Rory McIlroy Has a Promising Career...In Tennis

Tiger Woods was never this much fun.

Rory McIlroy, the 22 year-old Northern Irishman who took over the number one ranking in professional golf last weekend, showed off his sense of humor and his tennis slice backhand on Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

McIlroy's girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki, who is currently the fourth ranked player on the women's tennis tour, played an exhibition match against top rival Maria Sharapova. After Sharapova stopped play for a moment to dance with a lucky fan from the crowd, Wozniacki invited her boyfriend McIlroy to do the same, and then she tricked him. Instead of dancing, Wozniacki handed McIlroy her racquet and left him to play a point with Sharapova.

It's entertaining, and it's satisfying to see McIlroy handling the pressure that accompanies his meteoric rise to the top so gracefully. Staying poised and grounded in the face of such success and celebrity is difficult for anyone, and all the more impressive for someone in his early twenties.

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