By Andrew Buchholz

Being an avid tennis fan, I have always wanted to attend a World TeamTennis (WTT) match. My chance came Thursday night at Randall's Island Tennis Center in Manhattan, where the hometown New York Sportimes played the defending WTT Champions, the Washington Kastles.

With the WTT Championships looming next Sunday, July 25, in Kansas City, New York aimed to keep its position as No. 1 in the Eastern Conference, while Washington hoped to humble the Empire State team. Whichever teams wins a berth in the final is bound to meet a hungry team because there's a tight race for No. 1 in the Western Conference, between the Springfield Lasers and Kansas City Explorers.

The night I attended was low-key compared to Wednesday night, when the Sportimes played the  Philadelphia Freedoms. The highlight match was John McEnroe versus Andy Roddick. Wednesday's WTT match capped a full day on Randall's Island as John McEnroe held tryouts for his namesake tennis academy, due to open in September at the year-old $18 million SPORTIME facility. McEnroe awarded a scholarship to one boy prior to taking the court against Roddick. While the younger man emerged with a 5-4 win, the Sportimes bounced back and took the match 20-19. 

On Thursday, without those marquee names gone, so were the packed bleachers. The number of spectators who attended on Thursday filled only about half of the stands, but the players competed fiercely, knowing a WTT final berth was at stake.

In a battle for first place, the Sportimes got down early after losing the first two sets in close tiebreaks. After bouncing back with a strong singles win by American Jesse Witten, the stage was set for the matchup of the night. In the mixed doubles set, Washington put out possibly the most formidable team in tennis: Rennae Stubbs and Leander Paes, two of the all-time great doubles players.

Abigail Spears and Robert Kendrick were given the tough task of trying to take down this powerhouse combination. After a back-and-forth set with no breaks of serve, the duo fought through and beat Stubbs and Paes in another tiebreak. This upset put the momentum in the Sportimes' favor going into the final set of the night, women's singles. 

Spears took the court against Washington's Angela Haynes, where Spears was able to keep up the energy and take the set easily, 5-1. This rout gave New York a 23-18 win, and put the Sportimes into first place in the Eastern Conference.

World TeamTennis has been put on the map because of high profile players taking the courts in their time off from their ATP and WTA Tournaments. Current players like Andy Roddick, Venus and Serena Williams, and Kim Clijsters, and legends such as Lindsay Davenport, and Pete Sampras have supported the league by playing for teams across the country. [Last summer, PTM graduate Kyle Revall also attended a Sportimes match. To get a refresher on the atmosphere and unique scoring of a WTT match, take a look at his article.]

Tennis fans in New York City seems to be enjoying watching the pros, whether its for WTT's Sportimes, or at the U.S. Open and Bronx Tennis Open. In a few years they might see some home-grown pros competing there who trained at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy.