Roger Federer and wife Mirka have joined the fight against coronavirus and have donated a total of £860,000 to help the most vulnerable families in Switzerland, following 10,801 people testing positive and 154 dying (as of March 26) in the Central European country.
Federer, who is now 38, decided to help after coronavirus started to become a real issue in his home country of Switzerland earlier on this week.
In an interview, as per The Sun, Federer said: “These are challenging times for everyone and nobody should be left behind.
"Mirka and I have personally decided to donate one million Swiss Francs for the most vulnerable families in Switzerland.
"Our contribution is just a start. We hope that others might join in supporting more families in need. Together we can overcome this crisis. Stay healthy.”
What. A. Legend.
One million Swiss Francs is going to save countless amounts of lives, and is unbelievably generous from the 20-time Grand Slam winner, and makes you think just how much of a sparkling and decorated career he really has had in order to be able to give away that much money to help people who need it more than himself.
Federer has won six Australian Open titles (2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2017, 2018), one French Open title (2009), eight times at Wimbledon (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017) and five US Open titles (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008) for a total of 20 Grand Slams - incredible.
Reflecting on his remarkable career, Federer highlighted how privileged he believed he was and said: "Thinking back on how it used to be, you have a dream and a hope that one day you'll become a top-100 player and maybe play on some of the big courts. Next thing you know, it's normal to play on centre court, it's normal to play in front of 15,000 people.”
Federer also said: "Sometimes, you tend to forget what a privilege that is; I feel like I never did forget. I enjoyed every single time it does happen and I try to enjoy it as much as I can.”
Federer joins other sporting superstars, such as Lionel Messi, Conor McGregor and Cristiano Ronaldo, who also hope to bring coronavirus to a halt all over the world and bring every day life back to normality.
For that, we salute them!