Federer event raises thousands for Haiti

(AP)

It was a wholly appropriate weekend for Roger Federer to receive his latest award. A day after he was named ambassador of the year by the International Tennis Writers Association, the world No 1 was the inspiration behind a charity doubles event here that raised more than £114,000 in aid of victims of the Haiti earthquake. Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and Sam Stosur entertained a capacity 15,000 crowd.

Staging the event was a remarkable performance by Tennis Australia authorities, especially as they had so little time to organise it. Federer had come up with the idea on Saturday morning. "I was following what was happening in Haiti on TV and saw the devastation and I thought we should do something," he said.