After a successful Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro won by Kiki Bertens, we had another video game tennis competition, as Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Madison Keys, Naomi Osaka and Maria Sharapova teamed up with celebrities in doubles teams to compete at the “Stay at Home Slam” organized by IMG.
The live virtual tennis tournament, based on the Mario Tennis Aces game for Nintendo Switch, started with the quarterfinals consisting of eight doubles teams. Only Madison Keys, partnered with Seal, managed to progress past the opening round, but even her team was bageled already in the semifinals, so there was little success for the WTA players at this $1 million charity event.
In the quarterfinals, Maria Sharapova and Karlie Kloss lost 6-3 to Kevin Anderson and Ryan Tannehill, Naomi Osaka and Hailey Bieber lost to Kei Nishikori and Steve Aoki 3-0 due to Hailey’s bad Wi-Fi, Venus Williams and DeAndre Hopkins were bageled by Taylor Fritz and Addison Rae, while Serena Williams and Gigi Hadid fell to Madison Keys and Seal 6-1.
In the semifinals, the team of Madison Keys and Seal didn’t win a single game against ATP player Taylor Fritz and TikTok star Addison Rae, who soon afterwards became the tournament champions with a 6-4 victory over Kei Nishikori and Steve Aoki in the final watched by 38,000 people online.
