Another exhibition match has come through the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. A recently revitalized Rafael Nadal took on the Tower of Tandil, Juan Martin del Potro, and World #1 Serena Williams played against her rival/friend World #2 Viktoria Azarenka.
Both matches were entertaining; the men's match spoiling the crowd with two or three "tweener" rallies, and another rally featured Ben Stiller, and a young girl from the crowd (who thoroughly outplayed Stiller).
The women's match, which started at 7:15 pm, had it's moments of genius. Serena and Vika played multiple rallies left-handed, which made many fans happy. Azarenka's boyfriend Redfoo, who is one part of the LMFAO pop-duo, also made an appearance on court, hitting four straight serves into the net. You can see the video here.
Serena won 6-4 6-3 in two entertaining sets.
The men took the court to a raucous crowd. Nadal started quickly, breaking del Potro's serve in the first game. Delpo shot right back and broke in the next game. The men played a few extremely entertaining rallies in the first set, which del Potro won in the tiebreak.
Nadal started the tiebreak with a 4-2 lead, but del Potro won four consecutive points, and eventually took the tiebreak 7-3. del Potro broke again in the middle of the second and never looked back, winning 7-6(3) 6-4
It was nice to see Nadal in such high spirits after over seven months off the tour with knee troubles. Nadal moved around the court well all night, showcasing his speed quickness.
Serena, Azarenka, Nadal, and del Potro were all extremely gracious to play in Madison Square Garden and said they would love to come back and play again.
These matches were a part of 'Tennis Night in America" and the world-wide "World Tennis Day." The World Tennis Day matches took place in Hong Kong and featured John McEnroe playing Ivan Lendl and Caroline Wozniacki took on Aggie Radwasnka.
The building was rocking all night long, and the announced attendance of 15,984 were on there feet from the second the players took the court, to the final rally. It seems tennis fans in NYC are willing to come out and support the sport, which raises questions as to why the Women's Tennis Association's (WTA) chose to move their year-end tournament abroad.
Here's the standing ovation Serena Williams received as she was announced to the crowd:
Here is Rafael nadal's entrance, which the crowd went berserk for:
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