The U.S. Open will hold an exhibition match to raise money and give $2 million to Ukraine.
The U.S. Open will hold an exhibition match to raise money and give $2 million to Ukraine. The leaders of the United States Tennis Association talked about letting Russian and Belarusian players play in the U.S. Open for weeks this spring.
Executives from the U.S.T.A. said the talks were heated and emotional. There was a lot of talk about following Wimbledon’s lead and not letting Russians and Belarusians play, including Daniil Medvedev, who is from Russia and is the current U.S. Open men’s singles champion. In the end, though, the leaders decided to let them play. This was partly because the U.S. government did not put as much pressure on them to do something as the British government did on Wimbledon’s leaders.
There was something more to it. Supporters of letting the Russians and Belarusians play said that the U.S. Open could be a great way to bring players together and organize the biggest fundraiser in the sport’s history to help Ukraine. With the right persuasion, it might be possible to get a Russian or a Belarusian to join.
Azarenka and the fund-raising exhibition
Very recently, Stacey Allaster, who is the director of the U.S. Open, contacted Victoria Azarenka. She is a former world No. 1 from Belarus. He asked her to play in a fund-raising exhibition match at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Aug. 24, Ukraine’s Independence Day. The match will kick off a campaign that will raise at least $2 million for relief efforts in Ukraine.
It’s not clear if she or any other players from Russia or Belarus will actually play in the exhibition. Through a WTA Tour spokeswoman, Azarenka said she didn’t want to be interviewed for this article. Amy Binder, the spokeswoman, sent a request to confirm that Azarenka would be at the show to Azarenka’s agent, Marijn Bal, who did not give any more information.
Azarenka’s choice to take part in a charity event for Ukraine is not a small one. She now lives mainly in the United States. Still, for years she was friends with Belarus’s authoritarian leader, President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994 and has shared the stage with Azarenka many times.
More on the cause and the happenings
Allaster said she was in the process of contacting those players and their representatives, as well as players from Ukraine that the tournament would also like to see on the court. Players from these countries who have family there have had to watch what they say, but a few have shown sympathy for the people who were hurt by the Russian invasion.
Last month, Russia’s best women’s singles tennis player, Daria Kasatkina, was the first Russian tennis player to criticize the war openly. This could get her into trouble in her home country. She felt sorry for Ukrainian tennis players who had to leave their homes and look for tennis academies in Western Europe so they could train. She said that she couldn’t imagine what it was like to be homeless. Rublev, who is 24 years old, was with Kasatkina for most of the interview and told her he agreed with her.
U.S.T.A. and Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund
Allaster, who has worked in professional tennis for 30 years at every level, said that the U.S.T.A. decided in the end that it did not want to hold athletes accountable for what their governments and leaders did. But the group wanted to use the tournament to bring attention to the ongoing problems in Ukraine. So the U.S.T.A. will give at least $2 million to GlobalGiving’s Ukraine Crisis Relief Fund as part of its campaign. It also wants to help raise money during the tournament through TV broadcasts and the website for the tournament.
Who all are supporting the cause?
Rafael Nadal, Coco Gauff, Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, Amanda Anisimova, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Iga Swiatek, and Matteo Berrettini are among the active players. They have agreed to take part in the exhibition. So has John McEnroe, who grew up in Queens, not far from Arthur Ashe Stadium, won seven Grand Slam singles titles, and now works as a TV commentator. The U.S.T.A. is also trying to get famous people to show up. For example, the group wants to get Metropolitan Opera singer Vladyslav Buialskyi, who is from Ukraine.
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