Tennis good guys Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal yuck it up for charity

Australia has been in the news lately due to some massively unfortunate flooding swallowing up damn near half the country, and it’s about to be in the news again for hosting professional tennis’ Australian Open. On the eve of that tournament, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are in the news for being good guys and raising funds to help the victims of those tragic floods going forward. Charity match, anyone?

The men’s titans shelved their fierce rivalry to play a few farcical points before teaming up in doubles against Belgium’s Kim Clijsters and local hope Sam Stosur in front of 15,000 spectators at a packed Rod Laver Arena.

With a mission of bringing some light-hearted cheer amid huge clean-up efforts, miked-up players clowned around the court, playing shots between their legs and mixing wisecracks with exaggerated grunts.

That last part kind of sounds like an evening with Marv Albert, but anything for a good cause. As Federer and Nadal are no strangers to laughing hijinks, it’s inspiring to see them put that jovial behavior to such noble use as raising money for flood victims. As great of rivals the two have become on court, they generally seem to see like each outside the painted lines and have nice developed a nice rapport (and even comedic timing) together, which is a welcome sight in the world of sports coming from anyone who isn’t a Manning brother.

For entertainment purposes alone, here’s hoping their good karma comes back around and carries them both to the Open’s final match. Floods or no floods, that’s a cause all tennis fans can get behind.

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Tennis players laugh it up to raise funds for flood victims [NBC Sports]