A huge night of tennis is in store for New York area tennis fans, with some of the world's top players scheduled for the first tennis matches in the transformed Madison Square Garden on Monday, March 5th, 2012, as the BNP Paribas Showdown returns for its fifth year at the World's Most Famous Arena.  The night starts with Maria against Caroline Wozniacki followed by Roger Federer against Andy Roddick.  Both matches will be best of three sets.

"Playing in Madison Square Garden has always been a dream of mine," said Maria.  "Everyone wants to play there at least once in their career. I look forward to coming back to New York for the Showdown."

The BNP Paribas Showdown is produced by MSG Sports and StarGames. Tickets starting at $50.00 will go on sale October 3 @ 10:00 a.m. and can be purchased at the Madison Square Garden box office, online at www.thegarden.com and all Ticketmaster outlets.  For more information and an opportunity to sign up for pre-sale alerts prior to tickets going on sale fans can visit www.tennisshowdown.com.

After an eight year hiatus professional tennis returned to The World's Most Famous Arena on March 10, 2008 with the sold-out NetJets Showdown between World No. 1 Roger Federer and former Grand Slam record holder Pete Sampras.

The following year women's tennis returned to The Garden with the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup in 2009 and 2010.  Players who have participated include: Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters, Ana Ivanovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic.  Last year four legends of the game took to the court when Ivan Lendl squared off against John McEnroe followed by Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras.