Federer beats Nadal in charity ‘Match for Africa’

ZURICH (AFP) - Roger Federer took the upper hand against Rafael Nadal on Tuesday with a two set to one win in a charity exhibition match in the Swiss city of Zurich.

After losing the first set 4-6, Federer broke back against the world number one early in the second set to take a 6-3, 6-3 lead, watched by a capacity home crowd including Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel, ski-ing champions Lindsey Vonn and Didier Cuche.

The 10,500 tickets for the “Match for Africa” were sold out within a few minutes when they went on sale on September 1.

The world’s top two in tennis this year move on to Madrid for another exhibtion match on Wednesday, this time to raise money for the Spaniard’s charity.

“Both of us realise we are in a very privileged position, where we have everything in life, the least we can do is to help people who are in difficulty,” said Nadal.

Federer has been hoping to raise around one million dollars from the event for his foundation to support projects for African children in education and sport.

“You have to look at the long term,” said Federer.

“When you can help 1,500 children to go to school, it’s great but you need a lot around it: how do the children get to school, what do they eat at school, do they have toilets... and that’s where we come in,” he added on Swiss television TSR.

The 29 year-old Swiss player remains on the wrong end of an 8-14 career record on the professional circuit against Nadal, breaking a six match losing streak against the Spaniard this year.

Federer picks up Nadal from airport; rivals hang out in Zurich

In the greatest tennis carpool ever, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal drove together to an exhibition match in Zurich. Federer picked up the world’s top-ranked player at the airport and took a jaunt through downtown before heading to the stadium.

Nadal arrived in Switzerland on Tuesday morning for the first of two exhibition matches this week with Federer, his long-time rival. He was met on the airport runway by the all-time winningest Grand Slam champion and then hopped in Fed’s red Mercedes SLS AMG with gullwing doors (retail price: around $200,000).

The world’s top-ranked players are competing in an exhibition on Tuesday afternoon in Zurich and then will fly to Madrid for another exhibition in Nadal’s native Spain on Wednesday. Proceeds from the exhibitions will go the players’ respective charities.

These sorts of matches are great for the sport and it should be an enjoyable event to watch. Some will try to take meaning from the results, but those will be just as important as the final score of a preseason football game. It’s meaningless, frivolous fun. Expect two three-setters (gotta give the fans their money’s worth) and for each man to win the match in his homeland.