Tennis duo serves up inspiration for children

South African comedian Trevor Noah summed it up best when he described the exhibition match between tennis icons Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in Cape Town on Friday night as “living one thousand dreams in one night”.

Federer and Nadal, who share 39 Grand Slam singles titles between them, attracted a world record crowd of 51,954 people for a tennis match at the Cape Town Stadium.  Federer won 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

The previous record for the biggest crowd for a tennis match was set when Federer beat Germany’s Alexander Zverev in Mexico City in November in front of 42,517 fans.

The pair, who earlier in the evening played a doubles tennis match with billionaire Bill Gates and The Daily Show host Noah, raised over R50 million for the Roger Federer Foundation. The Swiss maestro’s foundation supports educational and athletic programmes for children in southern Africa.

It was Federer’s first match in his mother’s country of birth, while Nadal returned to South Africa for the first time since playing here as a junior.

“The time spent here as a kid was amazing,” said Federer, “You would go on the road and you never come back for some reason because you’ve gotta chase that little tennis ball and you’ve gotta chase your dreams.”

Let’s hope the presence of Nadal and Federer will inspire many children to follow their dreams.

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