New York City. Madison Square Garden. You couldn’t have asked for a better city and a better showground to host the 2015 BNP Paribas Showdown on Tuesday night.

Gabriela Sabatini and Monica Seles, longtime rivals, provided the first spectacle of the evening. Both women, far removed from their glory days, were happy just to be back on the court competing.

“I was very nervous but very glad to be back on such a stage,” Seles said on her on-court interview following the match.

In an eight-game pro set that Sabatini ended up winning 8-5, it was clear that while both players hadn’t lost their feel for the game, a natural decline in court coverage and speed was evident. The player with control of the court ended up winning a vast majority of the points.

Sabatini, now 44 years old, is in physical tremendous shape and amazingly hasn’t picked up a racket in quite some time.

“The last time I played was in 2009,” Sabatini said after the match.

It was pretty remarkable that Sabatini had essentially gone six years without picking up a racket before this match, and a wonderful testament to her top-notch physical condition.

Sabatini and Seles were then followed by Grigor Dimitrov and Roger Federer. For an exhibition event, outside of Gael Monfils, it’s hard to argue that two players can arouse a more electric environment and put together more enjoyable points than those two.

The first set was one-way traffic for Dimitrov, who won six of the last seven games to take it 6-2. Federer then quickly turned it around in the second set, winning the most memorable rally of the match, which included consecutive tweeners.

Following a brief interview with Mary Joe Fernandez after the second set, Federer and Dimitrov tussled for nearly an hour in the final set before Dimitrov seized the ultimate break to win the match 7-5 in the third.

Despite continuously competing for the same trophies throughout the year, it was obvious that Federer and Dimitrov, two players who have been reasonably linked to each other over the years, have a special relationship. For the Bulgarian, the fact that he was playing Federer meant that this was not any ordinary exhibition match.

“Of course it’s just an exhibition, but obviously for me it was important to get out there, embrace the atmosphere for not only me, but also the opponent that I’m playing against,” Dimitrov said in the post-match press conference. “In the end I’m playing against Roger and I have so much respect for him, and it’s something that I really embraced and felt that I had a lot of fun.”

Federer echoed the sentiment of his younger competitor, noting that the combination of playing at Madison Square Garden and playing against Dimitrov was a rare opportunity.

“I had a great time. It’s always very special to play at the Garden. It’s only my third time,” Federer said. “This is very unique and I really enjoyed the experience. Playing Grigor was very nice. I think he’s a wonderful player, a great guy.” 

The good-humored on-court interactions we saw between Federer and Dimitrov extended to the press room. On one occasion, Federer and Dimitrov shared a laugh after Federer commented that his first memory of Madison Square Garden was watching basketball in the 1990s, to which Dimitrov responded that he was born in the 1990s.

“Stop making me feel so old, man!” Federer then jokingly said back.

World Tennis Day is a celebration of the sport of tennis and while the game thrives on fierce rivalries and cutthroat competition, Federer, Dimitrov, Seles, and Sabatini reminded us that the ability to have fun is the main reason most tennis players get into the sport and the reason most players who keep it up remain in the sport.