Venus and Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic to Compete at Madison Square Garden

Four of the world’s best tennis players are headed for New York City’s most famous sports venue, Madison Square Garden.

Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic, and Ana Ivanovic will headline the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup.

Women’s tennis will return to the Garden on Monday, March 2, 2009. The single-elimination event will be telecast live on HBO beginning at 7:30 p.m. E.T.

The $1.2 million exhibition is the featured component of the national “Tennis Night in America” promotion, and is produced by StarGames in association with Madison Square Garden. The event will benefit the Dream Vaccines Foundation and Women’s Sports Foundation.

“I am honored to be part of an event that showcases Serena, Venus, Jelena, and Ana – four of the best players in women’s tennis today — in one of the most storied tennis venues in the world,” said sports icon and tennis legend Billie Jean King. 

“This collection of players, competing in this spectacular venue, in an event that benefits the Women’s Sports Foundation and other organizations, is the perfect mix to deliver an exciting and entertaining celebration of women’s sports and tennis.”

The pool of players for this one night event is unprecedented, including three women who over the course of the 2008 season held the World No. 1 ranking and all four of whom have been No. 1 at least once in their career. The grouping also consists of three Grand Slam winners, as well as four of the eight qualifiers of the WTA Championships which was recently captured by Venus Williams in Doha.

“We saw from our Sampras/Federer “Battle for Tennis History” in March that the New York audience and the tennis community were hungry to have world class tennis back at Madison Square Garden,” said StarGames President Jerry Solomon.

“With the BNP Paribas Showdown we will bring together some of the biggest names in tennis, sports and entertainment to not only showcase the top women in the world but also honor Billie Jean King. We are looking forward once again to a tremendous night at the Garden, one that tennis fans won’t want to miss.”

In this unique format, each participant will compete in a one set, no ad scoring semi-final with the winners advancing to a best of three set final (regular scoring) for the Billie Jean King Cup.

Depending on the draw, which will be announced at a later date, there exists a potential rematch of both the 2008 US Open (Serena Williams vs Jankovic) and Wimbledon finals (Williams vs Williams).

Limited front row VIP tickets priced at $1,000.00 and additional tickets listed at $325.00, $175.00, $125.00, $75.00, and $50.00 went on sale Monday and can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden box office, all Ticketmaster outlets and online at www.thegarden.com.