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Ash Barty to donate Brisbane International prize money to Australian bushfire appeal

Australia’s sporting stars have been showing their support for the bushfires, but Ash Barty’s recent pledge might be the most generous.

Nic Savage
2 min read
January 5, 2020 - 4:12PM
Australia’s sporting stars have been showing their support for the bushfires, but Ash Barty’s recent pledge might be the most generous.
Australia’s sporting stars have been showing their support for the bushfires, but Ash Barty’s recent pledge might be the most generous.

Many of Australia’s sporting heroes have pledged to donate to the Australian bushfire appeal over the past week, including Nick Kyrgios, Chris Lynn and Peter Siddle.

However, French Open champion Ash Barty has arguably offered the most generous donation of all.

World No. 1 Barty will donate her entire prize money from next week’s Brisbane International to the Red Cross Fire Appeal. Yep, she’s going to work for free.

Barty will donate AU$360,000 if she wins the tournament, which takes place before the highly-anticipated Australian Open.

International stars Maria Sharapova and world No. 3 Naomi Osaka, who won last year’s Australian Open, stand in the Queenslander’s path.

As the top seed, Barty earns a first round bye, so she proceeds straight to the competition’s second round.

Speaking in Brisbane on Sunday, Barty said she wanted to dig deep again for families who have been left devastated by bushfires.

“Wildlife has been lost but it has also affected lives and homes so I have been sitting down and thinking with my team and family on ways we can help,” Barty said.

“There have been really great initiatives from cricketers, tennis players, golfers, soccer players all over the country trying to help out.

“We have come to the decision any of my prize money here in Brisbane will be donated to the (Australian) Red Cross to go towards the families and homes affected.”

Ashleigh Barty flourished in 2019, finishing at No. 1 in the WTA rankings.
Ashleigh Barty flourished in 2019, finishing at No. 1 in the WTA rankings.

This generous donation comes after Barty already contributed $30,000 late last year to the RSPCA to help wildlife affected by the national disaster.

“The first time I saw of it was flying home from the Fed Cup final (in November) from Perth back to the east coast,” Barty said of the bushfires.

“We could see the smoke haze and some of the fires from the plane, so that really hit home with me.”

Barty dominated world tennis last year, finishing 2019 as the number one women’s player on the WTA rankings. The 23-year-old was also the highest-earning professional tennis player last year, male or female, making $16.4 million in prize money.

Nick Kyrgios’s social media call for a fundraiser resulted in Tennis Australia announcing a “Rally for Relief” exhibition match at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday, January 15th, which is set to feature some of the world’s top players.

Soon after, Kyrgios promised to donate $200 for every ace he managed this summer. By serving 20 aces during his opening match of the ATP Cup against Jan-Lennard Struff, that tally immediately increased to $4000.

Teammates Alex de Minaur and Sam Stosur followed suit, also committing to the initiative.

Soon after, cricketers Chris Lynn, D’Arcy Short and Glenn Maxwell promised to donate $250 for every six they struck in the Big Bash League.

Romanian tennis superstar and 2019 Wimbledon champion Simona Halep also offered to contribute to the Australian bushfire appeal, but had to use a different method, as she doesn’t “hit too many aces”.

The Brisbane International starts Monday, January 6th.

With AAP

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/sport/sports-life/ash-barty-to-donate-brisbane-international-prize-money-to-australian-bushfire-appeal/news-story/62188a4ef1fc5057c27ece2649a03a6e