WASHINGTON--Owner's Mark Ein's unparalleled determination to have his World Team Tennis team succeed has made the Washington Kastles into a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut. 

Both Venus and Serena Williams play selected matches for the team, and multiple Grand Slam doubles champions Leander Paes and Rennae Stubbs prove add a level of experience that no other team can match.

Currently at 15-0, the Kastles are in the World Team Tennis finals Sunday in Charleston, and only one win away from becoming the first team to finish the regular season and playoffs undefeated.  Only one other team has finished the regular season undefeated in WTT history (the Newport Beach Dukes in 1994).

After finishing the 2010 season at a disappointing 8-6, the Kastles made only one change to their lineup for the 2011 season, adding Russian-Australian Arina Rodionova to the team.  Rodionova, whose older sister Anastasia has blazed a trail for her in both singles in doubles, has more than held her own on the stacked Kastles team, and was named the WTT Rookie of the Year for 2011.

Rodionova, who has been dubbed "Hot Rod" by fans, clearly has enjoyed every minute of her time playing for the Kastles.  But then again, who wouldn't like playing for a winning team in sold out stadiums?

Late in the World Team Tennis regular season, I chatted with Arina about topics ranging from her teammates, her opponent and idol Martina Hingis, and the ever growing Australian affinity for sunglasses.

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TDF: What made you decide to play World Team Tennis?

Arina Rodionova: Well, I heard a lot of good things about it from my friends who had played it already. I heard it's really a lot of fun, plus it's a good experience because they have, like, marquee players.

TDF: Which friends of yours had played World Team Tennis before?

Arina Rodionova: First of all, my sister. She played for a couple years. Then it was Dmitry Tursunov, him too. And some other girls I can't remember now.

TDF: I saw that Alla Kudryavtseva tweeted at you that she wanted to play World Team Tennis now because of how much fun you were having...

Arina Rodionova: Yeah, never played it, but yeah, she's like one of my best friends.

TDF: Have you enjoyed it so far, is it what you expected it to be?

Arina Rodionova: Yeah, it's been even better I think. It's been even better, I think. I think I have a great team. And now, since I've traveled a bit to some other cities, I see that we have the best stadium, the best supporters. The atmosphere of the team is unbelievable.

TDF: You got to play against Martina Hingis on Tuesday, who I heard was one of your idols growing up?

Arina Rodionova: My main idol, yeah. It was unbelievable, it was a great experience. It was great fun, and she's a great champion. Even though she is retired, she played unbelievable.

TDF: She apparently was asked by Roger Federer if she would come back to play mixed doubles at the Olympics for Switzerland--having just played her, do you think she's good enough to do that?

Arina Rodionova: Yes. If she will practice a bit--she doesn't even need to practice, actually. She'll still be better than most of the girls. Do you know what she said to him, if she's coming back or not for the Olympics?

TDF: She said she hasn't decided yet, so hopefully she does.

Arina Rodionova: Yeah, definitely.

TDF: You had the Williams sisters on the Kastles at the beginning, which meant you didn't get to play as much at the start, but you also got to play alongside them. What was that like for you?

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NORCROSS, Georgia - If an hour of practice, followed by a two-hour match, and then smiling for 45 minutes while you glad-hand tournament sponsors and their families isn’t for you, then you don’t belong on the ATP Tour.

While most of what gets reported on is what happens on the court, players often have off the court duties to attend to once their practice session or match is over.

Take for instance an early week afternoon at the Atlanta Tennis Championships, an ATP 250 event being held this week at Racquet Club of the South outside of Atlanta.  American pro Donald Young was helping kids at a junior clinic, upstart Ryan Harrison was signing autographs and posing for pictures at the USTA tent, while former top-five player James Blake was due to make an appearance at a Fidelity cocktail party.

The players know it’s the sponsors and fans that make it possible to earn a living playing tennis all over the world.  Most players are to take a few minutes out of their busy schedules to show appreciation. 

American, Alex Bolgomolov Jr. was the featured attraction at the USTA luncheon on Wednesday, and the gaggle of USTA members was happy to have him.  “It’s the least I can do,” stated Bolgmolov when asked about making appearances for sponsors.  "They do a lot for us."

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NORCROSS, Georgia - Just about everything Gilles Muller does on the tennis court is quiet.

From his long, looping groundstrokes that hit the sweet spot of his Wilson frame, to the way he moves his 6'4" body around the court with barely a screech coming off his sneakers.  Add to that Muller's quiet demeanor, rarely muttering a peep to anyone, and it's an even starker contrast to the grunts and groans one usually hears in the ranks of professional tennis.

Muller did show some quiet emotion, though, in the form of a fist pump as he defeated No. 2 seed Kevin Anderson 7-6(3), 7-6(3) Friday, surviving the hot, sticky conditions at the Atlanta Tennis Championships.  Muller seemed to handle the conditions better than Anderson and served the best he has all week.

The lefty from Leudelange, Luxembourg has quietly hovered in the top 100 of the ATP men's rankings for about six years now, largely unnoticed by the masses. After this showing in Atlanta, his current world ranking will approach its career high of No. 59.

How is Muller doing it? With good old fashioned hard work. "I've been injured on and off for years, so I spent 2010 getting my ranking back and working hard physically," expressed Muller. "Now it is paying off."

This will be Muller's best result of 2011 no matter what happens beyond this point. He reached the third round at Wimbledon and the quarters in Johannesburg, but he felt he has played better than his results. "I've been playing well all year, actually," Muller chuckled.

"I'm getting used to the Atlanta heat now, because I struggled in my first match," Muller added.  

Muller will be playing in hot conditions again on Saturday, with his semifinal slated for 1 p.m.

WASHINGTON--With American media hungry to find "the next Melanie Oudin," Beatrice "Trice" Capra of Ellicott City, Maryland briefly became the face of the 2010 US Open.

After crushing 2004 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Karolina Sprem 6-1, 6-3 in the first round, then 371st-ranked Capra pulled off the upset of the tournament's first week with a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 victory over No. 18 seed Aravane Rezai.

But Capra's run ended emphatically at the hands of three-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova, who bounced Capra from the tournament by the score of 6-0, 6-0 in an absurdly windy Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Capra, who won the USTA's wild card playoff to enter the tournament, had previously planned on going to college at Duke instead of turning pro out of high school.  But her surprising run to the middle weekend of a grand slam complicated those plans, encouraging her to test the waters of the pro circuit further.

But unable to continue the form that had allowed her to beat Sprem and Rezai, Capra has gone 4-13 in matches since the US Open. 

Capra is going to Duke this fall, but had the chance to play for the Philadelphia Freedoms (of Elton John fame) in World Team Tennis this summer.  I caught up with her after the team's final match, a loss to the undefeated Washington Kastles.

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TDF: You just finished your first season playing World Team Tennis--what has the whole experience been like for you?

Beatrice Capra: It's been amazing, I've never done anything like this. I had a great team, I had great coaches, and to be able to play on the court with Rennae Stubbs, Venus Williams, Martina Hingis--it's been an honor and I've had a lot of fun.

TDF: You obviously made a name for yourself at the US Open last year, making the third round there. I know that you're planning on going to college this fall, at Duke--are you going to try to play the US Open before that?

Beatrice Capra: I'm not sure yet. I know that I'll need a wild card into it, so if I get a wild card then for sure I'll play. But if not, I'm leaving for college August 23rd.

TDF: Would you take a wild card into qualifying, if that's what you got?

Beatrice Capra: Oh yeah, I would take anything. (laughs)

TDF: I know after the US Open last year you weren't sure if you were going to go to college or turn pro. What was that process like, coming to this decision?

Beatrice Capra: It was definitely tough, you know. I always wanted to go to college, but at the US Open it gave me a glimpse of what I could do. But I think that for me to go to college and have that education secured will definitely be good for me. Especially since on the women's tour now, you know, everyone's doing well at an older age. So I think I have a lot more time.

TDF: But you're definitely thinking that you want to give it another shot at the pro level once college ends?

Beatrice Capra: Oh for sure, yeah. My main priority is always going to be a professional tennis player.

It's not uncommon to see professional tennis players, or USTA 4.0 hacks bounce overheads over fence or onto adjacent court. It is rare to see a player bounce a serve over the fence, but that is exactly what ATP player Kevin Anderson was doing in the warm up before his match with Michael Russell. I tend to think Anderson was working on this by design as he stands about a foot taller than Russell. Along with the heat and recently layed surface covering the courts, the courts they are using at the Racquet Club of the South for the Atlanta Tennis Championships are giving off extremely high bounces.  Advantage taller players.

It doesn't hurt that Anderson is 6'8" and is built like an NBA power forward. Anderson is part of the new breed of tennis players that look like they belong on a basketball court or playing tight end in the NFL. With John Isner being 6'9", Marinko Matesevic checking in at about 6'6", and Rajeev Ram and Gilles Muller both 6'4", there should be a slam dunk contest held to entertain the fans in between matches. All that is missing is 6'10" Ivo Karlovic who isn't playing this week.

Former world #1 Lleyton Hewitt noticed the high bounces off the court in his first round match and as he commented in his press conference, he made adjustments because of his smaller frame.

Matesevic commented to a reporter following his upset win over Igor Kunitsyn, "the balls are flying off the court." The high kicking serves are noticable to most fans and they are marveling at the play.

John Inser, a former basketball player in his youth chose tennis over hoops at the age of 15. With his soft hands and spot on hand-eye coordination, Isner could've emulated his basketball idol, Tom Gugliotta into a  college basketball scholarship if he wished. In fact Isner played some hoops in a press conference earlier in the week with the former NBA player Gugliotta and he held his own.

Isner mentioned in his win over James Balke that he was glad he had 30 aces and many service winners.  Blake, like many other players saw serves jumping up over his head. 

The players and athletes in most sports have gotten bigger and stronger over the years, but many tennis fans never expected tennis players to become giants. Gone are the days of scappy under 6' players like McEnroe and Connors dominating the sport. It seem bigger is better now in professional tennis.

Seen on the grounds: Donald Young sticking around to watch Isner and Blake Wednesday night after he was eliminated from the tournament. Alex Bogomolov Jr. enjoying his time doing a meet and greet with USTA members at a lunchtime reception, and ATP chair umpire Mohammed Leyani posing for pictures and signing autographs for fans. Geez, I thought the fans came out to see the players.

With the inaugural Citi Open beginning this Saturday in College Park, Maryland, the WTA Tour returning to the Washington, DC area for the first time since 1991.

The previous event, the long-defunct Virginia Slims of Washington, was a prestigious indoor event that boasted champions such as Margaret Court Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova (TEN times), Chris Evert, Tracy Austin (twice), Hana Mandlikova, Steffi Graf, and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. 

While the 2011 Citi Open doesn't boast nearly as prestigious a field, having a WTA-level tournament return to the nation's capital after a two-decade absence is a tremendous thing for Washington's huge base of tennis fans.

Back in June, I talked with tournament director Sam Duvall about the challenges of running a new tournament, including attracting players, being concurrent with the larger tournament that same week in Stanford, and more.

* * *

TDF: Who's idea was this tournament? What was the genesis of it?

Sam Duvall: Well, I'm not sure if you know the history of our company [Lagardere], but we've managed the Legg Mason since its inception.  Our group's president is Donald Dell, and he's managed the tournament since it started, over forty years.  We've been in the market to bring a women's tournament to the area, because tennis has a rich tradition here and is usually well attended.  We felt like there was a need for a good-sized WTA event.

TDF: Did you think about making the Legg Mason a combined event? Or did you always want to keep them separate?

Sam Duvall: For now, the goal is to keep it as two seperate events.  It was the easiest way to get women's tennis here--to bring an event, rather than to ATP and get them to approve a combined event at that site.  That wasn't going to happen.

TDF: Did the ATP issues also influence your decision not to host this event at the Fitzgerald Tennis Center where the men's event is? Did you need to keep this at a different place?

Sam Duvall: Originally we were planning to have the event in Howard County, in Elkridge, Maryland.  They're planning to build a $30-40 million tennis and multi-sport facility there, and given the economic climate that was pushed back a year.  This year we're gonna host the event--we wanted to keep it in Maryland, so the next best site was the Tennis Center at College Park, where the University of Maryland's teams play.  There's a pretty big following over there with the USTA Regional Training Center.

TDF: This tournament is going to be the same week as another WTA tournament in Stanford.  It's pretty rare for there to be two WTA tournaments in the same country in the same week.  Does that present any problems in terms of attracting players, publicity, or anything like that?

Sam Duvall: Sure, it's not ideal, not having the tournament all by ourselves in the States.  But if you look at tournaments going on right now, there's two tournaments within a two or three hour flight of each other [ed. note: Eastbourne and 's-Hertogenbosch], so at least we're at opposite ends of the country from Stanford.  At the end of the day, I think people just want to watch high-level tennis.  Sure, we're definitely competing for players, and Stanford's a much bigger tournament, so they have a much easier crack at it.  We'll see, I guess.

TDF: How does the process of trying to attract players to play at an inaugural tournament work? Do you try to look at who hasn't played Stanford before? How do you determine which players to target, to woo to come Washington?

Sam Duvall: A lot of it is our city in general.  Washington is obviously a pretty big tourist destination, and a lot of international who are living in the States, at least females, never get the chance to come to DC because they're traveling all the time.  If you're gonna market Washington, DC vs. Stanford, California, I think I'd much rather come to DC.  There's other things to do.  Especially for Europeans, its easier to travel--a lot of direct flights here, things like that.

TDF: I haven't seen any sort of entry list for the tournament yet--do you have any confirmations of who is definitely coming, or who might be coming?

Sam Duvall: You'll know this week, it's our entry deadline.  We've been advertising Shahar Pe'er, who's arguably the greatest Israeli athlete in any sport today.  We feel like there's a very big Jewish following in this community.  Then Melanie Oudin, who is pretty recognizable from her US Open run.  We also have a girl named Sloane Stephens, who a lot of people think is going to be the next Venus and Serena.  She's actually an Under Armour athlete, ranked around No. 120 in the world now, so she'll be here as well.

TDF: The US Open Series will be going on at the same time as your tournament, but your event isn't part of it.  Did you guys try to get into that promotion at all?

Sam Duvall: Yeah, it's a good question, I think it's definitely something that we'll look at for next year.  I think with the timing, with the site being up in the air...frankly we got off the ground a little bit late because of the site.  We never really expected to be part of the US Open Series in Year One anyway, so...

TDF: Is there anything else you're planning in terms of promoting the event locally, through advertising or otherwise?

Margaret Murton (Senior Events Manager at Lagardere): As soon as we announce our title sponsor, we're certainly going to get into advertising.  There will be lots of community outreach, and lots of special events surrounding it.  Mainly for us, though, we want to establish this as an event seperate from the Legg Mason, and something that's really good for the community.

The 2011 Citi Open will run July 23-31 at The Tennis Center at College Park.  Follow the tournament on Twitter @CitiOpen , and our in-depth coverage here at The Daily Forehand and on Twitter @DailyForehand .

NORCROSS, Georgia - Take a little path, walk around some Georgia pines, and about 50 yards from the beautiful stadium court at the Racquet Club of the South stands picturesque court 1.  On Tuesday of the Atlanta Tennis Championships, two of the most promising players on the ATP Tour were showing their wares on these two courts at the same time, but on this day, with different results.

Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria and American Ryan Harrison have arrived on the professional tennis scene and the sky is the limit for these two right-handed tennis machines that seem ready to make a move, possibly as early as this summer.

Harrison took to the stadium court in the late afternoon with a huge crowd wanting to see why many are calling him the “Future of American Tennis.”  He didn’t disappoint as he dispatched Japanese upstart, Yuichi Sugita 6-1, 7-6.  

Harrison admits his ranking isn't where it needs to be, but don’t expect it to remain there for long.  He was more than happy to entertain the predominately female crowd with big forehands and hustling from sideline to sideline before hitting a winner.  Next up for Harrison, a date with a tricky Belgian, Xavier Malisse.  

Dimitrov, the higher ranked of the two was up next against qualifier Rajeev Ram on court 1.  The 20-year old from Haskovo, Bulgaria showed flashes of why he has shot up the rankings so fast, but he needs to learn how to win matches against veteran players who "think" on the court.  Such was the case with Ram.  Dimitrov has talent flowing out of his sweat glands, but Ram played the big points better and won 6-4, 6-4.  

Dimitrov doesn’t appear to be the kind of athlete bothered by the occasional bad loss, and he will win a lot of matches this summer and the rest of 2011.  

Dimitrov is currently ranked in the 60’s and Harrison is sitting in the 120’s.  Don’t be surprised if both of these gifted players are knocking on the top-30 by next year’s Australian Open.