Naomi Osaka has pledged to donate her Western & Southern Open earnings to support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.
Gatekeepers News reports that four-time Grand Slam champion, Naomi Osaka has announced her pledge to support victims of the 7.2-magnitude quake that struck Haiti on Saturday.
As of Sunday, the death toll rose to 724 as rescue workers scrambled to find more survivors buried under buildings as a tropical storm bore down on the impoverished country.
The Caribbean nation is still clawing its way back from another major temblor 11 years ago and also reeling from the assassination of its president Jovenel Moise last month.
Osaka said on Twitter, “Really hurts to see all the devastation that’s going on in Haiti, and I feel like we really can’t catch a break.
“I’m about to play a tournament this week and I’ll give all the prize money to relief efforts for Haiti. I know our ancestors’ blood is strong we’ll keep rising.”
The tennis star whose father is Haitian has used her platform to call attention to the causes she cares about.
Osaka is seeded second at the tournament in Cincinnati, which is scheduled for August 16-22, ahead of the US Open in New York which commences on August 30.
