The four-time Grand Slam champion announced her pledge in response to the 7.2-magnitude quake that struck Haiti on Saturday.
The fallout from the devastating earthquake that has ravaged Haiti and killed at least 304 people and injured hundreds—has sparked relief efforts from millions around the world.
Including Naomi Osaka.
The four-time Grand Slam champion announced that she would donate her earnings from next week’s Western & Southern Open to support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti, the Caribbean nation her father hails from.
“[It] really hurts to see all the devastation that’s going on in Haiti, and I feel like we really can’t catch a break,” Osaka said on Twitter. “I’m about to play a tournament this week and I’ll give all the prize money to relief efforts for Haiti. I know our ancestor’s blood is strong. We’ll keep rising.”
Ranked no. 2 in the world, Osaka, whose mother is Japanese and represented Japan during the 2020 Olympics, which were in Tokyo, has used her platform to call attention to the causes she cares about.
She spoke out in support of Black Lives Matter and the fight against police violence using masks at last year’s U.S. Open. She traveled to Minnesota to attend the protests of the murder of George Floyd, outlining her personal reasons in an op-ed in Esquire magazine. She withdrew from the 2020 Cincinnati Open in New York to raise awareness about the police shooting of Jacob Blake, which led the tournament to postpone all Association of Tennis Professionals and Women’s Tennis Association matches for a day in support of her cause.
As one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Osaka is seeded to participate at the tournament in Cincinnati, which runs from Aug. 14 to Aug. 22.
