Murray donates winnings from Virtual Madrid Open
Having added a Virtual Madrid Open title to his two real ones, Andy Murray pledged the winnings to two charitable causes.
Andy Murray has pledged the winnings from his Madrid Open Virtual Pro triumph to the NHS and the tennis player relief fund.
The Briton, a two-time winner of the real Madrid Open, beat David Goffin in the final of a computer game version of the tournament on Thursday.
Murray prevailed 7-6 (7-5), having received a semi-final bye after opponent Diego Schwartzman suffered a “connection issue”.
He received $45,000 (£35,700) in prize money and posted a celebratory message on Instagram to confirm he would give it to charitable causes.
Murray’s prize-money given to NHS and player relief fund
Posing with a large bottle of Moet champagne, the former world number one wrote: “Going to get ‘virtually’ legless celebrating my win online @mutuamadridopen.
“Hope anyone who watched got some sort of enjoyment out of it in these tough times.
“I’ll be donating half of the 45 thousand dollars prize money to the NHS and the other half to the tennis player relief fund.”
The NHS is on the front line of the battle against coronavirus in the United Kingdom, while the tennis player relief fund has been set up to help ease the financial worries of players lower down the rankings, with the sport on hold.
The latter is not a cause that has been met with universal approval, with world number three Dominic Thiem voicing his opposition by saying he “would prefer to donate to people or institutions that really need it”.
