Federer wants to help Australian flood victims

Swiss tennis star Roger Federer is looking into the possibility of playing a charity match on Sunday for the victims of the fatal floods in Queensland.

The Australian Open begins in Melbourne the following day and the defending champion said he would contact the event’s organisers.

“The floods here in Australia are devastating,” he wrote in Melbourne.

Last year Federer initiated a charity match before the first grand slam title of the year for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti which raised more than SFr200,000 ($205,000).

At least 22 people have died and more than 40 are missing across Australia’s northeastern state of Queensland since drenching rains that began in November sent swollen rivers spilling over their banks, flooding an area larger than France and Germany combined.

Brisbane, the state capital with a population of two million, is the latest city to face down the waters, and officials expect the death toll to rise.