American tennis star Amanda Anisimova has vowed to donate part of her earnings from the Eisenhower Cup to Ukrainian relief efforts.
Anisimova defeated Maria Sakkari 10-7 in the Eisenhower Cup final, a Tie Break Tens exhibition event at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden’s Stadium 2 on Tuesday night.
Afterward, the 2019 Roland Garros semifinalist said she's saddened by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and will donate some of her $150,000 champion's check to Ukrainian relief.
"We are here and enjoying but it's very hard to just live normally," Anisimova said. "I'll definitely be donating some of my prize money to the Ukrainian relief fund."
The 20-year-old Anisimova donated the first point of the final with a double fault but bounced back by winning five straight points to hand Sakkari her first deficit of the evening. The American then held on to close out the match 10-7 with a service winner. Anisimova was a late addition to the field Tuesday following the withdrawal of Barbora Krejcikova due to an elbow injury.
“I really enjoyed this event. It was very fun,” Anisimova said. “Personally, I don’t like playing very long, so this was perfect for me. I would definitely do this again.”