Picture Credit: Twitter
World number one Iga Swiatek made an incredible gesture as she declared that she will be donating her prize money from the Ostrava Open towards the support of mental health. The 21-year-old has been a major figure in sports towards raising awareness about mental health and continued her crusade after her defeat against Czech Republic's Barbora Krejcikova.
The Polish sensation suffered a hard-fought 7-5, 6(4)-7, 3-6 defeat in three hours and 16 minutes on Sunday at the ČEZ Aréna in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Krejcikova’s victory ended the 2022 French and US Open champion’s 10-final win streak and gave the 26-year-old Czech a fifth career singles title.
In the post-game interview, Swiatek took the stand and announced that she will be donating everything she has won, in prize money, at the Ostrava Open to spread awareness about mental health and let people know that they can access these resources without hesitation.
"I really wanted to play well here to have a big amount of money to donate ... and I'm pretty happy that I could do that," Swiatek said. "I really want to spread awareness and let people know that they can use the help if they need it, or help others if they have resources. I'm pretty happy to use my position that way."
Swiatek first revealed about working with sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz after winning her maiden French Open title in 2020. She made her first prize money donation to a mental health charity last year during the Indian Wells Masters on the occasion of World Mental Health Day on 10 October.
After the final, Iga Swiatek also started an initiative on her Twitter account where she asked her followers to leave questions regarding their mental health issues under her tweet. These questions will be answered by her psychologist Daria Abramowicz.
She tweeted, “🧠 Today is World Mental Health Day and because of that I would like to take some actions to help ⤵️ Please take care! 💛.”
