Nadal – Djokovic Exhibition for Charity Live on ESPN2 on July 14
epa03265054 Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal serves to Lukas Lacko from Slovakia during their match at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle/Westfalen, Germany, 14 June 2012. EPA/CHRISTIAN WEISCHE |
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic – ranked No. 1 and 2 and the two men who have squared off in the finals of tennis’ last four majors – will meet again Saturday, July 14, live at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2, but this time playing for charity as well as bragging rights.
The exhibition will be played on a grass court in Nadal’s native Spain at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium only six days after the Gentlemen’s Final at Wimbledon. The best-of-three sets match will benefit the Realmadrid Foundation and the Rafa Nadal Foundation.
Organizers of the event are hopeful the match will attract more than 80,000 fans, which would make it by far the largest live audience in tennis history. Currently, the record of 35,681 people is held by an exhibition in Belgium’s historic King Baudouin Stadium between Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams on July 8, 2010. Williams had been a late substitute for Justine Henin in what was planned as an all-Belgian battle. The previous record tennis audience was for the famed “Battle of the Sexes” between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in the Houston Astrodome in September 1973 – 30,472.
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