Dunblane tennis ace Sir Andy Murray has scooped a top altruism award in recognition of his support for the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.
The double Wimbledon champ was last week named as the recipient of the 2022 Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award.
Murray becomes the fourth tennis player who has earned the award multiple times, having also claimed it in 2014 – joining Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.
The 35-year-old wrote an essay for ATPTour.com detailing the thought process behind his philanthropic efforts, what motivated him as a younger player to further involve himself with charity work and more.
Sir Andy said: “In February I was playing the tournament in Dubai and I remember watching the news and there were rumours about something happening between Russia and Ukraine.
“A few days later, when Russia invaded Ukraine, everyone was very worried about what it would mean. When all the images on the news showing what was happening to families began pouring in, it was devastating. Houses were bombed and families were displaced. Young children were affected by this, with many injured and in some cases dying. I wasn’t sure what I could do to help.
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“Shortly after I decided that from Indian Wells onwards, I would donate my prize money for the rest of the season to UNICEF’s humanitarian response – the final total was just over $630,000. It seemed like something that would give me some extra motivation this year. I thought I could also raise some awareness and hopefully get others involved in helping, too.”
Sir Andy added: “There are 7.5 million children in Ukraine and after more than nine months of increased conflict, 5.2 million of them are in need of assistance. UNICEF is working around the clock to keep children safe by ensuring child health and protection services are sustained, critical supplies are delivered to families and that children have clean water and nutritious food.
“When you see images of children on the news who were impacted by things like this, that makes it even more difficult to stomach. I have four young children who are really fortunate that everything is fine with them. But being a parent, it affects you differently. You try to put yourself in their shoes. If something like that happened with your own family, how difficult would that be? It is hard to fathom.
”I’m in the fortunate position to try to make some sort of difference, so hopefully the money that’s been raised through UNICEF can help some of the children who have been affected.”
Sir Andy became a UNICEF ambassador in 2014, and later that year received the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award for the first time.
Following his second award, the Olympic gold medallist added:“It’s an honour to be named recipient again. The reason to do the right thing is not for an accolade like this, but it is nice that it is appreciated somewhere.
“Arthur Ashe was a special person, so to win an award named after him means a lot. He was a great tennis player and has been recognised for that as well, but it speaks for what he’s done off the court that people remember how he helped others.”
Jon Sparkes OBE, chief executive at the UK Committee for UNICEF, said: “ We are hugely grateful to UNICEF UK Ambassador, Andy Murray, for generously donating this season’s prize money to UNICEF UK. The incredible donation will support UNICEF’s work responding to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which is having a devastating impact on the country’s 7.5 million children.
“Andy’s endless dedication to the role of UNICEF UK Ambassador has seen him support many life-changing fundraising initiatives and advocacy campaigns since he took on the role in 2014.
“During this time he has launched his exhibition match, Andy Murray Live in 2016, and donated generously to UNICEF’s work around the child migrant and refugee crisis in 2015.
“I know I speak on behalf of everyone at UNICEF UK when I say a huge thank you.”
