Washington Kastles Pinched by Boston

If you could never be bothered to learn the scoring system and rules of traditional tennis, don't worry, because everything is different in WTT. The basic idea is to speed up the process, making it easier to win a game, set, or match decisively. Of course, anyone who watched Rafael Nadal somehow eke out his first title at Wimbledon over the weekend, narrowly defeating Roger Federer, knows that the anguish of watching players deadlocked at deuce, unable to clinch two points in a row, is one of the principal delights of conventional tennis. Why get rid of that?

Well, it's gone in WTT, and the points of each game are counted from 1 to 3, instead of 15-30-40. Another part of ratcheting up the speed and excitement is to create a team dynamic, with five sets, each won by only five games, in various combinations of singles and doubles in a single evening. As cheerleading hosts rabidly persisted in yelling at us all evening, cheering and noise are encouraged at WTT matches, but it was remarkable how the crowd repeatedly settled into the normal etiquette of tennis, one of the more genteel and graceful sports.

The first half of the match was an ignominious start for the Kastles, who lost the first three sets. The only entertainment was watching the team's resident loudmouth, Justin Gimelstob, who notoriously put his foot in his mouth concerning Anna Kournikova on a local radio show last month. After a dangerous back surgery in 2006, Gimelstob retired in 2007, and he still seemed to be in some pain. After struggling in the first two sets, Gimelstob fought back against Lobsters ace Jan-Michael Gambill in the men's singles set but ultimately lost, 5-4. If anyone is going to excel in the amped-up atmosphere of WTT, it would be someone like Gimelstob. The format actually plays to an outspoken personality, and it showed as Gimelstob interacted with the crowd, who cheered and applauded in response to his antics.

Serena Williams then managed to squeeze out a marginal win in the women's doubles set, in spite of the meltdown of teammate Mashona Washington (18-year-old New Zealander Sacha Jones sat on the Kastles' bench all night.) With the best left to last, Serena charmed the crowd by mostly pounding on the Lobsters' Marie-Eve Pelletier in the women's singles, but it was not enough.

Although the team walked away with a loss, some local tennis-related charities were the winners, receiving some of the money raised on the spot by tennis great Billie Jean King, including the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center, where Isha Williams, sister of Venus and Serena, works. It was my privilege to shake Ms. King's legendary hand when she stopped by to butter up the press.

Best of all, the temporary stadium near New York Ave. is a winner. None of its more than 2,000 seats seems far from the action, and on a pleasant night it was a great place to spend the evening, downtown, watching a tennis-like sport. If you really want to watch tennis, there is still the Legg Mason Tennis Classic next month.

The Kastles have six more home matches, beginning this Friday (July 11, 7 p.m.) and continuing through the welcome appearance of Anna Kournikova on July 23.