World number two Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal on Sunday to win his third Rome Masters title. He also moved closer to the number one spot in the world rankings. But his mind was not on those rankings that day, he won the match for the flood victims in his home country. He later decided to donate his entire prize from the tournament, 549,000 euro, to flood victims in Serbia.
Here's what he said after the match about the situation in Serbia: “People are struggling, people are losing homes. There has been a lot of casualties, but the government is not able to name and to number because they are still discovering new bodies as the flood is backing up. So it's been a very emotional week for me. Part of me is very happy to win the tournament here in Rome - it is a big one in our sport. On the other hand, my thoughts and all my love are with my people in Serbia."
All funds will be used to rebuild kindergartens and schools that were damaged in the floods, through Djokovic's Foundation which will coordinate with the Serbian government and relevant ministries. The foundation also managed to collect over 100,000 US dollars via PayPal. "In the following period we have a lot of work to do in order to rebuild and repair damaged schools and kindergartens. Although we are still waiting for damage assessment, it is certain that it will cost millions to repair the damage caused by recent flooding. What is important is that we continue to contact individuals and our partners from abroad. We expect and hope there will be even more people who want to help and thus make the recovery period as short as possible," said Jelena Ristic, the Foundation's executive director.
If you want to support the efforts you can find relevant information on the Novak Djokovic Foundation website.
Dominic Horsley 9 years ago
That's really very kind. Good guy Novak Djokovic. Fantastic Tennis player.
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yellonek 9 years ago
great is that if you don't know also Cristiano Ronaldo donated 83,000 euro for surgery of poor parents that's children needed a help they asked him basically for boots + t-shirt and he sent the money, great guy
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skrunici 9 years ago
GREAT PERSON, and great tennis player. Nigde i nikad se ne odrici svetog parceta SRPSKE zemlje :-) bravo noleeeee
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ethereal 9 years ago
That's incredible! Even for a famous sports star, that really is a lot of money to donate to charity from your own pocket!
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zuga 9 years ago
heheh tenho I can tell you are not an avid tennis fan :p Novak ( SRB) was num1 tennis player for almost two years and currently holding second place on ATP list, behind Rafael Nadal ( ESP )
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tenho7 9 years ago
Never heard of this tennis player, but a very very nice gesture indeed !! Amazing Novak Djokovic :)
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Markotik 9 years ago
That's amazing indeed.
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Anchi 9 years ago
Amazing man :)
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zuga 9 years ago
BRAVO NOLE !!!
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