Roger Federer is one sportsperson who can be called a trailblazer in his sport, making tennis look more elegant and attractive in his playing days. Comparisons with the likes of Michael Jordan from basketball and Babe Ruth from baseball are perhaps not far off the mark. It has made Federer one of the most popular and subsequently, richest athletes of all time as he is only one of the seven to cross the $1 billion mark in earnings.
However, Federer is also known for his magnanimous personality and his desire for an equally fulfilling life outside tennis. Making the most of his riches and the small amount of time available to him. he makes sure to be charitable mainly through the Roger Federer Foundation. The foundation began in 2003 in Switzerland (his father’s home country) and South Africa (his mother’s home country). Over the years, Federer and his wife Mirka have looked to contribute to child welfare beyond just providing education in other countries across the globe as well. In fact, the Swiss star has also in recent years, helped out in natural disasters and man-made calamities too.
Roger Federer utilized Wimbledon 2015 prize money for Malawi initiative
Roger Federer lost to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon 2015 final but added significantly to his career earnings. However, instead of keeping it all for himself, he used those funds and teamed up with one of his sponsors, Credit Suisse and NGO, Action Aid Malawi.
The initiative was to build 81 pre-schools that could help provide quality education to 30,000 children in the African country of Malawi. According to Tennis USA, the project took 10 years and $13.5 million to be completed and Federer is said to have visited the country personally to meet the children and help in any work required.
Roger Federer donated $5 million in 2020 alone
Roger Federer is extremely passionate about his cause in African countries as he teamed up with one of his greatest on-court rivals, Rafael Nadal to raise $3.5 million for underprivileged children thanks to the ‘Match in Africa’ event. Just prior to that, Federer also participated in the ‘Rally for Relief’ event organized by Tennis Australia to raise funds for victims in the now infamous Australian bushfires that had taken place. Federer’s donation is said to have amounted to $250,000.
Seeing the negative impact of the dreaded coronavirus disease in his beloved Switzerland and South Africa, Federer announced that his foundation would be donating $1.2 and $1 million to both the countries respectively in order to support the most bereaved families with children through regular meals.
Besides the continents of Africa, Europe and Australia, Federer had also signed some memorabilia in the ‘Stars Against Hunger’ auction, which was organized by Pakistan’s men’s doubles player, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi to aid coronavirus relief efforts in the South Asian country.
In 2022, Roger Federer was ‘horrified’ to learn about nearly 6 million children in Ukraine being thrown out of school and mentally traumatized due to the Russia-Ukraine war. As a result, Federer pledged a sum total of $500,000 for financial support, assisting their families as well.
🕊💙💛 pic.twitter.com/HEwb5NGREu
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) March 18, 2022
Recently too, Federer donated $3 million to another African country, Lesotho for a school educating underprivileged children. This has taken Federer’s publicly known donations value to nearly $23 million so far, excluding his other partnerships and ways of contributing in philanthropy. This is nearly 1/5th of his total on and off court earnings, making him one of the most charitable sportspersons across the globe.
