At Citi Open, Tournament Director Mark Ein pledges to match Andy Murray’s contributions to Ukraine

The Scot has already donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Ukrainian children affected by the war. Now the Citi Open will add to that total.

Britain’s Andy Murray reacts during his second round match against John Isner of the U.S. || AI / Reuters / Panoramic

Chris Oddo

July 30, 2022

When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine commenced in late February, one of the first players to have a strong reaction to the injustice and horrors of war was Andy Murray.

The three-time Slam champion and former world No 1 announced at Indian Wells in March of 2022 that he would be donating all of his prize money, in conjunction with UNICEF, to aid Ukrainian children that have been affected by the war.

Today at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., tournament director Mark Ein announced that the tournament would match Murray’s donation during the tournament.

Ein – Andy inspired all of us

“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.

“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 – we must not forget

Murray says that it’s important for people to remember what is happening in Ukraine, even if we see less news of the war on our front pages and headline news.

“You can’t just forget about this,” Murray said. “It’s still going on. People are still getting killed, children are still having to flee their homes, and are in really, really tragic situations.

“I think it’s important that the media continues to shine a light on it, keep talking about it. Yeah, hopefully like what the tournament is doing here can help a little bit with that.”

An announcement by @CitiOpen owner Mark Ein that the tournament will match the donations made by @andy_murray for Ukraine relief. 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/fqIVOvluUb
— TennisAtlantic (@TennisAtlantic) July 30, 2022

Murray on Ein – it shows what we can do together

Murray, who will face Mikael Ymer in the first round at the Citi Open, hopes he can earn some big money this week in D.C. No matter what happens, he is thankful that the tournament took the initiative to join him in his mission of lending aid to Ukraine.

“It’s brilliant,” Murray said. “Thanks a lot to Mark and all the team here for supporting that. Yeah, I think it really helps. It sort of shows that I think as well when the players and the tournaments work together, that really good things can happen and come out of that. Yeah, once again, really appreciate the support from the tournament here on that.

“Hopefully, yeah, I can have a good run and lots of the fans can get involved, too, raise a lot of money this week.”