WTA stars, Charleston tennis enthusiasts help to raise $100,000 for Ukraine relief in pro-am
Madison Keys, Shelby Rogers and other current WTA stars came together with legends Pam Shriver and Tracy Austin for a special pro-am with local players to raise $100,000 for Ukrainian relief.
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Current WTA stars, local Charleston enthusiasts and tennis Hall of Famers Pam Shriver and Tracy Austin came together on Sunday morning to help raise money for relief efforts in Ukraine in a special pro-am event at the Credit One Charleston Open.
The tennis exhibition, which offered 24 local club-level players the chance to team up with former Charleston champion Madison Keys, Mount Pleasant native Shelby Rogers and more, brought in $100,000 in donations, which will be filtered through the tour’s non-profit arm, WTA Charities.
Pro-am participants pledged $50,000 total – a sum that was matched by the tournament itself.
“This is really important to us as a tournament and it’s really important to the players,” said tournament director Bob Moran as he welcomed the participants. “This has been an important mission to get some things like this started.”
Ukrainian player Anhelina Kalinina participated in the pro-am, alongside Keys, Rogers, Americans Jessica Pegula, Desirae Krawczyk and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Also in attendance were Demi Schuurs, Alicja Rosolska, Erin Routliffe and Alexa Guarachi.
Local players teamed up with pros for short doubles matches. The pro-am is part of the Tennis Plays for Peace initiative, which seeks “to bring the tennis community and fans together to support the humanitarian relief efforts for the war in Ukraine.”
