The Washington Kastles of World Team Tennis is a great night out in DC.

Having shamelessly hawked their corporate product (it is great fun, though, and a neat little stadium right on the water), I’m going to comment on Martina Hingis, who has played with the Kastles this season.

At thirty-four (still looks she should be carded for cigarettes), I won’t say she’s still the player she used to be. Heck. She hasn’t been the player she used to be for fourteen years, but she was one of the all time greats.

In her singles match against a youthful Sachia Vickery, she absolutely crushed her opponent. Against a painfully overmatched player, it was easier to see her former greatness, because she had time to do all the things you remembered. So patient, so intelligent on the court. Never trying to overpower, but just consistently moving her opponent around for a series of back and forths until she’d pulled poor Vickery into a place where Hingis could put a little pace on the ball and hit the winner. I’m not even sure if Vickery won more than a couple of points (she didn’t win any games).

Though, as is usual in Kastles games, Bobby Reynolds was the hero (the way it’s set up, with Men’s Singles coming last and the rules making winning it nearly a necessity, is perhaps a tad sexist and almost guarantees that the best male player is the star; but Bobby seems so likable, one can’t be resentful).