Andy Murray wins Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award after Ukraine donations

By Eleanor Crooks, PA Tennis Correspondent

Andy Murray has been named winner of the ATP’s Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award for 2022 after donating his prize money to Ukraine.

The Scot announced in March, following Russia’s invasion, that he would give all the prize money he earned from that point on to help children in the country through Unicef.

Murray, who is a Unicef ambassador, revealed on Thursday that the final total is just over 630,000 US dollars (approximately £510,000).

Andy Murray has been named the 2022 Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award recipient in recognition of his for the humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. 🌍#ATPAwards | @andy_murray pic.twitter.com/W6eue01Z0T

— ATP Tour (@atptour) December 15, 2022

The former world number one said: “It seemed like something that would give me some extra motivation this year. I thought I could also raise some awareness and hopefully get others involved in helping, too.

“There are 7.5million children in Ukraine and, after more than nine months of increased conflict, 5.2million of them are in need of assistance.

“When you see images of children on the news who were impacted by things like this, that makes it even more difficult to stomach. I have four young children who are really fortunate that everything is fine with them. But, being a parent, it affects you differently. You try to put yourself in their shoes.

Over 7.5m children are at risk with the escalating conflict in Ukraine, so I’m working with @UNICEF_uk to help provide urgent medical supplies and early childhood development kits. 1/3

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) March 8, 2022

“I’m in the fortunate position to try to make some sort of difference, so hopefully the money that’s been raised through Unicef can help some of the children who have been affected.

“In 2014, I became a UNICEF UK Ambassador, and later that year I received the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award for the first time. It’s an honour to be named recipient again. The reason to do the right thing is not for an accolade like this, but it is nice that it is appreciated somewhere.”

Meanwhile, British doubles player Joe Salisbury and his American partner Rajeev Ram have been named world champions for 2022 by the International Tennis Federation after retaining their US Open title and winning the ATP Finals for the first time.