MELBOURNE, Australia - More than 14,000 tennis fans swarmed onto the grounds of the Australian Open on Sunday afternoon here in an impromptu show of financial support for Haiti relief efforts — and the chance to see top players in an exhibition staged at the last-minute suggestion of Roger Federer.
“It’s something as a tennis family we’re very happy to do,” Federer told reporters late Saturday after conferring with several top players.
“I got some connections, you know,” he said with a smile. “They all said, ‘Yes, we should do something.’”
Among the players who volunteered to appear were Rafael Nadal of Spain, Serena Williams and Andy Roddick of the United States, Kim Clijsters of Belgium, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, and Samantha Stosur and Lleyton Hewitt of Australia.
When organizers opened the gates at 1 p.m., thousands of people clutching special $10 tickets (about $9.20 in U.S. dollars) ran up steps to crowd into Rod Laver Arena from its busy Batman Avenue entrances. From the rear of the grounds, thousands more entered after jogging and trotting across Grand Slam Oval, a vast park area.
Within in 45 minutes, organizers said all but about 1,000 seats of the 15,000-seat arena were filled. Federer said all funds would be contributed to victims of the Haiti earthquake.
“I heard about it on Facebook,” said Kevin Ha, 23, a specialist in mergers and acquisitions at a Sydney financial firm. “It’s a good gesture. It’s inexpensive, so it seems like a good way to raise the money.”
Caspar Kaut, 19, a waiter, said he could not afford tickets to the tournament, so “this is a great chance to see them and do a good thing as well.”
Judy Fella of Cambridge, England, said: “I thought it was a terrific idea. There’s so much rubbish in the world. This is good spirit and I want to be part of it.”
The crowd burst into loud cheers and applause as the players appeared and began a series of doubles and mixed-doubles matches.
“Love you, Nadal,” shouted a young girl as the Spaniard teamed with Roddick to play a no-jokes-barred doubles match against Federer and Hewitt. In the umpire’s chair sat Jim Courier, the former two-time Australian Open champion. The players wore wireless microphones so the crowd could hear their comments.
Cheers and laughter filled the arena when Federer hit a between-the-legs forehand racing away from the net. Nadal reached high to block it, but hit the ball into the net. Roddick and Federer joked about what they call the inaccuracy of the Hawkeye line-calling system.
Clijsters and Djokovic squared off against Stosur and Williams in a mixed-doubles match later.
The late arrangement for the exhibition was worked out by the players and the Australian Open tournament director, Craig Tiley.
“Roger asked and Craig said, ‘Let’s do it,’” said Darren Pearce, a tournament spokesman. The event was expected to raise about 150,000 Australian dollars (about 138,000 U.S. dollars at current exchange rates).
“I think it was a great way to support the cause,” said Nibin Varghese, 24, a software engineer, who stood in a line that at one time numbered more than 200 people at a box office in the city’s Federation Square.
Source: New York Times Blog
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