After taking the title at the ASB Classic in Auckland,august ames erotice New Zealand on Sunday, Serena Williams announced that she would be donating all of the prize money, a total of $43,000 USD, to relief efforts for the massive bushfires currently ravaging Australia, according to the Associated Press.
In a speech after her win tweeted by the Women's Tennis Association, Williams described the impact of seeing the devastating fires scorch a country that she's competed in for so long. (Thus far, the fires have killed at least 25 people, burned 20 million acres, and killed a shocking one billion animals, according to the Washington Post.)
"I've been playing in Australia for over 20 years, and it's been really hard for me to watch all the news ... " Williams said. "So, I decided at the beginning of the tournament, every match I played, I'd donate a dress, and I'd also donate all my prize money for a great cause."
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In addition to her charitable announcement, Williams' win on Sunday also has further cause for celebration: It marked her first title since giving birth to her daughter in 2017, who was at Sunday's match.
"It feels good. It's been a long time," Williams said after the match. "I think you can see the relief on my face."
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Now, Williams is prepping for the Australian Open, which she's won seven times, most recently while pregnant.
And she's not finished helping with bushfire relief efforts just yet.
Williams, along with Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka, Roger Federer, and others, will play an exhibition match on Jan. 15 to raise money for bushfire relief efforts.
In a warming world, their help is deeply needed. Last year, Australia saw its warmest year on record since national temperature records began getting consistently documented in 1910, according to the Australian government's Bureau of Meteorology's annual climate report. The bureau's head of climate monitoring, Karl Braganza, said in a statement that the record warm year was a key determinant of the the fire conditions.
"2019 was consistently warm, but it was book-ended by periods of extreme heat," Braganza said. "January last year was the warmest month Australia has ever recorded, while just a few weeks ago in December, we saw the Australia-wide record hottest daily average maximum temperature broken multiple days in a row. At the same time, rainfall deficiencies across large parts of eastern Australia have continued to increase, unfortunately exacerbating both drought conditions and the current bushfires."
Unfortunately, these conditions look like Australia's future.
UPDATE: Jan. 13, 2020, 2:24 p.m. ESTThe original story incorrectly referred to the WTA as the World Tennis Association. The story has been corrected to properly identify it asthe Women's Tennis Association.
Topics Social Good