Thousands of fans turned out last Friday night, March 12, to watch as some of tennis' biggest names "Hit for Haiti" in an exhibition game at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
The event started off with The Palm Springs High School band and visual chorus, followed by the presentation of colors by Twentynine Palms Marines.
After a coin toss, Women's play began with Justine Henin, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Lindsay Davenport.
Navratilova and Henin won 8-6 over Graf and Davenport.
In this unique exhibition game, all four women were wearing microphones, and seemed to have just as much fun playing as the crowd did watching them play.
Following the Women's play, four of the world’s most renowned tennis players hit the court next for the event: Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal.
The men were also wearing microphones during play, and Agassi took full advantage of his ability to speak directly to the 16,100 fans.
While Sampras and Federer took the match 8-6 to Agassi and Nadal, Agassi provided a lot of entertainment for the crowd with his fast-talking and game playing.
A fundraising goal of $1 million was set for the event, and at the end of both matches, Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle and the owner of the BNP, presented a $1 million check to the Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund. To help meet the fundraising goal, three buses with a total of 150 volunteers from the Riverside and Orange County chapters of the American Red Cross were bused in. They were walking around accepting donations throughout the match.
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