)

Perhaps more physically exhausted than mentally, Russian/Californian Dmitry Tursunov followed up his title at the first Eastbourne ATP tournament with a lethargic upset loss to German Mischa Zverev, a match Tursunov was unable to complete due to an ankle injury that had also surfaced in Eastbourne.

WTA Eastbourne Champion Caroline Wozniacki (Seeded #9 at Wimbledon, defeated unseeded wild card Kimiko Date Krumm 5-7, 6-3, 6-1)

For the first part of her first round match, eighteen-year old Dane Caroline Wozniacki looked nowhere near as fresh as an opponent two full decades her senior, Japan's Kimiko Date Krumm, who has recently returned to the tour at age thirty-eight. Wozniacki was eventually able to outmuscle Date Krumm, but not with anything near the ease that would be expected for a top ten player playing a rusty opponent ranked well outside the top 100.

ATP Halle Champion Tommy Haas (Seeded #24 at Wimbledon (though ranked #35), defeated unseeded Alexander Peya 6-7(5), 7-6(0), 6-3, 6-4)

Germany's Tommy Haas recovered well from losing the first set to Austrian Alexander Peya, defeating him in four sets. Haas' title in Halle was his first since February of 2007, and his current win streak of six is his longest since that same month.

WTA Birmingham Champion Magdalena Rybarikova (Unseeded at Wimbledon, lost to unseeded Roberta Vinci 6-3, 6-2)

Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova won her first career WTA title in Birmingham just over a week ago, so her having a letdown at Wimbledon is not an enormous surprise. What is surprising is how lopsided her defeat to Italy's Roberta Vinci was, given Vinci's general lack of success outside of clay courts.

ATP 's-Hertogenbosch Champion Benjamin Becker (Unseeded at Wimbledon, defeated Roko Karanusic 6-4, 6-4, 6-1)

Arguably the most impressive of the warm-up champions in his first round (faint praise) was Benjamin Becker (no relation to Boris). Becker, who is still best known for beating Andre Agassi at the 2006 US Open in what would be the last match of Agassi's career dispatched Croatian Roko Karanusic in straight sets. Becker was the only one of the seven 2009 grass champions not to drop a set in the first round of Wimbledon.

WTA 's-Hertogenbosch Champion Tamarine Tanasugarn (Unseeded at Wimbledon, lost to unseeded Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-4, 6-4)

Easily the WTA player most specialized toward grass court play, Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn shockingly crashed out of Wimbledon in the first round to the unheralded clay court specialist Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain. Tanasugarn reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon last year, losing to eventual champion Venus Williams. Failing to defend the points she earned in last year's tournament, Tanasugarn's ranking will plummet approximately 34 places after Wimbledon, from #47 to #81.

ATP Queen's Club London Champion Andy Murray (Seeded #3 at Wimbledon, defeated Robert Kendrick 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-4)

The highest-ranked man to enter a grass court warm-up event, Scotsman Andy Murray struggled perhaps more than expected in his four-set win over seventy-sixth ranked American Robert Kendrick. Kendrick had previously pushed Rafael Nadal to five sets at Wimbledon in 2007, so the challenge wasn't completely unexpected. But it is safe to say, all the same, that Murray would have liked to have opened his Wimbledon campaign with a more convincing win in front of the throngs of Brits hanging their hopes on his shoulders.

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So what does the uninspiring 4-3 record of these grass court warm-up tournament champions say about the importance of preparation? All seven champions were facing a lower-ranked opponent, and all but one of them lost at least one set. Perhaps after the grueling and seemingly interminable clay court season, rest is just as valuable as reacclimation.

Last year's finalists on both the Gentlemen's and Ladies' sides demonstrate both schools of thought on Wimbledon preparation--Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer won Queen's Club and Halle respectively and met in the final, while the Ladies' final was contested by Venus and Serena Williams, both of whom skipped the pre-Wimbledon grass stretch as they have done most every year.

It could just be as simple as a gender difference--that the men recover more quickly than do the women, with the male champions going 3-1 in the first round (with Tursunov's injury bringing the only loss), while the women, especially those lower ranked ones with less experience following up titles, were more vulnerable to an early let down.

The impact of the warm-up events will likely be less and less as the fortnight continues, but for the opening few days, it's worth taking a gander at.