Serve and Rally: Here's a Quick List of Top Emerging Tennis Givers

Serena Williams gives for Gun violence and other causes. Leonard Zhukovsky/shutterstock

While Serena fell to Victoria Azarenka in the U.S. Open semifinals—a painful result for fans hopeful she’d secure her elusive 24th major, tying Margaret Court—22-year old star Naomi Osaka prevailed in three sets to nab her second U.S. Open title and her third Grand Slam overall. Besides her stellar play, Osaka also stepped up with vital activism, donning a mask honoring Breonna Taylor during the tournament.

While the current generation of NBA and WNBA stars has been particularly vocal in this most recent call for social justice, the fact that Black Lives Matter has arrived in the historically white sport of tennis is notable. To be sure, the Williams sisters and Arthur Ashe have loomed large in the sport for a while, but particularly on the women’s side, the latest crop of young American stars now includes names like Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Townsend.

Some of these young tennis stars aren’t just emerging as activists, but as philanthropists—giving we’ve kept a close eye on. And a key theme of our coverage is that the stratospheric pay of today’s athletes is ushering in an unprecedented era of sports philanthropy. According to Forbes, the 100 highest-paid athletes have earned a combined $3.6 billion this year. While most professional tennis players earn much less, many top tennis players who routinely place high in the majors rake in quite a bit of cash. 

John Isner, who had the distinction of being in the longest tennis match ever (11+ hours!), disclosed that he earned about $4 million in prize money in 2018 alone, in addition to revenue streams from sponsorship deals, which also come with incentives and reductions depending on ranking and placement in tournaments.

Some of these players have already established foundations, but with the bulk of their attention focused on their playing careers, these young figures have plenty of time to iron out and deepen their giving interests later. In other words, the giving we’re seeing now from these stars could pale in comparison to the philanthropy that might happen after they retire and they have time for other interests.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic launched the Novak Djokovic Foundation back in 2007, focusing on preschool education for children in his native Serbia. The Federer Foundation, meanwhile, the philanthropy of tennis great Roger Federer, supports educational projects located in the regions of southern Africa and Switzerland. Quite a few tennis stars, consistent with their international story, work on a global scale. For this post, we’ll focus on American givers with U.S.-based foundations.

With that in mind, here’s a rundown of some of the current top philanthropic tennis players:

1. Serena Williams

Having given birth to a daughter a few years ago, Serena Williams, 38, is back on the court, currently settling in at Roland Garros for the French Open. She’s married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and while the power couple is still very much engaged in business, they’re starting to build a philanthropic track record, too. Serena launched the Serena Williams Fund (SWF) to provide assistance to youth whose families have been affected by violent crimes, as well as to assist college-bound youth from low-income backgrounds in receiving the highest quality education possible.

Critical to understanding Serena’s nascent giving is her Compton, California, background, where she lost her half-sister Yetunde to gun violence. Serena has invested in the work of the Caliber Foundation, in support of families and victims affected by gun violence. She also made a UNICEF trip to Africa, witnessing firsthand how challenging it is for young girls to access basic education. SWF has partnered with UNICEF on a number of campaigns focused on education in Africa.

2. Sloane Stephens

Sloane Stephens, 27, started playing tennis at 9 when her mother introduced her to the sport. Now considered one of the best young American female tennis stars, Stephens won her first Grand Slam title at the 2017 U.S. Open. Stephens gives through the Sloane Stephens Foundation, which assists in developing a constructive future for young people by providing educational opportunities and encouraging healthy lifestyles, proper nutrition, and participation in physical fitness activities.

Notably, Stephens launched the foundation all the way back in 2013, and has ramped up its work since. In 2015, the foundation launched ‘Love, Love Compton’ in conjunction with Compton school administrators, principals and teachers to provide an ongoing model that builds on the educational foundation of the school district, with an athletic component. Love, Love Compton is active in a number of elementary schools. More than 4,000 students have participated in programming.

3. John Isner

The big-serving American recently launched the Isner Family Foundation to provide support to hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The motivations here are personal, as Isner’s own mother is a two-time cancer survivor. Though Isner hails from North Carolina, he’s settled in the Dallas area and explains why he launched a foundation focused on this region now: “I think mainly it’s because I have definite roots now in Dallas, Texas. This is where my family is going to be. Also on top of that, I’ve gotten to know a lot of nice people in this town, and I think it’s just a good opportunity for me, for my family, to do a lot of good.”

4. Madison Keys

Madison Keys launched Kindness Wins, a platform for kindness, with special emphasis on kindness to self, kindness to youth, and kindness to others in times of struggle. Kindness Wins operates as an umbrella organization for kindness initiatives, working with professional athletes like two-time Olympic Gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin as champions to spread this message.

5. Rajeev Ram

Doubles specialist Rajeev Ram runs EntouRaj for Kids, which promotes the development of young tennis players by funding grants for high-school teams, college and high-performance players, as well as programs that teach young players life skills. The nonprofit also aims to make tennis more accessible to families in Indiana.

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Not too long ago, I interviewed retired tennis star James Blake, whose foundation focuses on cancer research and treatment, who had this to say about this new generation of athlete-givers: “Athletes are uniquely positioned because they have a much more direct connection to the fans… athletes, by nature, are younger, so they’re seen as role models, but also attainable [by] every kid who picked up a soccer ball or basketball and dreamed of Lebron James, or Mike Trout, or Russell Wilson.”