Sell-out crowd for flood relief tennis show

Roger Federer (right) and Rafael Nadal congratulate each other during a charity exhibition match in aid of Queensland flood victims, a day before the start of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, on January 16. Top seeds delighted a sell-out crowd with former Grand Slam champion Jim Courier of the US in the umpires's chair during the flood-aid exhibition match.

AFP - Tennis's biggest names thrilled a sell-out crowd of 15,000 in an entertaining "Rally for Relief" to raise money for Australia's devastating floods.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal led a parade of leading men's and women's players for the comedy hit-out, in which they mocked other's grunts and played shots between their legs.

Lleyton Hewitt's two-year-old son, Cruz, made a brief and tearful appearance and Novak Djokovic played volleys while sitting down during the crowd-pleasing performance, which precedes the Australian Open here.

Federer was moved to organise the event after learning that Rockhampton, home of his idol Rod Laver, was under water in a disaster which has claimed 17 lives in the past week alone and left vast tracts of Australia under water.

"When I saw it hit the city of Rockhampton, I right away thought of Rod Laver," he said. "I tried to reach out to him and see if he wanted to do anything, if he needed my help.

"I didn't really know then how big the devastation was going to be."

As the disaster shifted to Victoria state, where the Open will start in Melbourne on Monday, Australia's fifth seed Sam Stosur said it was important for professional players to keep a sense of perspective.

"We're lucky to do what we do. We love what we do. But there's far greater things going on in the world," she said. "So if we can all come together and support something like these floods, I think it's great.

"For all of us, for a couple of hours the day before a Grand Slam to go out there and have some fun, try and raise as much money as we can, I think it shows the spirit of the tennis world."

The sports world has rallied round victims of the floods disaster with Australian cricket great Shane Warne trying to organise a charity Twenty20 game.

England's visiting cricketers have also donated a slice of their match fees and star batsman Kevin Pietersen is auctioning bats and shirts he used in the recent Ashes series.

Meanwhile, seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, in Australia for next week's Tour Down Under, has pledged US$50,000 to the relief efforts.