Monfils and Serena Winners at BNP Paribas Showdown
Four of the world’s top tennis players descended on New York City Tuesday night for the annual BNP Paribas Showdown at Madison Square Garden, as Stan Wawrinka took on Gael Monfils and Serena Williams battled Caroline Wozniacki in two exhibition matches.
The first matchup was between the two-time Grand Slam champion Wawrinka and the always electric Monfils, and the two did not disappoint the MSG crowd. Despite it being an exhibition, the two played some outstanding tennis.
As usual, Wawrinka’s one-handed backhand was on display and drew oohs and ahhs from the crowd, and Monfils tried one of his many trick shots, including tweeners, jump hits and even trying to win a point by heading the ball like a soccer player.
Monfils would take the first set in a tie-breaker, and midway through the second set, Serena and Wozniacki came out to play a little mixed-doubles, Serena with Wawrinka and Wozniacki with Monfils. The stars showed their volleying skills at the net and even Wozniacki tried her hand at a tweener much to the delight of the Garden crowd.
When it was all said and done, Monfils came out victorious 7-6(6), 6-3 in the night’s first match.
In the second match of the night, good friends Serena and Wozniacki did battle on center stage at the World’s Most Famous Arena. Both players seemed to take the match seriously resulting in lot of long rallies and exciting points.
Despite a slow start, Serena set up her first set point after chasing down a ball at the net and landing a drop shot. After closing out the opening set, the two would exchange breaks midway through the second set before Serena got the decisive break for a 5-3 advantage, and promptly served out the set and match on her next chance.
Serena will now head to California to compete in the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
“I’m headed out to the desert,” Serena said. “And we’ll see what happens.”
Credit photos to Lee Seidner
Credit photos to Sidney Beal III
