Andy Murray praised by Rennae Stubbs for ‘phenomenal’ gesture after winning Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award

Andy Murray has been praised for his “phenomenal” Ukraine relief effort gesture by former doubles world No. 1 Rennae Stubbs.

He donated over $630,000 (approximately £510,000) in total.

Murray, 35, is the fourth player to win the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award on multiple occasions after Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi.

“Obviously the guy has a lot of money. He clearly has made a lot of money from the sport of tennis, but it’s still well over half a million dollars to give away,” said Stubbs on the Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast.

“It’s pretty phenomenal. That is his money he earned, he’s just one of the great guys.”

Stubbs added that Murray is one of her favourite people in tennis – despite occasionally behaving on court like a ‘pork chop’, which is Australian slang for someone who fusses or complains.

The Australian said: “He gets a bad rap. He’s a little tough to watch sometime. He carries on at times on the court like a pork chop. We know that we’ve given him a crack about it. You know, he’s a bit whiny, and complains.

“But, off the tennis court, there’s no better guy, there’s no nicer guy, there’s no funnier guy.

“I can say that because I was the same way. He’s just one of those guys that we are just so happy to have in tennis.

“There’s not many that I like more than Andy Murray as a human being so for him to get this award is no surprise to me.”

Murray, who is a UNICEF UK Ambassador, reached two finals in 2022 and finished at No. 49 in the rankings.

Speaking about his decision to donate his prize money to Ukraine, he said: “It seemed like something that would give me some extra motivation this year.

“I thought I could also raise some awareness and hopefully get others involved in helping too.

“It’s an honour to be named recipient again. The reason to do the right thing is not for an accolade like this, but it is nice that it is appreciated somewhere.

“In February I was playing the tournament in Dubai and I remember watching the news and there were rumours about something happening between Russia and Ukraine.

“A few days later when Russia invaded Ukraine everyone was very worried about what it would mean. When all the images on the news showing what was happening to families began pouring in, it was devastating. Houses were bombed and families were displaced. Young children were affected by this, with many injured and in some cases dying. I wasn’t sure what I could do to help.

“Shortly after I decided that from Indian Wells onwards, I would donate my prize money for the rest of the season to UNICEF’s humanitarian response – the final total was just over $630,000.”

The 2023 Australian Open starts on January 16.

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