Serena Williams defeated sister Venus 6-4, 6-3 for the first BNP Paribas Billie Jean King Cup at Madison Square Garden in New York last night.
The top lady baller got past Ana Ivanovic 6-3 and V beat Jelena Jankovic 6-4 in the one set semifinal matches. ReRe earned $400,000, V received $300,000 (thanks Pamela!) for the win and the Serbian sisters received a hefty $250,000 appearance fee for just showing up to work. How nice.
And before the final match, BJK was honored during a presentation featuring a number of top female athletes from the past, present, and future as well as former U.S. president Bill Clinton. The man can still give a great speech.
Creepiest moment: The unfortunate reappearance of USA Networks' on the ground U.S. Open interviewer Michael Barkan. Did he really say "spread eagle" on live TV? Ick.
Big kudos to the USTA for continuing to create more high profile opportunities to showcase tennis and promoting the hell out of the BJK Cup. I'm hoping this trend continues.
More images from the night below!
(images via ap + getty)
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
PHOTO OP: Serena, Venus, Ana, and JJ take part in BJK Cup, Bill Clinton honors Billie Jean
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Getting HBO was a huge coup for BJK, and it's a great step towards getting tennis back at MSG. It's long overdue.
ReplyDeleteThe event was entertaining and a great way to promote tennis and benefit charity. I didn't like the 1 set format, but that can be fixed with an alternative over time.
Rich: Venus got $300,000 as a finalist. Seriously nice pay days for all.
LOL this was a pretty cool event!!! shame on you Rich for putting that pic out of Serena "spread eagle" LOL..thats too funny...
ReplyDelete