©Kourtin’ Karen’s Madison Square Garden Scoreboard for the 2010 BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup
15 – 0
Tennis is back again in Madison Square Garden
Year two for the BNP Paribas Showdown. Let’s hope it continues.
15 – 15
No Serena
Serena Williams’ leg injury forced her out of the exhibition but she was replaced 2008 French Open Champion Ana Ivanovic.
15 – 30
Note to Self: Avoid taking the Tower C elevator
The Tower C elevator at Madison Square Garden must be the busiest elevator on earth. It almost took me the length of the Wilson Future Stars match to get where I was going. By the way, Sachia Vickery defeated Nicole Gibbs in a super tiebreaker to win the Wilson Stars Exo.
(Wilson Presents America’s Future Stars Vickery and Gibbs at BNP Paribas Showdown)
30 – 30
Strike a Pose
Competitors Kim Clijsters, Venus Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Ana Ivanovic meet the media.
30 – 40
No Billie Jean King
Recovering from double knee replacement surgery prevented her from attending the Showdown. King released the following statement :
“I wish I could be with you for this year’s BNP Paribas Showdown and another exciting night of tennis at Madison Square Garden. While my heart and mind are with you for this great event, my body is still recovering from the double knee replacement surgery I underwent just a few weeks ago. The BNP Paribas Showdown is an excellent showcase of tennis, the perfect kick-off for the USTA’s Tennis Night in America and this year I am honored a portion of the proceeds from the event will benefit the programs and mission of the Women’s Sports Foundation. I plan on being back on the tennis court in the very near future and I hope this year’s BNP Paribas Showdown will inspire you to get active and stay fit.”
Deuce
Shared laugh of the night
When Ana Ivanovic was introduced prior to her semifinal match with Kim Clijsters as a French Open Champion and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model both Clijsters and Ivanovic chuckled.
Advantage International Tennis Hall of Fame
The Hall of Fame Class of 2010 was honored during the Showdown. The incoming class includes Todd Woodbridge, Mark Woodforde, Gigi Fernandez, Natasha Zvereva, Owen Davidson,Brad Parks, and Derek Hardwick.
A special salute for me to Brad Parks who is the pioneering founder of wheelchair tennis who will be the first ever wheelchair tennis inductee.
On being inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame Parks said: “It is a tremendous honor for wheelchair tennis. It is a great thing for wheelchair tennis. when we first started playing, people were afraid of us going on a tennis court. We really weren’t accepted on the wheelchair community or the tennis community. Back in the late 70’s, it was so new, just getting started. To have wheelchair tennis played now in the Grand Slam Tournaments and now to have it part of the Hall of Fame, it kind of completes the original goals of being a part of tennis.”
Deuce
Semi final losers
Despite losing both Ana Ivanovic and Svetlana Kusnetsova were upbeat about their participation in the event..
After her 6-4 loss to Venus Williams, Kuznetsova spoke about the match” It’s a great experience for me. It was fun. The match was close and I enjoyed the experience.” She thought that the crowd was really “great.”
Ana Ivanovic fell to Kim Clijsters in the first semifinal 7-6, despite having a match point. Hear Ivanovic’s post match news conference:
GVTNews Podcast – Ana Ivanovic News Conference at the BNP Paribas Showdown
Advantage Twitter
From the feedback we have received about tweeting during the Showdown, we will continue this practice during our on site coverage of events. Next stop for a few days will be at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
Seems as though last night some of our international followers could not find a livestream which is why we gave scoring updates on twitter.
In all honesty, I had a blast chatting with followers and other members of the press corps, tweeting updates and photos. Of course you can guess which photos received the highest traffic – Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams.
In case you do not know already our twitter acount is GVTennisNews.
Deuce
Tweet of the night
@PTBodo Champagne Kimmy and Ana “SI swinsuit model” Ivanovic playing senseless tennis at its best
Advantage
Second Set Exodus
After the second set of the final match, a number of patrons made their exit from MSG. I’m guessing they were trying to catch the 10:40 train to Babylon on the Long Island Railroad or some Metro North train. Full disclosure, I am a former resident of Long Island.
Deuce
Numbers
Official attendance for the evening – 11,702. MSG can hold 19 thousand. The fans sure made enough noise for 19,000.
Advantage Finalist Clijsters
Game, Set, Match – Three continents in three weeks and three event wins – Venus Williams
Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters put on a show at the showdown. The three-set battle which feature some intense tennis was won by Williams 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
A nice new trophy and a very nice check for $400,000 dollars for one night’s work.
