Andy Murray to donate Queen's Club prize money to victims of the Grenfell Tower fire

The World No 1, who plays his first match of the tournament against Aljaz Bedene on Tuesday, will earn £347k if he makes a successful defence of a title he has won five times

Paul Newman
Monday 19 June 2017 22:35 BST
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Murray is the defending champion at Queen's Club
Murray is the defending champion at Queen's Club

Andy Murray is to donate his prize money from this week’s Aegon Championships to victims of the Grenfell Tower fire. The world No 1, who plays his first match here on Tuesday against Aljaz Bedene, would earn £347,000 by making a successful defence of a title he has already won five times.

Murray’s plan was confirmed by tournament sources, though his own management team declined to comment on it.

He has been a generous supporter of charities throughout his career and has helped with a number of charitable causes but has never sought publicity for his personal donations.

The tournament itself is also said to be preparing to make a significant donation following last week’s fire at the London tower block, which is now believed to have claimed 79 lives.

This will be by no means the first occasion that Murray has donated his earnings from this tournament or given his time to a charitable cause at the event.

Four years ago he gave his £73,000 winner’s cheque to the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity after his close friend, Ross Hutchins, was treated by the hospital following his diagnosis with Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Murray has given generously to charity throughout his career 

Murray also played in a fund-raising match at the end of that year’s tournament with his coach, Ivan Lendl, Tim Henman and Tomas Berdych.

Twelve months later Murray was involved in the “Rally for Bally” at the Queen’s Club, which raised more than £50,000 in memory of the former British No 1, Elena Baltacha, who died of liver cancer at the age of just 30.

Murray, his brother Jamie, Martina Hingis, Marion Bartoli and Victoria Azarenka were among those who took part in fund-raising matches at Queen’s Club, Eastbourne and Birmingham. A fund was set up to help both the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and the Elena Baltacha Foundation.

Murray is the defending champion at Queen's

In 2009 Murray joined David Beckham in launching an anti-malaria campaign and in 2014 he became a global ambassador for the World Wildlife Fund in support of its fight against the illegal wildlife trade and poaching.

More recently, in 2015, Murray helped to raise £83,000 for the Unicef charity’s work in helping those fleeing from Syria.

He donated £50 for every ace he hit between September and the end of the year, an initiative which was supported by two of his sponsors, Standard Life and Under Armour, as well as the Association of Tennis Professionals and the Lawn Tennis Association.

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