Bushfire crisis: Hits and giggles as tennis stars rally for cause

The stars of tennis gathered on Rod Laver Arena to raise nearly $5 million for bushfire charities.

Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday night. Picture: AAP

The superstars of world tennis gathered at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday night for a spectacular fundraising event for bushfire charities that was more hit-and-giggle than overly competitive in nature.

Roger Federer, Novak Djoko­vic and Rafael Nadal will resume hostilities at the Australian Open on Monday in their race to be the most successful man in history.

Serena Williams is seeking to level Margaret Court’s all-time grand slam record, while defending champion Naomi Osaka was also on hand.

But those champions and other stars, including Australian Nick Kyrgios, were more than happy to swap serves, laughs and high-fives in a bid to raise additional funds.

With the ticket price of $59 going directly to relief efforts, crowds rushed in to the stadium to see two teams compete in a Fast4 format before Nadal brought out Victorian Country Fire Authority volunteer Deb Borg to hit a few balls across the net with him.

Firefighter Deb & @RafaelNadal is the doubles partnership we all want right now 🙌#RallyForReliefpic.twitter.com/EL9N4PD8hm

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 15, 2020

Following that, Nadal and Federer announced a special $250,000 donation to the fund of their own, which took the fundraising total from the event to $4,826,014 at the end of the night.

“Incredible number, so much needed and I hope it keeps going,” Federer said.

.@RafaelNadal & @rogerfederer pledge to donate $250,000 together for the Australian bushfire relief efforts 👏#RallyForReliefpic.twitter.com/anQZMucOPu

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 15, 2020

Then the highlight: Kyrgios went head to head with Federer in a one-set match that saw the Swiss champion defeat Kyrgios in a tiebreaker.

“I’m just so happy that we had Roger, Novak, Rafa, some of the greats to get behind it ... the awareness has grown and I think we’re doing everything we possible can to overcome this together,” Kyrgios said after the match.

Williams, a seven-time Aust­ralian Open champion, combined with Djokovic in a mixed doubles against Greek sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas and Caroline Wozniacki.

The American legend had alread­y donated her prizemoney after winning in Auckland last week. On arriving in Australia, the 38-year-old took her daughter to meet people she described as true superstars — the firefighters who have been battling blazes for months. Some of them had the best seats in the Rod Laver Arena.

One of those heroes was Ms Borg — a regular at the St Arnaud Tennis Club in western Victoria — who had been fighting fires earlier this week. But on Wednesday she was swapping hugs with her favouri­te player, Nadal, on the biggest court in Australia.

A few days ago, Deb was fighting the Australian bushfires. Today she’s playing doubles with her favourite tennis player. 🤗❤️ #Rally4Relief pic.twitter.com/p9qbkScIGa

— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 15, 2020

Tickets to the fundraiser were sold out within two days. After another­ smoky day in Melbourne, fans braved the torrential rain that hit just hours before the event.

With Lachlan Moffet Gray