Federer and Kyrgios faced off in a charity match (Picture: AAP)

Roger Federer and Nick Kyrgios faced off in a charity match in Melbourne on Wednesday night, joining the likes of Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in a bid to raise money for victims of the bushfires that have been ravaging Australia.

Representing Team Williams, Federer defeated Team Wozniacki’s Kyrgios in their one-set encounter, winning 8-6 in a tiebreak in an entertaining battle between two of the world’s most famous players.

Djokovic and Nadal had earlier teamed up to win a doubles match against Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, while Nadal announced he and Federer would be donating a combined 250,000 Australian Dollars (£132,000) to provide relief for those affected by the wildfires, which have killed a reported 28 people so far, including four firefighters, and a staggering estimation of more than one billion animals.




Kyrgios has been a driving force behind tennis’ efforts to raise money, donating $200 (£105) for every ace he hits during the Aussie summer – something he’s willing to extend to the regular tour.

‘I’m playing Kooyong [an exhibition event] tomorrow and I’m going to do that there as well,’ said Kyrgios.

‘It’s going to happen for as long as I can do it. Maybe further when I’m on tour travelling if it’s still going on and I’m outside of Australia.

‘It’s been an emotional couple of weeks. I just had dinner and I wrote the tweet, it was an opportunity for me to use my platform. The whole Aussie team got behind it and then the next day when I woke up it kind of exploded.

‘It was so emotional back home when I was in Canberra, I couldn’t even go outside. It was emotional. I was so happy we had Roger, Novak, Rafa, some of the greats to get behind it.

‘Everyone around the world at the moment, the awareness has grown and I think we’re doing everything we possibly can to get through this together.’

Federer added: ‘It’s been hard to watch. As you get it through the news you never know how bad it really is. But then you hear more and more about it and you get the sense it’s really, really bad.

‘Then you get down here and speak to the people as well who have been affected. It’s been difficult, you know, you wish that this doesn’t happen in your country. In Switzerland we’re quite lucky we don’t have these extreme situations.

‘I’m always happy to help, happy to lend my time – or my money for that matter. It was a pleasure to be here tonight with Nick and these legends of the game to do my fair share.

‘What I wanted to do was to raise awareness and raise money and tell the people to still come and travel to Australia. Probably people around the world probably think you can’t travel to Australia right now.

‘I had fun and had a good hit with Nick. We get on very well and we’ve had some great matches through the year so this was fun tonight, this was not about winning or losing.’



Asked to rate Kyrgios’ form during their match, Federer jokingly stuttered: ‘Yeah, erm, okay.’

Djokovic and Nadal teamed up (Picture: AFP via Getty)

Kyrgios was then asked to give his assessment of the 20-time major winner and predicted he would reach the Australian Open final, when the first Grand Slam of 2020 kicks off next week.

He said ‘What can I say? Honestly.

‘He made me feel pretty good today, he told me he had a day off and didn’t do anything and he still came out here and beat me so…

Naomi Osaka, Williams, Wozniacki and Tsitsipas were all involved (Picture: AFP via Getty)

‘Good luck this week. I’m sure you’ll probably be in the final this week, I’ll be watching you.’

The event at the Rod Laver Arena saw funds raised for the Aces for Bushfire Relief fund climb towards the $5million (£2.65m) mark, a figure that gave Kyrgios ‘goose bumps’.

‘I got goose bumps when you said that number,’ the Aussie added. ‘When you guys come together it’s an amazing feeling.

An amazing night has helped take the total raised to $4,826,014 👏 👏 👏 And with #AO2020 around the corner there's more tennis to come, more aces to be hit and more money to be raised. To contribute: https://t.co/9RPgZ7cBoB #Rally4Relief | #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/virxdKA4GJ — #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 15, 2020

‘Roger said it, I’m just glad we have your support. I really appreciate it and I’m sure everyone involved, everyone who is losing their homes, losing their loved ones, they’re going to appreciate that.’

Patting Federer on the knee, he added: ‘You’re an absolute champion and I really appreciate that.’

Federer continued: ‘‘An incredible number. So much needed.

A group photo of all the players involved (Picture: AAP)

‘Like you guys said, the Australian Open is just around the corner now and I hope much more money will get together. This was an incredible kick off.

‘We hope we don’t need to do this every year but if we have to, the players will be here.’


You can make a donation for the Aces for Bushfire Relief fund here.