23 Mar 2011

Tennis stars to play in Charity match

10:00 am on 23 March 2011

World number one Rafael Nadal and second-ranked Novak Djokovic will lead a set of tennis stars in a charity football match in Miami tomorrow to raise money for earthquake and tsunami relief missions in Japan.

Britain's Andy Murray and Japan's Kei Nishikori will also be among those who drop their rackets and compete with their feet ahead of their opening matches in the Sony Ericsson Open.

The tennis stars will face the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, a second-level US pro squad, with a dinner afterward.

Proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross relief effort in Japan.

Others ATP players set to take the field include Frenchman Richard Gasquet; Spaniards David Ferrer, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez; Serbian Viktor Troicki, Austrian Jurgen Melzer and Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.