Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal attracted what organisers said was a world record crowd for a tennis match when they played an exhibition event in the Cape Town Stadium on Friday.
The organisers said an audited attendance of 51,954 beat the 42,517 who watched Federer play Alexander Zverev in Mexico City last November.
“To have 51,954 people in attendance at a tennis match, I never thought I’d be apart of something like that,” said Federer. “It’s not something you dream about. Federer won 6-4 3-6 6-3 in a match in which the players had to contend with cool, windy conditions in the stadium that was built for the 2010 football World Cup.
“It’s an amazing crowd, an amazing stadium,” said Nadal, who was making his first appearance in South Africa since playing here as a junior.
Earlier in the day, Federer and his doubles partner billionaire Bill Gates beat Nadal and South-African born comedian Trevor Noah in a match with more flexible rules.