Wimbledon Hospitality 2010

In today's World TeamTennis Marquee Draft, the Kastles pulled off a blockbuster trade with the Philadelphia Freedoms to acquire 20-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams for financial considerations. The trade should significantly enhance the Kastles chances of returning to the WTT Finals by bringing together Kastles headliner Serena Williams and sister Venus as teammates.

"The historic opportunity to have both Serena and Venus on our team is a thrill, both for the success of our team and for our fans," said Kastles owner Mark Ein. "They are the epitome of what is great about the sport of tennis and will lead an unprecedented collection of talent for us on the court in 2010."

With the addition of Venus, the Kastles roster now has a total of 61 Grand Slam titles including 19 women's singles, 26 women's doubles, six men's doubles and 10 mixed doubles championships.

Kastles Coach Murphy Jensen is ecstatic about having the Williams sisters to lead the Kastles' title defense. "It takes world-class talent to win championships and there are no more accomplished athletes than Serena and Venus," Murphy noted, "Last summer was truly a dream season for us, and come July 5, the dream continues in DC."

Serena is coming off of a tremendous year of tennis which has catapulted her back to the #1 ranking in the world after capturing the past two Australian Open singles championships and the 2009 Wimbledon singles crown. Serena now has 25 career Grand Slam titles, 12 in singles, 11 in women's doubles and two in mixed doubles. She holds more Grand Slam titles than any other active female player and has won more prize money than any woman in the history of professional sports.

Venus has won five Wimbledon singles titles, is the reigning Australian Open, Wimbledon 2010 championships with Serena and has a total of seven Grand Slam titles in singles, 11 in women's doubles and two in mixed doubles. She also has won three Olympic gold medals including one in singles.

The rest of the Kastles roster will be determined during the March 16 WTT Roster Draft.

Additionally, another star-studded lineup will be coming to Kastles Stadium in 2010 including John McEnroe (New York Sportimes) and Anna Kournikova (St. Louis Aces).

Fourteen-time Grand Slam champion Martina Hingis and former world #1 Lindsay Davenport (St. Louis Aces) have also joined the World TeamTennis 2010 lineup. The Kastles will find out whether Hingis and Davenport will be visiting Kastles this summer when the WTT schedule is released in late February early March.

Wimbledon Hospitality