With Independence Day behind us, lawmakers and their staffs head back to Washington for a four-week stretch leading into the August recess. Summer is in full swing, with the capital’s hot and muggy environment taking root. And while work will certainly be many folks’ focus upon returning, there’s a good amount to do outside the job this week.

Tennis, Anyone?

Wimbledon brings out the tennis fans in everyone. It’s a fair wait until Washington’s premier tournament, the Citi Open, which in a previous life was called the Legg Mason Tournament and is played in D.C.’s Rock Creek Park. That’s coming our way July 27. It’s even longer until the next Grand Slam event, the U.S. Open in Flushing, N.Y., which starts Aug. 26.

Lucky for Washingtonians, though, we can check out our World Team Tennis franchise, the Washington Kastles, who play nearby at the Southwest Waterfront at 800 Water St. SW at Kastles Stadium at the Wharf. The Kastles start their season on July 8 at the Wharf against the New York Sportimes at 7:10 p.m., and they are riding a wave of success, boasting a 16-0 2012 season. Martina Hingis is stepping in at the last minute to replace Venus Williams on the Kastles roster. Leander Paes, Anastasia Rodionova, Kevin Anderson and Bobby Reynolds round out the team. On Tuesday, the Kastles face off against the Boston Lobsters, again at 7:10 p.m. at the Wharf, before heading out of town for road matches.

Book ‘Em

On Wednesday, we’ll get in on the action ourselves by hosting a book event with author Joshua Kendall to discuss his latest, “America’s Obsessives: The Compulsive Energy That Built a Nation.” Kendall, a journalist who has written for The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Psychology Today, among other publications, profiles seven American originals: Thomas Jefferson, Henry Heinz, Melvil Dewey, Alfred Kinsey, Charles Lindbergh, Estee Lauder and Ted Williams. In their psychological makeup, in particular their symptoms of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, Kendall argues they have found ways to innovate in a manner that has led to unparalleled, and uniquely American, success, whether it be designing a search engine (the Dewey Decimal System) or perfecting the art of hitting a baseball.

So drop on by CQ Roll Call HQ at 77 K St. NE to meet Kendall, pick up a book and talk a little obsession, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. To register, go to kendallbook.eventbrite.com.

To the Fringe!

The Capital Fringe Festival, the annual, rock ’em, sock ’em, all-out avant-garde live performance festival gets under way on July 11. From then until July 28, the festival will present 738 performances at multiple venues, everything from cheeky presentations of how the Bard killed so well — “43 and a 1/2: The Greatest Deaths of Shakespeare’s Tragedies” — to political fare like “Carry a Big Stick,” a storyteller’s take on Teddy Roosevelt’s presidency to musical acts and workshops. If you need to see some theater that’s on the edge, this is the place for you.