The Kastles also made a trade with the Orange County Breakers to acquire the fifth selection in the first round of the marquee player portion of the draft for undisclosed consideration.
[2] On July 22, 2016, the Kastles announced the signing of Nick Kyrgios as a wildcard player to appear in their August 13 match against the Orange County Breakers.
Kudla was scheduled to play for the Kastles on July 31 and August 1, after which he would go to Rio de Janeiro to represent the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Captain Leander Paes and Denis Kudla, who arrived in New York City from Italy just hours before the match, got the Kastles started by taking a tiebreaker from Guido Pella and 2015 WTT Male Rookie of the Year Neal Skupski in men's doubles.
Kudla was broken in the fourth game of the third set of men's singles and fell to fellow Olympian Pella, 5–2, to cut the Kastles lead to 12–11.
Skupski and Christina McHale broke Paes's serve in the opening game of the fourth set of mixed doubles to tie the match at 12 all.
Kudla was broken in the seventh game of the opening set of men's singles, and the Kastles found themselves behind, 5–3, early in the match.
Brengle continued her dominant play in women's singles by breaking McHale in both of her service games to take the set, 5–0, and give the Kastles a 9–5 lead.
Jensen, who won the men's doubles title at the 1993 French Open with his brother Luke, last appeared in an ATP Tour event in 2006.
The Kastles also lost Anastasia Rodionova, the 2015 WTT Female Co-Most Valuable Player, who was a late addition to the Australian Olympic team.
[11] On August 8, 2016, the Kastles announced they had signed Stéphane Robert as a substitute player to replace Sam Groth, who was called up to the Australian Olympic team.
However, after a long rally on the set's deciding point, Willis hit a winner to give the Empire a 21–19 victory and cause the Kastles to suffer their first four-match losing streak since 2010.
[16] With a record of five wins and five losses, the Kastles were eliminated from postseason contention on August 21, 2016, when they won the third set of men's doubles in their match against the Springfield Lasers, 5–3.
At the start of play, the Kastles could only qualify for the postseason in the case of a three-way tie with the Philadelphia Freedoms and the San Diego Aviators.
The Kastles still could have won the next step of the three-way standings tiebreaker on fewest games lost in matches against common opponents.
However, the Kastles also made a trade with the Orange County Breakers to acquire the fifth pick in the first round of the marquee player portion of the draft for undisclosed consideration.
WTT conducted its 2016 draft during the Miami Open at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida on March 25.
References:[5][8][29][30][31] Notes: Players are listed in order of their game-winning percentage provided they played in at least 40% of the Kastles' games in that event, which is the WTT minimum for qualification for league leaders in individual statistical categories.