Citi Open tournament director Mark Ein has announced the tournament plans to match Andy Murray’s contributions to Ukraine during this year’s ATP 250 event in Washington. Murray, a three-time Grand Slam champion, was one of the first players to call out Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
In March, Murray pledged to donate all of his prize money for the rest of 2022 to aid Ukrainian children affected by the war. Murray, 35, is set to compete at this week’s Citi Open in Washington. Tournament director Ein described Murray as an “inspiration” and the tournament plans to match his donations to Ukraine.
“I think all of us involved in the sport and sports more broadly were really inspired when Andy Murray at the beginning of the year said he would donate all of his prize money to UNICEF for the benefit of Ukrainian children,” Ein said, per Tennis Majors.
“It really inspired me and got me thinking – I think it was Miami where I saw you originally – that if Andy would come here, I felt that we would want to match his donation and whatever he makes here. So we’re doing that.
We’re just announcing that whatever Andy makes here and donates to UNICEF, we’re going to match it”.
Murray set for his fourth Washington campaign
Murray made his Washington debut in 2006, when he reached the final before losing to Arnaud Clement.
It took nine years to see Murray again on the hard courts of Washington as the Briton suffered a first round defeat to Teymuraz Gabashvili in the 2015 Washington first round. In 2018, Murray reached the Washington quarterfinal before he was forced to give a walkover to Alex de Minaur.
Now, Murray is set to make his fourth Washington appearance and to compete at the tournament for the first time since 2018. Murray has been drawn to face Mikael Ymer in the first round.
