Roger Federer leads stars in Haiti fundraising match
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Two teams of the world's best tennis players come together Sunday in a charity match to raise funds for earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and Aussies Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur took to Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena on the eve of the season-opening tennis Grand Slam for the 90-minute exhibition match, which was organized in less than 24 hours.
The initiative, the brainchild of Federer, helped generate at least 500,000 Australian dollars (about 461,388 U.S. dollars), Tennis Australia said.
The charity event proved to be a huge success, with a sell-out crowd at Rod Laver Arena. Representing the colors of the Haiti flag, Team Red (Federer, Williams, Hewitt and Stosur) defeated Team Blue (Roddick, Nadal, Djokovic, Clijsters, and late substitute Bernard Tomic) 7-6. Former Grand Slam champion turned tennis analyst Jim Courier was the chair umpire for the afternoon.
Tournament Director Craig Tiley was delighted with the outcome of the charity event.
"It's fantastic to see the tennis family from around the globe band together to help make a difference in this time of need," Tiley said.
"I would like to thank the players, staff and everyone involved in pulling off this event in such a short amount of time."
Haiti was decimated by a devastating earthquake that measured 7. 0 on the Richter Scale last Tuesday.
