An exhibition match between tennis giants Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev set a new world record for the sport on Saturday night.
The exhibition match at the at the Plaza de Toros – a bullfighting arena in Mexico City – pulled in a crowd of 42,517 spectators.
Dubbed ‘The Greatest Match’, the event also featured an undercard doubles contest featuring Mexican pair Miguel Angel Reyes Varela and Santiago Gonzalez versus American brothers Bob and Mike Bryan.
The event was part of a tour that was due to take the tennis stars to Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador, as well as Mexico, but the third leg in Colombia was cancelled due to a curfew being imposed in Bogota following clashes between protesters and police.
The figure on Saturday night smashed the previous record set in 2010 by an exhibition match between Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters, when a crowd of 35,681 was recorded in Brussels, Belgium.
However, it is highly likely that the record will only stand for less than three months.
In July, rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal announced that they would face each other in an exhibition match on February 7, 2020 at Cape Town Stadium in South Africa. Organisers at the Roger Federer Foundation are hoping for a capacity crowd of 55,000 for the event, which will also feature a doubles match with Federer joined by billionaire Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Nadal teaming up with comedian Trevor Noah.
Image: Twitter
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