The Deuce Club, 3.5

By Jackie Roe, TW Social Director

******Hi, guys! By this time next week, I'll be in Indian Wells, basking in the sun - and all the live tennis action. How about that Hit for Haiti, eh? It's shaping up to be the single most memorable tennis event I'll witness in my lifetime. Hyperbole, maybe - but it's merited when you have Steffi, Martina, Lindsay, Justine, Pete, Andre, Rog, and Rafa all on the same court at the same time! Steffi is one of my all-time favorite athletes, and I'm over the moon to have the chance to see her live.

*When Jackie asked me to write a bit about the MSG exhibition, I can assume she thought that I would want to write about the actual tennis. [I'm easy to please. Tennis or non-tennis - both fine by me! - JR] But let's be honest, there are people much more qualified to do that than me. The tennis was fine; there were some flashes of brilliance from all four players, and all the sets were really competitive, but I want to talk more about the exhibition atmosphere. For the sake of brevity (you guys know I love to ramble), I'll take you to the end of the first set of the Venus-Kim final.
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*It was about 10:00 and people (including my friend) were pouring out of the stands and I was about to follow. I was exhausted but reluctantly decided to stick it out. Of course, my patience was quickly tested when I got to see Venus perform her famous "second set collapse" in person, and I realized I was going to have to sit through an entire 3rd set. I became increasingly irritated as neither player seemed capable of taking control of that final set. Didn't they realize it was past my bedtime? Didn't they know this was JUST an exhibition? Despite being a Venus fanatic, I didn't really care who won.
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Then something unexpected happened midway through the third set. I looked around at the sparse crowd and realized that I was the only one left who didn't care. I was the only one yawning. I was the only one slouched in my seat and checking my watch. All the other jaded tennis fans had left already, and the people left were all on the edge of their seats. And why shouldn't they be? It was Venus Williams vs. Kim Clijsters, 3-all in the 3rd set at Madison Square Garden! So what if it was late? So what if it was just an exhibition?

Thanks for taking the time to do this, linz! I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself - and that you were in the midst of such passionate fans. Who says tennis isn't exciting? To the rest of y'all, if you haven't already shared your own impressions of the exo, please do so in the Comments.

That's all for now. Have a good weekend, everyone - and good luck to all your Davis Cup faves!