Roger Federer: 'I hope my charitable activity inspires other players'
In an interview to Tennis Channel Roger Federer commented on how the idea to start a Foundation after winning his maiden Grand Slam title at 2003 Wimbledon started. 'I think my first success on Tour, realizing that at a young age I was able to make money and I did not need that amount of money except to be able to pay for my travelling, my coaches, get back to my parents and at the end of the day it's like, "Ok, how much more money can you have but there is a time also where you do not know how much longer can you play, how much money will you ever make in tennis but you can definitely start early and start making a chance at somebody for some else" and for me it came early', revealed Federer, who earned a $121 million career prize money tournaments so far. 'Unicef was also the ATP sponsor back at the day so I learned that the ATP actually inspired me, so it's really good for the Tour to do charity because that's going to inspire a lot of tennis players moving forward.'
'I think it was a natural fit', Federer added. 'It is where I started with my first projects back in Port Elizabeth, I think it was 2004. I spent a lot of time when I was a kid in South Africa and when I look back at my education when I was little, in the summertime we always tried to go five-six weeks in South Africa, and meet, see our family and travel around South Africa which is for me one of the most beautiful countries in the world. And yet so beautiful, there is a lot of poverty and when I had a chance to help my second country, South Africa, I felt that was a great thing to do. Yet I also helped with the Foundation in Switzerland as well because that's important to me too and so for me to be able to do both things at the same time while I am playing and giving back it's a great feeling but doing it in Southern Africa through my mom, I think she has been my biggest inspiration when it comes to that for sure.'
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2HOQgH4
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