Serena Wins Billie Jean King Cup

Serena Williams showed championship form as she won the cumbersomely titled BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup at Madison Square Garden last night.  The event showcased four of the best players in women’s tennis as Serena, Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic, and Jelena Jankovic faced off in an abbreviated tournament format, with the winner taking home $400,000.

The semifinals were one set, no-ad scoring, and the first saw Venus Williams take on Jankovic, a foe who had troubled her in the past.  The set was erratic from both players as they struggled to get accustomed to the court and atmosphere.  Serving at 4-4, Jankovic sailed four consecutive errors, which sealed the match for Venus who went on to win 6-4.

The second semifinal saw a much better quality match with some truly fantastic points, but Serena was able to prevail over Ivanovic 6-3.  Serena showed too much consistent aggressive play and did not make enough errors to allow Ivanovic into the match.  Nonetheless, Ivanovic performed much better in this set than she had in the second half of 2008 or in Australia this year, so she should take some positives from this night as well.

Before the final, former President Bill Clinton spoke eloquently about Billie Jean King and her impact on women’s sport and her use of sport in general to help enact social change.  King then spoke about the origins of women’s professional tennis and how far the game has come, expressing great optimism about the future of the game.

In the final match, Serena continued her solid form from earlier through a tight first set that, like Venus’s semifinal, hinged on one break.  This time it was Serena who came out on top and took the first set 6-4.  Serena seemed the fresher of the two players, which is understandable as Venus was coming off of a title on clay in Acapulco just days before.  This form continued in the second set as Serena was more assertive and powerful than Venus, who could not display the kind of shotmaking that she used to defeat Serena a few weeks ago in Dubai as Serena took the second 6-3.

The night was an important tribute to Billie Jean King and what she has done to establish the game of professional women’s tennis.  The best women’s tennis players in the world got to spend a night competing for a $1.2 million purse in one of sport’s greatest stages.  This momentous event is a far cry from the $1 contracts that the first professional tennis players signed to play a tournament in Houston 40 years ago.