The BNP Paribas Showdown (formerly NetJets Showdown, Billie Jean King Cup) was an annual one-night exhibition
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
event operated by
GF Sports and held at
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in February or March from 2008 through 2017.
The Showdown was part of World Tennis Day, an initiative to increase tennis participation around the world. The event served as the kick-off to the tennis season in North America, with the
United States Tennis Association (USTA) running thousands of clinics across the country throughout the spring. The event's format changed from year-to-year, including male and female players (current and retired) playing singles and doubles.
Some of the greatest players of all-time participated in the BNP Paribas Showdown, including
Roger Federer,
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
,
Pete Sampras
Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
,
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
,
Rafael Nadal,
Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...
and
Bob
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to:
Places
*Mount Bob, New York, United States
*Bob Island, Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica
People, fictional characters, and named animals
*Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*Bob (surname) ...
&
Mike Bryan.
The final Showdown on March 6, 2017, included
Venus Williams,
Garbine Muguruza,
Juan Martín del Potro,
Kei Nishikori,
Jack Sock,
Nick Kyrgios
Nicholas Hilmy Kyrgios ( ; born 27 April 1995) is an Australian professional tennis player. In singles, Kyrgios' career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 13 was achieved on 24 October 2016. He has won seven ATP Tour singles titles, includin ...
,
Andy Roddick, &
Lleyton Hewitt in a team format. Team World defeated Team Americas 29–24. Following the 2017 edition of the event, BNP Paribas withdrew its sponsorship and an alternate backer could not be found, so
Tie Break Tens
Tie Break Tens is a tennis format in which only tie-break matches are played. There are no games or sets, only tie-break matches and the winner is the first player to reach 10 points and lead by a margin of two. Most other traditional rules of tenn ...
took its place at the Madison Square Garden.
Event history
The event was launched in 2008 as the NetJets Showdown, and it represented a return of tennis to Madison Square Garden after almost a decade-long hiatus. A sold-out crowd watched
Roger Federer and
Pete Sampras
Petros "Pete" Sampras ( el, Πέτρος Σάμπρας; born August 12, 1971) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. His professional career began in 1988 and ended at the 2002 US Open, which he won, defeating longtime rival Andre ...
—two of the most prominent players at the time—face-off. Federer defeated Sampras in a classic, 6–3, 6-7(4), 7-6(6).
2009 marked the inaugural year of the Billie Jean King Cup, and the first time that women's tennis had been played at Madison Square Garden since 2000, when the year-ending
Chase Championships were held. The event featured
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
,
Venus Williams,
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Schweinsteiger ( sr, Ана Швајнштајгер / ''Ana Švajnštajger''; born 6 November 1987), professionally known by her birth name Ana Ivanovic (Ана Ивановић / ''Ana Ivanović'', ), is a Serbian former world No. 1 tenn ...
and
Jelena Janković. Serena Williams won her semifinal match against Ana Ivanovic 6–3, and Venus Williams won hers 6–4 against Jelena Janković. The final was won by Serena 6–4, 6–3. The Billie Jean King Cup returned in 2010 and was won by Venus Williams.
In 2011, the event was renamed the BNP Paribas Showdown; it was a celebration of American tennis legends and two of the greatest rivalries in the sport's history: Ivan Lendl vs. John McEnroe, and Pete Sampras vs. Andre Agassi. Between 2011 and 2016, several other Grand Slam champions and former World No. 1's played at the Garden.
In 2013, the Showdown was expanded and also held in Hong Kong for the first time.
In 2014, the Showdown expanded from New York and Hong Kong to a third location: London.
The 2017 edition was played on 6 March 2017 and introduced a new "Fast Format" for the 4 matches,
with the event's first-ever team format in the style of
mixed doubles
Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known as ...
. ''Team World'', captained by Lleyton Hewitt, defeated ''Team Americas'', captained by Andy Roddick 29–24.
Tennis Night in America (TNIA)
In 2009, the
USTA launched ''Tennis Night in America (TNIA)'' as one of its top national marketing programs designed to increase grassroots tennis participation. The initiative promoted a "National Junior Tennis Registration Night" at over 700 locations on March 2, which coincided with both the 2009 Showdown at Madison Square Garden and the start of that year's professional tennis season in North America.
Connecting grassroots tennis with professional tennis, TNIA was able to deliver the 2009 Showdown via closed circuit television to tennis clubs throughout the country, allowing one night in March to bring together tennis players of all ages and abilities, as they pay tribute to the game that they love so much.
World Tennis Day
In 2014, following the success of the 2013 BNP Paribas Showdown in both New York and Hong Kong, StarGames launched World Tennis Day as part of an effort to increase global tennis participation.
World Tennis Day is highlighted by international grassroots initiatives and culminates with the BNP Paribas Showdown.
List of winners
New York
Hong Kong
London
References
External links
Official websiteWorld Tennis Day WebsiteTwitterFacebookInstagram
{{Tennis exhibition tournaments
Billie Jean King Cup
Exhibition tennis tournaments
Tennis tournaments in New York City
Indoor tennis tournaments
Hard court tennis tournaments
Recurring sporting events established in 2008