Billie Jean King Inspires
Kastles Sponsors & Partners
For more than 80 photos from Thursday's Billie Jean King Kastles' luncheon, click the picture above.
(Photo by Rich Kessler)
The one and only
Billie Jean King delighted a large gathering of Washington Kastles' partners during an exclusive luncheon at the SunTrust Executive Dining Room in Washington on Thursday.
Among the friends of the Kastles in attendance were J. Scott Wilfong of SunTrust, Chip Lindsay of Lindsay Cadillac,
Brad Nierenberg of RedPeg Marketing and
Margaret Carlson of Bloomberg. Opportunities to interact with Washington players, coaches and even the WTT co-founder King are perks of partnering with the Kastles. Call 202-4-TENNIS (483-6647) to learn more about becoming a Kastles' sponsor.
At Thursday's intimate event, King
captivated the crowd with stories from her childhood through today. The Hall-of-Famer held nothing back, discussing her role in starting the women's pro tennis tour, the fight for equal prize money, her infamous 'Battle of the Sexes' victory over Bobby Riggs, and her deep belief that tennis would be much better and popular if it was a team sport... as in World TeamTennis!
King also conducted a series of media interviews, with her comments about Barack Obama's stance on gay rights gracing the pages of The Washington Post. In 2009, Obama awarded King with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Kastles' partners listen to 20-time Wimbledon champion Billie Jean King at Thursday's luncheon.
(Photo by Rich Kessler)
In a conversation with Jennifer X. Williams of CSN Washington, King revealed who she feels are the two most valuable players on the Washington roster.
"They've got Leander Paes who just won his 13th major doubles championship at the Australian Open," said King. "He is the epitome of what you want in a World TeamTennis player. He's a team player, he's popular with the fans and he pays attention to the kids. He's great. He's exactly what we want."
"And then we love Bobby Reynolds, who's absolutely perfect for DC. More people know about Bobby Reynolds than a lot of the tennis superstars in the DC community. That's one of the things that we wanted to happen in World TeamTennis -- to have those local heroes -- because kids quite frankly don't care if someone's a marquee player. Who pays attention to them? That's who they love."
Paes, a two-time league MVP, and Reynolds, the Kastles' closer, are both returning to the team following Washington's historic perfect season in 2011.
Season tickets to see Paes, Reynolds,
Serena &
Venus Williams and
Anastasia &
Arina Rodionova are available by calling 202-4-TENNIS (483-6647). Individual match tickets for all seven Kastles' home matches July 12-24 can be purchased on
Ticketmaster.com.
Hear what Billie Jean King had to say about the Washington Kastles in her interview with CSN.