Federer, Nadal, Bill Gates, Trevor Noah shut down South Africa

The World Tennis numbers two and three players, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, have set a new record in South Africa after the two turned up for a match.

There were also two notable big-name attendance at the game; Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and The Daily Show host Trevor Noah also got a piece of the action.

Before the main match, Federer and Gates teamed up to beat Nadal and Noah 6-3 in a one-set doubles exhibition.

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Thank you @rafaelnadal , @trevornoah , and @thisisbillgates for you support of this incredible event. It was always a dream of mine to play in South Africa for my foundation. I am so proud to say we raised over $3 million this evening????????????? #worldrecord #southafrica

A post shared by Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) on Feb 7, 2020 at 2:45pm PST

The longtime rivals faced off in a friendly exhibition match on Friday and set a new attendance record for a tennis match, as more than 51,000 spectators trooped in to witness the match.

According to Al Jezera, Federer won the highly anticipated Match in Africa by 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to the excitement of the 51,954 spectators in Cape Town Stadium.

How does he do it?! ????

Superb skill from @RafaelNadal! ????#MatchInAfrica pic.twitter.com/zT4DXqYQvU

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 7, 2020

The exhibition raised $3.5m for the Roger Federer Foundation, which supports early childhood education in six southern African countries, including South Africa, the home country of Federer's mother.

"It was an absolute pleasure to share the court with Rafa (Nadal) again, but the first time here in beautiful Cape Town in South Africa. It means so much more and ... it really is very, very special on so many levels," the Swiss player said after the match.

Friday's crowd - the biggest ever on record for a tennis match - broke the previous record of 42,517 set in November when Federer played Germany's Alexander Zeverev in another exhibition in Mexico City.

Organisers said the demand for the Federer-Nadal match was in the region of 200,000 ticket requests.

"We tried our best as always," Nadal, world number two, said. "It's a lifetime experience playing in front of such an amazing crowd in an amazing stadium. It was a big pleasure for me to be part of it."