Top 20 Things About Billie Jean King Cup

NEW YORK -- FanHouse was all credentialed up for Monday night's BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup. From Bill Clinton's speech, to what Serena's triumph over her sister means moving forward, here's a list of 20 observations from a night of tennis involving Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Serena Williams and Venus Williams at New York's Madison Square Garden.

1. The format for the semifinal matches were one set each, and no tiebreakers (no deuce). So you either got hot early, or you were out. The final match was a traditional best-of-three-sets format, however.

2. In the first match of the night, Venus got a huge response from the New York faithful. And rightfully so; Venus started off slow against Jankovic, but after double-faulting in the 10th game, Venus seemed to wake up and kicked it into a gear that is nearly impossible for anyone other than her sister to keep up with. It was impressive to see.

3. To her credit, Jankovic had a strong showing and was aggressive from the start. She definitely received a warm reception from the audience for her efforts. Jankovic also had an upbeat outlook after her night was done. "Unfortunately the Serbian girls didn't win, but we had fun and that's what's important," she said. (Audio here.)

4. The atmosphere in the Garden is so very different from what one gets at a Knicks game. You could honestly hear a baby crying during a serve. It's just a funny thing to experience in a place that's usually filled with boisterous (and that's putting it mildly) fans.

5. After winning her semifinal match, 6-4, Venus said she changed her approach vs. Jankovic due to the sudden-death format. Venus said there were a couple of shots that she wouldn't have normally taken, but with there being only one set, it really adds pressure, meaning every game counts that much more.

6. Venus also seemed to be having trouble with flash photography during her serves. She stopped mid-toss more than a handful of times during both of her matches.

7. In the Ivanovic-Serena semifinal match, Ivanovic went to the net early, which seemed to take Serena out of her comfort zone a little bit. But Serena's service game and power proved to be just a little too much for Ivanovic. Here's what Ivanovic said after falling to Serena: "Everything was happening too fast, especially with knowing scoring. I had so many breakaway chances today with Serena, her first serve was unbelievable. I think the big difference today was her first serve."

8. After Serena beat Ivanovic, she said, "It doesn't get better than playing in New York." And then she promised the crowd a great final match between her and her sister.

9. All the players lobbed signed tennis balls up to the crowd after their semifinal matches. It looked a lot easier, and far more efficient, than the T-shirts they normally shoot out of air cannons during Knicks games.

10. Some of the players mispronounced the sponsor's name during their post-match interviews. It's "pair-ee-bah" not "pair-ee-boss". Oh, the horror.

11. HBO On-Camera Wardrobe Note: John McEnroe wore black patent leather dress shoes with his suit. Mary Carillo? Yellow sneakers and a suit. Just sayin'.

12. After both semifinal matches were done, Bill Clinton honored Billie Jean King. The ovation for Clinton was twice as loud as that for King or any of the players. As Clinton took the podium, there was plenty of hooting, hollering and camera flashes.

13. A few choice Clinton quotes about King: "She probably has done more than any woman in the world to empower women, and to educate men." ... "If you have the heart of a champion, if you have the heart of Billie Jean King, you can prevail." Based on the crowd's response, Clinton aced his appearance.

14. Both sisters were very open all week during interviews about how they wanted an all-Williams final. Much to the crowd's delight, they got their wish. Serena and Venus took the floor for their final match to enthusiastic applause from the crowd.

15. In the ninth game of the first set, which dragged on to an unbelievable nine deuces, one fan said (to much laughter): "Come on Venus, finish this. Let's go home." And then, as if on cue, with play flagging, the sisters delievered one of the best points of the night. Venus capped it with a baseline winner that left Serena doing a split. It was some impressive tennis, to say the least.

16. While play in the Venus-Serena match was uneven, it can't be said that both sisters weren't putting forth strong efforts. Both were visibly into the match -- with Venus grunting and Serena yelling at herself after missed shots -- and after a tremendous rally in the eighth game, Serena took a scary tumble while trying to track down a great shot by Venus. They might not have been consistent, but both sisters were giving it their all.

17. Serena wound up topping Venus, 6-4, 6-3. Coming into the match, Venus and Serena had met 19 times, with Venus leading the series, 10-9. But after Serena's win Monday night, it's now flush at 10-10.

18. Venus Williams after losing to her sister: "I wish I could have won, but there's always next year ... hopefully this is the first of many, that's what we would like."

19. There seemed to be an awkward hush when Serena was awarded her $400,000 novelty check after beating Venus in the final. For all of Clinton's talk earlier in the night about how tough things are in the U.S., it was strange to see a player play a few hours of tennis and then walk away with that much money.

20. But it's also worth mentioning that the Dreams Vaccines Foundation was presented with a $50,000 check, which is yet another example of Billie Jean's social activism. All in all, a slightly uneven, yet pretty enjoyable, night of tennis in New York City.

FanHouse's Randy Kim also contributed to this story.