Love, travel, tennis: Candace and J.D. Asbell embrace husband-and-wife tourneys

Candace Asbell of De Soto, Kan., has played tennis since she was just 12 years old. She played in high school and recreationally through her college years and into her early 20s.

After she met her husband, J.D., while both were attending Indiana University, she continued playing in Tencap leagues and USTA Leagues while raising their four children.

It wasn’t until years later—2019, to be exact—that her husband would join her on the court.

“J.D. and I have been married for 40 years. I had never played mixed doubles until J.D. started playing, and we started playing mixed together,” Asbell said. “We definitely found out that you have to have a strong marriage to be able to compete together in mixed doubles.”

As time went on, the Asbells became more competitive as a team, playing in various tournaments around the Kansas City metro area. Then, four years ago, the dynamic duo signed up to play in their first Level 1 USTA National Husband and Wife Championships.

“It was fantastic competing with people at our age level—not necessarily skill level,” Asbell said with a laugh. “We thought it was a great mixture of combining our interest in travel and both of our competitive spirits.”

The Asbells have competed in husband-and-wife tourneys ever since. It’s taken them to places such as Birmingham, Ala., where they played on clay. Last June, they participated in the L1 USTA National Husband and Wife Championships at Overland Park Racquet Club in the 120 & Over combined division. The 2026 rendition of this event is again taking place at OPRC on Aug. 7-9.

Asbell noted that while both she and her husband are competitive by nature, they know to keep the stress of competition in check.

“As with any competitive environment the stress starts picking up on the court when you’re competing, and the only result you want is the ‘W,’” she said. “We try to keep it light, which is a struggle at times because of our competitiveness. But we have to remind ourselves that nobody is paying us to play, and we’re here for fun.”

Asbell recommends any couples who play tennis together to give the husband-and-wife tournaments a try.

“These are all well-run tournaments, and there is definitely something unique about playing with people in your season of life,” she said. “We have developed quite a few friendships as we traveled to different locations. We’ve become friends with a lot of people we compete with in our age group.”

View more stories from across the USTA Missouri Valley celebrating Women's History Month in March by clicking here. Learn more about the 2026 national husband-wife tourney in Overland Park by clicking here.