Elton John falls at charity match, bounces back

Elton John is singing "I'm Still Standing" at the televised New Year's Eve bash put on by Ryan Seacrest later this month, but he struggled with his balance for WTT Smash Hits at the Statoil Masters exhibition put on last Sunday at Royal Albert Hall in London.

After delivering high-fives to the likes of Martina Hingis and John McEnroe, Sir Elton moved to an already rickety-looking chair to sit down. The chair appeared to give, though, and sent him tumbling behind it, taking two more seats with it at that.

Hingis herself looked a bit spooked by the incident, which happened with hundreds of fans watching. She turned around in one direction and then quickly to the other as McEnroe helped the British rock star, now age 67, back up to his feet. Tim Henman, Jamie and Andy Murray, Sabine Lisicki, Heather Watson and Kim Clijsters were also on hand for the charity hit.

Perhaps most awkward in the moment was the on-court presenter's indecision as to whether to help and show concern or laugh and play it up for the crowd witnessing the event. To John's credit, he approached the mic and quipped, "I'm not standing, yeah, yeah, yeah."

He then took to considering the match play at hand: "I've promised Andy many riches if he can actually defeat Tim." That is how you expertly dust your shoulders off, speaking both literally and figuratively, and return to giving the people what they want: a jolly good tennis show.

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