2015 Austin Aces season

At the WTT draft on March 16, 2015, the Aces protected Andy Roddick in the marquee portion of the draft. In the roster portion of the draft, the Aces didn't protect any players from their 2014 roster. They selected Nicole Gibbs, Alla Kudryavtseva, Jarmere Jenkins and Teymuraz Gabashvili.[2]

On March 30, 2015, the Aces announced the team would play its 2015 home matches at the Gregory Gymnasium in Downtown Austin. The team expects that the venue, currently primarily used for women's college volleyball, will seat more than 3,500 fans when configured for tennis. Aces owner Lorne Abony said, "As soon as the 2014 season ended, we began evaluating all aspects of this team, from the record on the court to the sponsorships sold to the number of fans in the stands. From feedback we received and the analysis that was done by our front office, we felt that a relocation to a venue located closer to the city center would be in our team's best interest. We are thrilled to have been able to find a downtown home in Gregory Gym on the UT campus as the Aces work to become Austin’s premier professional sports brand and the must-attend sporting event each summer."[3]

On July 13, 2015, the Aces announced that their marquee player, Andy Roddick, would miss the entire 2015 season with an ankle injury. Roddick was injured in London working as a television commentator for the BBC's coverage of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships. The Aces offered all fans with paid tickets to their July 16 home opener at which Roddick was scheduled to play complementary vouchers redeemable for a tickets to a future Aces home match.[4]

Just hours after receiving the news that Andy Roddick would miss the season, the Aces opened up on the road against the Boston Lobsters. Teymuraz Gabashvili won the opening set of men's singles, 5–2, and Alla Kudryavtseva and Nicole Gibbs followed with a 5–4 women's doubles set win to give the Aces a 10–6 lead. After the Aces dropped the mixed doubles set, Gibbs took the fourth set in women's singles, 5–2, to give the Aces a 17–13 lead heading to the final set. Gabashvili and Jarmere Jenkins dropped the men's doubles set, 5–4, but won the first game of extended play to secure a 22–18 victory.[5]

After a successful season-opening road trip that included an upset victory over the four-time defending WTT champion Washington Kastles, the Aces returned to their new home in Downtown Austin as the only undefeated team in WTT with 2 wins and 0 losses. After the Aces lost the opening set of women's doubles, 5–2, they found themselves trailing the California Dream in the mixed doubles set, 4–2, and in the match, 9–4. But after the Dream substituted Jarmila Gajdošová for Anabel Medina Garrigues, the Aces turned the set around and took it, 5–4. It was a powerful backhand down the line by Alla Kudryavtseva to convert a break point that seemed to turn around the set and the match and get the home crowd behind the Aces. Jarmere Jenkins and Teymuraz Gabashvili took the third set of men's doubles, 5–2, and the Aces had a 12–11 halftime lead. Gajdošová took the fourth set of women's singles from Nicole Gibbs to put the Dream back in front, 16–15. But Gabashvili secured a 20–19 victory for the Aces by taking the final set of men's singles, 5–3.[6]

In their fifth match of the season, the Aces hosted the Springfield Lasers on July 18, at Gregory Gymnasium. The Lasers won the first two sets to take a 10–3 lead in the match. Alla Kudryavtseva and Teymuraz Gabashvili got the comeback started by taking the third set of mixed doubles, 5–2, to cut the Lasers' lead to 12–8. Jarmere Jenkins and Gabashvili took a tiebreaker in men's doubles for a 5–4 set win that cut the deficit to 16–13 heading to the final set. Gabashvili's powerful serve was too much for Michael Russell to handle, and a 5–2 set win in men's singles for the Aces tied the score of the match at 18. Gabashvili overwhelmed Russell in the super tiebreaker, 7–1, to earn a dramatic 19–18 victory for the Aces.[7]

The Aces season-opening winning streak reached eight matches on July 22, with a 23–16 road win over the Springfield Lasers. The Aces won four of the five sets led by Nicole Gibbs who closed the match with a 5–1 set win in women's singles after earlier teaming with Alla Kudryavtseva for a 5–3 set win in women's doubles. Kudryavtseva and Teymuraz Gabashvili won the mixed doubles set, and Gabashvili opened the match by winning the men's singles set.[8] The Aces suffered their first loss of the season the following evening against the Philadelphia Freedoms.

The Aces stumbled into their July 26 home match against the defending Western Conference champion San Diego Aviators having lost their previous two matches. With an opportunity to clinch a playoff berth in front of the home fans, the Aces responded with a dominant performance winning all five sets for a 25–8 victory. In registering their biggest margin of victory of the season, the Aces earned the franchise's first playoff berth since 2012. The Aces won two sets by 5–0 scores: Nicole Gibbs in women's singles and Gibbs and Alla Kudryavtseva in women's doubles. Kudryavtseva and Teymuraz Gabashvili opened the match with a 5–3 set win in mixed doubles. Gabashvili and Jarmere Jenkins took the men's doubles, 5–2. With the Aces leading 20–5 after four sets, Jenkins made his Aces singles debut and responded with a 5–3 set win, breaking serve in the eighth game to secure the victory.[9]

On July 27, 2015, the Aces announced they had signed Elina Svitolina, the 20th ranked female player in the world at the time, as a wildcard player. With three matches remaining in the regular season, Svitolina would be eligible to play for the Aces in the playoffs if she appeared in all three of those matches.[10] That same day, Svitolina made her Aces debut on the road against the San Diego Aviators.

The Aces clinched the top seed in the Western Conference and home-court advantage for the Western Conference Championship Match on July 27, when the Washington Kastles defeated the California Dream, 19–17. Later that evening, the Aces earned a road victory against the San Diego Aviators, 25–13, in extended play to improve their record to 10 wins and 2 losses.[11]

On July 28, 2015, the Aces welcomed the four-time defending WTT champion Washington Kastles to Gregory Gymnasium with a chance to clinch the best overall regular-season record in WTT for 2015. Trailing 10–7 after two sets, Teymuraz Gabashvili gave the Aces a 12–10 lead with a 5–0 set win over Sam Querrey in men's singles. After dropping the fourth set of mixed doubles, the Aces found themselves trailing, 15–14, heading into the final set of women's singles. Elina Svitolina, making her Aces home debut, topped Madison Brengle, 5–1, to give the Aces a 19–16 victory and the best overall regular-season record in WTT for 2015.[12]

The Aces hosted the California Dream in the Western Conference Championship Match on July 30, 2015. The originally-scheduled start time of the match of 7:00 p.m. CDT was pushed back, because weather issues caused the Dream's flight to be delayed. The first ball was finally struck at 9:43 p.m. CDT, and the Aces took charge from the start with Teymuraz Gabashvili and Alla Kudryavtseva opening the match with a 5–2 set win in mixed doubles. Kudryavtseva and Elina Svitolina followed with a 5–3 set win in women's doubles to give the Aces a 10–5 lead. Gabashvili and Jarmere Jenkins won a tiebreaker in men's doubles to increase the Aces' lead to 15–9 at halftime. Svitolina broke Jarmila Gajdošová, the top-ranked player in WTT in women's singles during the regular season, in the fourth and sixth games of the set for a 5–1 win and a 20–10 Aces lead with one set remaining. With the clock having already struck midnight, Gabashvili served an ace to end the tiebreaker in men's singles and give the Aces a dominant 25–14 victory and the Western Conference championship. The Aces won all five sets in securing the franchise's first conference title since 2006, when they were the Newport Beach Breakers. After the match, Gabashvili said, "It was amazing. I didn’t have a lot of pressure because my team did fantastic. We found our energy and showed our best. I am feeling great on the court."[13]

The Aces fell in the WTT Final on August 2, 2015, to the Washington Kastles who won their fifth consecutive King Trophy as WTT champions. The Kastles were led by WTT Final Most Valuable Player Leander Paes who teamed with Martina Hingis to take the opening set of mixed doubles from Teymuraz Gabashvili and Alla Kudryavtseva, 5–2, and then with Sam Querrey to win the men's doubles set, 5–3, over Gabashvili and Jarmere Jenkins. With the Kastles having won the first four sets and leading 20–13, Elina Svitolina faced Madison Brengle in the final set of women's singles. Svitolina fell behind a break early in the set but broke back twice for a 5–3 set win that sent the match to extended play with the Kastles leading, 23–18. Brengle hit a backhand winner in the first game of extended play to end the match and secure the title for the Kastles.[14]

Legend
Aces Win	Aces Loss
Home team in CAPS

Legend
Aces Win	Aces Loss
Home team in CAPS

Western Conference Championship Match

World TeamTennis Championship Match

Note:

• Rick Leach – Head Coach
• Teymuraz Gabashvili
• Nicole Gibbs
• Jarmere Jenkins
• Alla Kudryavtseva
• Andy Roddick (injured, did not play)[4]
• Elina Svitolina

• Lorne Abony – Owner
• Allen Hardison – General Manager