Gossip: In The Know

Lawmakers to put their tennis skills to the test for charity

Mark Ein expects quite a racket at next week’s Washington Kastles Charity Classic — and not necessarily from all the tennis matches going on.

The Kastles founder predicts that when a bipartisan group of lawmakers go head to head on the tennis court (along with Kastles team members), there will be “a lot of trash-talking. We’ll see about tennis skills.”

{mosads}Members of Congress — word is Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) will be there — along with some other notable Washingtonians — including, we hear, D.C. councilman Jack Evans (D) — will compete Tuesday at Southwest Washington’s Kastles Stadium at the Wharf.

The politicians are putting their tennis skills on the line for a good cause — all ticket proceeds will go to three charities: Share Our Strength, the D.C. Public Education Fund and TAPS.

But the smiling businessman, with whom ITK caught up at the Kastles’ season launch party Monday at Penn Quarter eatery Poste, wasn’t about to place any wages on whether Democrats or Republicans have the better backhand. 

“I don’t bet, and if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. I think you’d be surprised how many good tennis players there actually are in Washington,” Ein said with a laugh.