A whole group of player from the WTA tour lined up to help support the country after the terrible destruction from the earthquake and tsunami.
Talk is cheap.. would have been a bit nicer to see the players actually donate their prizemoney from the tournament to charity!
Maria Sharapova, Caroline Wozniacki and Li Na will be taking part in a tennis charity event on September 25th at the Pan Pacific Open in Japan for vicitms of the earthquake.
The trio will meet children from the Fukushima Prefecture, where the nuclear power plant suffered a massive meltdown following the disaster.
We will let everyone know more details when we have them to hand.
Charities are close to the hearts of most professional tennis players and Roger Federer is one of the biggest supports. Roger has just launched a $3.3 million project in which he aims to help over 54,000 children in Malawi by building schools and care centers.
“As the father of two little girls, I observe every day how incredibly fast children learn if their environment is a stimulating one,” Federer said in a statement. “It is a great privilege for me and my foundation to help give children in Malawi the chance to reach their full potential.”
This is an amazing painting of Roger Federer that was done on canvas in around 4 minutes. In a spectacular show, the artist Jean-Pierre Blanchard painted a portrait of Roger Federer at the presentation of the SVC Entrepreneur Award in Zurich in no time at all. The painting was auctioned for charity.
How much would you pay for a private tennis lesson with John McEnroe?
McEnroe has donated an hour-long private lesson to raise funds for Christie’s Green Auction: A Bid to Save the Earth, an auction for the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. The highest bidder will have the opportunity to learn straight from the master, in NYC. Cool ehh?! The hour is valued at $20,000! Man that’s a pricey private; but it’s for the mother, mother earth and it’s almost mother’s day so do it if you’ve got the cash.
Bidding is open until May 6th 1:20 PM EDT on charitybuzz.
The auction item is part of “Christie’s Green Auction: A Bid to Save the Earth,”a collaboration of leaders from the worlds of art, business, politics, media, fashion and celebrity for the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. Proceeds benefit 4 NGOs: Central Park Conservancy, Conservation International, NRDC and Oceana.
Throughout his NHL career, Tie Domi never appeared well-suited for the country club set. But Domi will be putting on his tennis whites for a match with John McEnroe in Canada next month. The former bad boy of the Maple Leafs and the former bad boy of tennis will play doubles against Jim Courier and another former-NHL hot head, Claude Lemieux, at a Legends of Tennis event in Hamilton.
Visitors to Disneyland Paris today had a big surprise when they saw Mickey Mouse playing a game of doubles with invited children against professional tennis players Gael Monfils and Stansilas Wawrinka.
The court itself was a little short and had quasi-official dimensions, but that didn’t matter when the children had such a great event.
Disneyland Paris invited 200 children from the French “Fête le Mur” association, founded by Yannick Noah, to participate in this more than unusual exchange.
The Fête le Mur association is set up in the heart of 25 under-privileged Urban Zones, allows the children of those neighborhoods to practice tennis, to train and perfect themselves, and some of them to later find a professional opening.
Will Ferrell unveiled his tennis talent versus Swedish tennis world champion Mats Wilander on Saturday May 2nd at the K-Swiss Global Tennis Showdown at The Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA in Westwood, California.
During the no-holds-barred singles match, Wilander entertained the crowd with his skills that ranked him number one in the world, while Ferrell entertained the crowd with an oversized Prince racket and hilarious commentary. The match, umpired by comedian Andy Richter, raised more than $50,000 for The Swedish School of Los Angeles. Swedish School students even got involved in the match: at one point Ferrell played with a student on his back while Wilander had to hold hands with another student at all times during play.
Despite Ferrell’s attempts to distract Wilander, i.e. shouting IKEA while serving, Wilander walked away with the win: final score 15 Wilander 14 Ferrell. Directly following the singles match, Ferrell and Wilander joined forces against actor/comedian Rainn Wilson and tennis star and UCLA alumni Justin Gimelstob for a fierce doubles match. Ferrell/Wilander again walked away with the win. Post-match, The Dan Band performed while guests bid on auction items during a barbeque.
Actor Will Ferrell will be armed with a trusted ally – a Prince racquet – when he takes on Mats Wilander in a charity exhibition match on Saturday. Former French Open champ Wilander will come face to face with the new king of clay next month – and will be crowned a Viking after the encounter. The Swedish School of Los Angeles – a non-profit 501 C3 organization offering a cultural program for children – will host The K-Swiss Global Tennis Showdown, a charity tennis event, taking place on Saturday at The Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Maria Sharapova announced on Thursday that she is launching a $210,000 scholarship program for students from Chernobyl-affected areas of Belarus.
OnTheBaseline has reported that the scholarship will enable 12 talented young people affected in Chernobyl to attend full studies at two leading universities in Belarus.
The programme is a joint initiative of the Maria Sharapova Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where she serves as Goodwill Ambassador.
It is good to see that Sharapova is giving back to a much affected part of the world that is quite close to home for her. Sharapova was born in 1987 in Nyagan, Siberia, after her family fled Gomel in the wake of the Chernobyl accident. However, see then did move to IMG’s Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy the following year, so I dont think it is really that close. Sharapova doesnt have the best name in the press at the moment, because what I have been hearing, on tour she is really not liked by her fellow players. However, good to see she is making some nice guestures, even though they might just be for the press.
