Carlos Alcaraz Clinches The Garden Cup With Flashy Win Over Ben Shelton
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Carlos Alcaraz lifted The Garden Cup after beating Ben Shelton, while Emma Navarro won the women's part of the competition after downing Jessica Pegula.
The past few days, these four stars from the ATP and WTA Tours were preparing for their match in the Madison Square Garden. The most active player was probably Pegula.
She first visited the New York Rangers ice hockey game against the New Jersey Devils, and then all four players attended the New York Knicks basketball game against the Orlando Magic.
After that, the court was miraculously transformed into a tennis court overnight, and the stage was set for one of the most exciting exhibitions of this off-season.
First to take to the court were Pegula and Navarro. For many tennis fans, these two players are known mostly because they share one connection, and that's that their fathers are billionaires.
One more important connection they share is that they are both incredibly good tennis players, currently ranked seventh and eighth on the WTA Tour.
The match was exciting, and the first set had to be decided in a tie-break, with Navarro proving to be the better player to clinch the first set of the match.
As an exhibition, the match included many lighthearted moments, and the two even enjoyed a joint interview in the middle of the match, sitting together on a bench and talking to Tennis Channel's Prakash Amritraj.
While Navarro complained about the crowd not helping her with their advice, Pegula shared how she wanted to challenge her inner "Carlitos" and play more drop shots, but they were not working for her.
In the second set of the match, Navarro was able to follow up on her victorious start. She also won the second set and the match, 7-6, 7-5, to win The Garden Cup in 2024.
After the match, Navarro was naturally happy about the win, but it was mostly about enjoying playing in the Madison Square Garden, which she was thrilled about.
"Just so special to be here, playing in this arena. We came to the Knicks game the last night, and now they have a tennis court out here, and we're playing. It's insane, and thank you guys all for coming out to watch."
After the women's match, it was time for the men's match and for only non-American participant of The Garden Cup to take to the court, as the four-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz took on Ben Shelton.
Although Alcaraz was the only non-American participant at the event, he was welcomed by the crowd as one of their own. The exhibition nature of the match certainly helped, but also the fact that the Spaniard is loved by fans all around the world, and if they don't love him, he can change their mind with his flashy shotmaking.
He had plenty of those shots also in the match against Shelton, hitting incredible winners left and right, but in the first set, the American was the better player, winning the first set 6-4.
In the second set, however, Alcaraz, who signed up for the Laver Cup, which is another exhibition, recently, was the better player, breaking his opponent's serve multiple times to win the set 6-2 and force the decider.
The match was decided in a tie-break, and it was again Alcaraz who proved to be better to win the match 4-6, 6-2, 7-4, clinching The Garden Cup. Following the win, he was obviously happy about the performance delivered.
"I’m trying to make the people enjoy watching tennis. I hope the people enjoyed the match, and that’s what I try to do every time."
