Stefanos Tsitsipas's generous donation to Acalpulco

Stefanos Tsitsipas plans to do more than play tennis in Acapulco this week. The Greek tennis star announced he will donate $1,000 per ace he serves for hurricane relief as Acapulco continues to rebuild after the devastating Hurricane Otis that destroyed so much of the area four months ago.

The tennis facilities used to host the ATP Acapulco tournament were wiped away. Through the extraordinary work of the local community, they were rebuilt in time for the players to come back and play in 2024.

Tsitsipas opened his Acapulco Open singles campaign in a winning fashion with a straight set 6-3, 6-4 victory over 26-year-old Russian Roman Safiullin. Later in the day, he and his brother Petros lost their opening doubles match in straight sets, 4-6, 3-6, to Julian Cash and Robert Galloway.

How much money could this effort raise for Acapulco?

Tsitsipas typically averages about eight aces per singles match. Against Safiullin, he had five. He had none in his doubles match as aces in doubles are more difficult to achieve.

His next match is on Wednesday night in the Round of 16 against Flavio Cobolli. If he serves five aces per match and makes it to the finals, that would be a $25,000 donation to Hurricane Otis relief in the Acalpulco area.

Hopefully, his stay in Acalpulco is through the finals; however, his next stop is in Indian Wells next week where all of the top tennis names will be playing. He will begin his BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells campaign with a one-night Eisenhower Cup exhibition on March 5 in a mixed doubles pairing with girlfriend Paula Badosa. Fans cannot wait to see them on court together. They were supposed to play mixed doubles at Wimbledon last summer before Badosa pulled out of the tournament with a back injury that limited her for most of 2023.

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