The game started love-love.
To the delight of the Madison Square Garden crowd, Caroline Wozniacki pulled golfer boyfriend Rory McIlroy out of the stands and handed off her racket to begin a game late in her exhibition match last night against Maria Sharapova in the BNP Paribas Showdown.
McIlroy, the newly minted No. 1 in the world, “won” the point before giving the racket back to former world No. 1 Wozniacki, who dropped her serve to lose the match to Sharapova, 6-3, 6-4.
The switcheroo prompted Sharapova to exclaim after the match, “He won more points than Caroline did.”
“First of all, that comment was not very nice,” Wozniacki retorted. “He did great. He won 1 of 1, so 100 percent against Maria.”
Wozniacki said McIlroy didn’t find the antic as funny as she did.
“He wasn’t too pleased with me,” she said. “But at least he can say he played tennis at Madison Square Garden.”
The mood was light and the stakes were not quite Grand Slam-level when the two women’s stars took to the Garden court. Andy Roddick and Roger Federer squared off in the nightcap.
“You don’t think about winning or losing when you come out here because it’s such an honor and to be a part of the history on this stage,” Sharapova said on the court. “We just wanted to play out there, and I was pumped up from the beginning.”
Despite the loss, a 3-2 disadvantage in competitive matches all time with Sharapova and an upcoming tournament in her busy schedule, Wozniacki had no regrets over her decision to take part in the event.
“When you get this opportunity to play in here, it was a ‘yes’ right away — it is a no-brainer,” Wozniacki said. “I was here for the Knicks game the other day, and I knew how special this would be.”
The match between longtime rivals Federer and Roddick also was a straight-setter — but the winner was a bit surprising as the American pulled out a 7-5, 7-6 (7) victory. Federer still owns a career 21-2 record against Roddick, prompting some sarcasm after the match.
“I think that it was pretty clear tonight that I was obviously in Roger’s head,” Roddick said. “And he is not very good under pressure as you saw in that tiebreaker. He has no idea how to play me, so I just capitalized on that.”
Roddick was feeling loose all match. He imitated Rafael Nadal one point, which he won.
And what sporting event at the Garden would be complete without a Jeremy Lin reference? Before the match, Roddick tweeted a picture of Lin’s locker, saying he thought he channeled the Knicks’ sudden superstar.
“I’ll have to leave him a thank-you note,” he said.