17 January 2011 | Tennis Queensland

On Sunday, the two dominant figures of men’s tennis, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, traded blows on Rod Laver Arena to raise money for our country’s flood victims.

The day, known as “Rally for Relief”, raised $1.5 million to help repair some of the damage caused by Australia’s devastating floods.

“We can’t bring back the lives that have been lost, but we can take away some of the stress,” women’s singles tournament favourite Kim Clijsters said.

And as Australia’s top men’s and women’s singles hopes Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur noted, it was also a timely reminder – before they shoulder the hopes of a nation – that there are more important things in life.

“It brings home that tennis isn’t that significant when there’s a lot of lives threatened,” Hewitt said.

Queenslander Stosur was warmed by the show of support both from the sellout crowd and tennis stars including Caroline Wozniacki, Ana Ivanovic, Justine Henin, Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray.

“We love what we do, but there’s far greater things going on in the world. So if we can all come together and support something like (relief from) these floods, I think it’s great,” Stosur said.

We need your help!

By launching the “Rally for Relief- Tennis Flood Appeal”, we can help those that have been affected by the recent floods.

Click here for more information on “Rally for Relief”, or to make a donation.

All funds raised for the Rally for Relief effort will be matched dollar for dollar by QER.

The more money we raise, the more money QER will donate – so dig deep for the victims of the flood disaster.

Thank you for generosity.