Ash Barty's astonishing bushfire pledge
Many of Australia’s sporting heroes have pledged to donate to the Australian bushfire appeal over the past week, including Nick Kyrgios, Chris Lynn and Peter Siddle.
But it was French Open champion Ash Barty that offered the most hefty donation of all.
Barty will donate her entire prize money from next week’s Brisbane International to the Red Cross Fire Appeal. Which means she will ultimately be working for free.
Barty will donate AU$360,000 if she ends up winning the tournament which takes place before the highly-anticipated Australian Open.
Her competition is Maria Sharapova and world No. 3 Naomi Osaka, who took home the prize at last year’s Australian Open.
Speaking in Brisbane on Sunday, Barty said she wanted to donate to the families who have been left with nothing after the bushfires.
“Wildlife has been lost but it has also affected lives and homes so I have been sitting down and thinking with my team and family on ways we can help,” said Barty.
“There have been really great initiatives from cricketers, tennis players, golfers, soccer players all over the country trying to help out.
“We have come to the decision any of my prize money here in Brisbane will be donated to the (Australian) Red Cross to go towards the families and homes affected.”
The selfless gesture comes right after Barty contributed $30,000 late last year to the RSPCA to help wildlife affected by the national disaster.
“The first time I saw of it was flying home from the Fed Cup final (in November) from Perth back to the east coast,” said Barty.
“We could see the smoke haze and some of the fires from the plane, so that really hit home with me.”