Proceeds from the shirt's sale as well as auctioned-off, signed memorablia from the players will also be donated to Japan relief funds.
"Last night the tennisworld came together to raise money for Japan! It was emotional but we were all honored to help out in any way," Clijsters tweeted this morning.
The fundraising efforts resulted in $300,000 given to the Red Cross and other organization thanks to contributions from fans, the WTA, ATP World Tour, the Grand Slams, Sony Ericsson, ITF, IMG, SAP, Itaú, FILA, adidas, Lagardère.
“Tennis is a global sport and when a tragedy strikes, the entire tennis community comes together and responds,” said Adam Barrett, Sony Ericsson Open Tournament Director.
Prior to the event, it took #2-ranked Clijsters less than an hour to defeat qualifying Anastasiya Yakimova in two short sets of 6-1, 6-1 during the opening round of the tournament while #3-ranked Vera Zvonareva had a little more trouble to get past former #1-ranked Dinara Safina.
"We compete against each other but when such a disaster happens in the world, we have to become a tennis family and show people we're thinking of them," said Zvonovera in a post-match interview with WTA staff.
examiner.com
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