Elena Rybakina scored the biggest triumph of her career by winning the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, earning £2 million in the process.
On top of that prize money, Rybakina was also offered a bonus from the Kazakh Tennis Federation for becoming the first player from Kazakhstan ever to win a major title.
The 23-year-old player, however, rejected that bonus, wanting it to go to junior programs instead. She spoke about that earlier this week upon returning to Kazakhstan.
“First of all, of course, I would like to help the juniors, most of it (money) will go to them. And the second important point for me: I was at the shelter, and I was very much moved by it, so I would like to allocate money for the animal shelter."
That's the 2nd cause she will be donating money to because, as she explained, she loves animals and was very moved by what she saw in an animal shelter.
Unfortunately, most animal shelters are very underfunded in many countries simply because very few people care. Rybakina is one of those that care, and she's proud of it.
She also confirmed that opting to play for Kazakhstan instead of her native Russia was the right decision to do. Those comments were very telling, especially since Russian tennis figures recently claimed her Wimbledon win as theirs.
"At that moment, which was almost five years ago, it so happened that I had an acute question: what to do next? I was about 17-18 years old. I had to decide whether I would try to play and stay in professional sports or go studying."
"We found each other, and at the end of the day, I am very happy that my journey continues exactly with Kazakhstan. History is happening together thanks to Kazakhstan. Thank you very much for your support."