The world has been through a number of geographical upheavals in recent times.

In the early morning hours on Monday there was an earthquake in Turkey and not long before that there was the terrible quake in Chile.

However the world was gripped with shock when news came through of the devastating earthquake that battered the impoverished nation of Haiti.

The destruction in this small nation was overwhelming as the world jumped into action to try and help the people of the Caribbean island. The toll on life was horrendous as casualties numbered closer to 200,000. It was the greatest death toll from a natural disaster since the tsunami that hit the Asian countries of Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

Haiti was left in ruins. The capital Port au Prince was a mess; even the Presidential residence had suffered considerable damage.

The tennis community sees itself as a family. Individuals and organizations don’t always see eye to eye on issues (that’s typical of a family), but in such instances everyone bands together for the betterment of people in need.

At the 2010 Australian Open, Roger Federer suggested having a charity exhibition the day before the tournament started and more than $600,000 was raised for Haiti.

Here at the BNP Paribas Open, tonight will be a very special night because the goal is to raise $1,000,000 with HIT FOR HAITI. This will be one of those nights in our sport that will be remembered for a very long time. This close-knit tennis community will do whatever it can to help those poor, unfortunate people that live only a few hours away by flight from the USA mainland.

The funds that are raised will go to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund.

This evening is being presented by Oracle whose co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison purchased the tournament late last year, as he expressed his great love of the sport, and his desire, to own one of the greatest events on the entire calendar.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi along with Justine Henin, Stefanie Graf, Martina Navratilova and Lindsay Davenport didn’t hesitate when asked to be part of this project. They will play two doubles matches, one men’s and one women’s.

“Oracle is proud to participate in fundraising efforts to benefit the relief efforts in Haiti,” Larry Ellison said.  “It is impressive to see this remarkable line up of athletes work together to raise much-needed funds for Haiti.  Our hope is to hold an event that supports relief efforts and continues to raise the visibility for how Haiti needs the world’s help.”

The event will be broadcast live in countries around the world, and domestically on Tennis Channel, beginning at 7:30 PM PST. In addition, live web streaming will be available on bnpparibasopen.org, TennisTV.com, atpworldtour.com, sonyericssonwtatour.com, usta.com, tennis.com, espn360.com, and others.

As a show of support, the broadcasters, satellite uplink providers and production teams of the event are picking up all of the production costs to ensure that the maximum amount of money can be generated for the fundraising effort.

The evening will begin at 7 p.m. with the annual Salute to Heroes ceremony, where the tournament will recognize veterans, military personnel, police, firemen and women, and Red Cross volunteers on Stadium Court for their efforts in the community and around the world. The ceremony and tennis exhibition will be followed by one main draw match.

About the players:
ROGER FEDERER: He is the World No.1. A winner of 16 major titles and one of only three men in the Open-era (since 1968) of tennis to have won all four majors, the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open.

Federer has appeared in 22 career Grand Slam finals, and has reached the semifinals or better of the last 23 Grand Slam tournaments, a record streak that spans over six years. He is the only active player to have won the BNP Paribas Open three times.

RAFAEL NADAL: He has won six major titles as well as the 2008 Olympic Gold medal in singles. He has claimed 15 ATP Masters 1000 tournaments and has twice lead Spain to victory in the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas.

Nadal is the defending champion and a two-time winner of the BNP Paribas Open. Currently ranked three in the world, the Spaniard was ranked World No. 1 from August 18, 2008 to July 5, 2009.

PETE SAMPRAS: He holds the Open-era record for being the consecutive year-end World No.1 more often than any other male player, six years and until Federer broke the record of major titles, Sampras held that honor with 14.

He debuted on the professional tour in 1988 and played his last top-level tournament in 2002 when he won the US Open, defeating longtime rival Andre Agassi in the final. His seven Wimbledon singles championships is a record shared with William Renshaw. He was a winner of the BNP Paribas Open twice.

ANDRE AGASSI: He was the first player since the great Rod Laver in 1969 to have won all four of the majors, a total of eight, completing his career Slam in 1999 at the French Open. However his achievements also stretched to winning an Olympic Gold Medal from Atlanta and no other male player has done that. He was ranked world number one.

Agassi won 17 ATP Masters Series tournaments, more than any other player including one BNP Paribas Open. He is married to fellow tennis great Stefanie Graf.

STEFANIE GRAF: She is the only player in the entire sport to have won the “Golden Slam”. That happened in 1988 when she won the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open as well as the Olympic Gold medal in Seoul. She won 22 majors and that is second only to the record of 24 held by Australian Margaret Court.

She was ranked World No.1 for a staggering 377 weeks, which is longer than any male or female player and eight times she held the year-end world number one ranking, a record in the women’s game. Graf won 107 titles which is third overall in women’s tennis behind Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. She won the BNP Paribas Open on two occasions.

MARTINA NAVRATILOVA: Probably the greatest exponent of the serve-volley game in the Open-era of women’s tennis; she won 18 major singles crowns, a record 31 in doubles and 10 in mixed. She and Margaret Court are the two women in the Open-era to have won singles, doubles and mixed at every one of the four majors.

She recorded the longest winning streak in the open era with 74 consecutive matches. Navratilova, Margaret Court, and Maureen Connolly share the record for the most consecutive Grand Slam singles titles with six. Navratilova reached 11 consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, second all-time to Stefanie Graf’s 13. She is also a two time winner of the BNP Paribas Open.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: She is a former World No. 1 and the winner of three major titles as well as the Olympic Gold medal in singles from Atlanta. She is one of only four women, along with Stefanie Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert, since 1975 who has been the year-end World No. 1 at least four times. Davenport finished 1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005 as the top ranked player.

Davenport won the BNP Paribas Open on two occasions but has been in the singles final more often than anyone else, six times. She reached the singles and doubles final four times and claimed singles and doubles in the same year twice.

JUSTINE HENIN: She is a winner of 41 singles titles which includes seven majors made up of four French Open titles, one Australian Open title, and two US Open titles. She won the singles Gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. She has been ranked World No.1 and in January started her comeback from retirement reaching the Brisbane final which was her first event back and then did the same at the Australian Open.

She has won the BNP Paribas Open on one occasion.

All up that’s a staggering 94 singles crowns from the four majors and a total of 15 BNP Paribas Opens.