2004 : United against Tsunami

Fundraising for Thailand

Carlos Moyà has always felt good in Chennai, though he does not know why. Perhaps it reminded ex-World No. 1 Moyà of his home island Mallorca, where he started tennis with the Mediterranean Sea in the background. In 2004 and 2005, Moyà won the Chennai Open, on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. But his second title left him with a bitter aftertaste. He beat Thai player Paradorn Srichaphan in the final, but neither them nor the crowd were in a tennis mood that day. A week before, on 26 December 2004, a huge tsunami hit the coasts of South-East Asia, including India. It killed over 200,000 people –over 200 in Chennai. Moyà announced that he would donate his  €40,000 prize money to humanitarian aid right after his victory.

ATP players then united and launched a massive call for help. Not only did they donate money; Roger Federer oversaw the ATP All-Star Rally for Relief –an exhibition tournament featuring most Top 10 ATP players, including Amélie Mauresmo, Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and Marat Safin played in March 2005 in Indian Wells– which raised $20,000 for Unicef and made people aware that it was important to keep donating to the victims. As for Moyà, his love for Chennai got even stronger; the 1998 French Open winner was back in 2006 and lost the final to Ivan Ljubičić.