Federer lends support to auction

Tennis great Roger Federer is the latest in a glittering array of sporting superstars to give support to the sports memorabilia auction to be held in the Masterton Town Hall on Saturday, May 30
A signed shirt and photograph from Federer has arrived in the mail for organisers Greg Peters and Paula Thomson from the Masterton Squash Club and is sure to be a popular attraction at the auction, all proceeds from which will go towards the Wairarapa Community Hospice.
Federer is currently listed at number two behind his arch rival Rafael Nadal on the world men's singles rankings but he held the number one spot for a record 237 consecutive weeks, from February 2004 through to August 17, 2008.
The Swiss maestro has won 13 Grand Slam singles titles (three Australian Open, five Wimbledon and five US Open), just one shy of the record held by American Pete Sampras.
No one before him has matched Federer's effort of having appeared in 10 consecutive Grand Slam men's singles finals (2005 Wimbledon through to the 2007 US Open) and 19 consecutive Grand Slam singles semi-finals (2004 Wimbledon onwards).
He also holds the open era records for most consecutive wins on both grass courts (65) and hard courts (56).
Federer was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for four consecutive years, from 2005 to 2008 and in 2007 he was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine.
If Federer is the biggest name on the tennis circuit that honour in golf would undoubtedly fall to his good friend Tiger Woods and he too is supporting the May 30 auction, forwarding through his Kiwi caddy Steve Williams a signed and framed golf glove and two golf balls.
It is part of a limited edition and as such will carry a reserve of $3000.
Also received in the past week has been a signed squash racket from New Zealand's Shelley Kitchen, who actually designed the racket herself. Kitchen won a silver and bronze medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games, has won 15 titles on the WISPA circuit and is currently raked the sixth best female player in the world.
Another legendary figure on the golfing front, Greg Norman, has sent a signed baseball cap and also up for grabs will be signed shirts from 2007 world motor cycle champion Casey Stoner, 2008 Team Vodafone Bathurst winners James Whincup and Craig Lowndes and a signed photograph from former world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis
Football fans will no doubt be attracted by jerseys signed by the 2008 Blackburn Rovers, Middlesborough and Wellington Phoenix squads while signed rugby jerseys have come from the 2008 Wellington Lions, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu and Tasman teams.
Other notable offerings come from the New Zealand Beijing Olympic equestrian squad, the New Zealand under-17 women's soccer team, the 2003 All Black World Cup squad, the World Cup-winning New Zealand men's softball team of 2002 and last year's New Zealand men's and women's hockey sides.
Numerous high-profile New Zealand-based sporting personalities have also given generously to the auction, including rowing's Evers-Swindells sisters, rugby's Daniel Carter, cricket's Ross Taylor and Jesse Ryder, sailing's Dean Barker, Grant Dalton and Russell Coutts, swimming's Moss Burmeister and boxing's Shane Cameron.
Tickets for the Tui Dance and Sports Auction are expected to be on sale by the end of this week.