Incredible images emerge ahead of Roger Federer-Rafa Nadal charity match

Roger Federer said only Rafael Nadal could make their South African exhibition “truly special” for those in attendance in Cape Town.

Swiss great Federer will face off against his most famous rival in the sixth edition of the Match for Africa series, organised by the 20-time grand slam winner's foundation.

‘THINK CAREFULLY’: Federer hits out amid Greta Thunberg 'attack'

Federer will team up with Microsoft owner Bill Gates to face Nadal and Daily Show host Trevor Noah, who was born in South Africa, for a doubles encounter before the two tennis greats meet in a singles match.

Incredible images are emerging from inside the stadium where Federer and Nadal will attempt to break the world record for largest tennis crowd ever.

Federer posted a number of images and videos on social media on Friday, showing off the orange court that will be used.

At first glance the orange surface appears to be clay, but Federer said it’s all a ruse to make Nadal feel at home.

“It’s actually hard court,” he said.

Record tennis crowd in offing

The aim is an attendance of 50,000, with 10,000 tickets available for just $11 each.

The hope is to generate more than $1 million for the Roger Federer Foundation, which supports early childhood education in six African countries and Switzerland.

Its CEO, Janine Haendel, said the foundation already has reached more than a million children in its history.

“It will be such an emotional moment for him,” Haendel said about the event in South Africa, which also is slated to include an appearance by Bill Gates.

“For him, it's really a dream. It's been a project for quite some time.”

When planning to host the event in Cape Town, Federer only had one opponent in mind and said he had been trying to enlist Nadal's help for some time.

"I have been thinking about this idea for a few years now and I always ask myself the question: where, with whom, how big, how small should it be?" Federer told a news conference.

"The initial idea was let's just get one done so at least I did play here and the people got to see me, my family that I still have here got to see me.

"As the idea grew and it ended up let's try to go big and we went bigger and bigger. For me at one point when I realised something very special could happen, for me it was only Rafa who could make this event truly special for the people here.

"I have the connection to Rafa and if somebody could maybe bring him down to South Africa it is me. I asked him and he said yes right away.

"We have been fighting over a date for the last two years so I finally got one out of him. He wanted to do it earlier. We were both ready, but there was just too much going on with our schedules.

"I couldn't be more excited to see Rafa arriving tomorrow morning."

with agencies