Elton John & Billie Jean King raise $1 million for AIDS charities with help from Steffi & Andre, Martina & Andy Roddick

The close friendship between Elton John and Billie Jean King dates back to the early 70s – he even wrote the 1975 hit Philadelphia Freedom about the tennis icon.

The two legends have for the past 20 years used their extraordinary friendship to raise a total of $11.5 million for a good cause: HIV and AIDS prevention and awareness programs.

Their 20th annual Smash Hits benefit, held on Tuesday in Philadelphia, is the centerpiece of their fundraising efforts and this year, they were able to assemble a sensational group of former number one tennis champions to participate: Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Martina Navaratilova and Andy Roddick – a group that has 49 grand slam singles titles between them.

The 20th anniversary of the Smash Hits events raised a record $1 million with the money going to the Elton John AIDS Foundation and to the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force.

A silent and live auction raised more than $375,000 of the night’s total. The top auction item of the night went for $200,000 when two bidders paid $100,000 each for a package that included tickets to Elton’s The Million Dollar Piano show at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and dinner with Elton and Billie Jean King. A hitting session with Agassi and Graf in Las Vegas sold for $55,000. Other auction items were a 2013 Super Bowl Package with a dinner hosted by NFL legend Franco Harris, an Elton John-signed piano bench, a hitting session with Navratilova, and Wimbledon and US Open packages.