Fans at the Louis Armstrong Stadium enjoyed an exhibition event Tennis Plays For Peace which supported the Ukrainian humanitarian relief.
The Tennis Plays For Peace at the 2022 US Open raised more than $1 million and it featured some of the biggest stars of tennis. Rafael Nadal, Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and John McEnroe took care of the main exhibition match of the event, but it featured many more matches that were played according to match tie-break rules.
Jessica Pegula paire with Ben Shelton against Felix Auger-Aliassime and Leylah Fernandez. Matteo Berrettini and Katarina Zavatska played against Maria Sakkari and Stefanos Tsitsipas and Carlos Alcaraz with Frances Tiafoe played against Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul. Then, Frances Tiafoe partnered with Dayana Yastremska to play against Sebastian Korda and Daria Snigur.
“[It has been a] very tough couple of years in terms of [the] pandemic, now with the war,” Nadal said. “Excited to be back of course, always a pleasure to play in New York and in front of probably the best crowd of the world.”
“Being on the court with John, Rafa and Iga, World No. 1, it’s really crazy here in New York,” Gauff said. “I’m happy that I’m able to do it for this cause and you guys all know me, I like to speak out when it’s right. I’m glad that I was able to be a part of this.”
“I’m pretty happy that we are united and that we as public persons and athletes are doing so much. For sure the event that I did in Poland was a great experience for me. That was the first event that gained so much attention in tennis in Poland,” Swiatek said. “I’m pretty happy that we raised so much money for kids in Ukraine, mostly because their lives have changed and it’s right next to my country, so I was pretty emotional and pretty happy that I can use my sport that way and that we’re doing this today. It’s great.”
“I just want to say for this event, we’re all a fraternity, the tennis players. We’re pulling for each other,” McEnroe reflected. “Obviously we all want peace and hopefully this will do something towards helping the situation over in Ukraine.”
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