Tennis star Andy’s ace shots help suffering Syrian children

Scot proud to help out

Scots tennis star Andy Murray has netted an incredible £83,000 for Unicef.

In September Andy announced that for every ace he hit until the end of the year, he would donate £50 to Unicef to support their work to help children in Syria

As well as asking his fans to donate, Andy’s sponsors Standard Life and Under Armour, along with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) vowed to match each donation Andy made.

That meant every ace raised £250 for children in danger.

Standard Life employees also got involved with the fundraising and the money was matched by the company, adding £20,000 to the total.

Additional funds were also raised through the Tie Break Tens tournament and the ATP ACES for Charity programme who donated £10,120.

From October 29 all UK public donations were aid matched by the UK Government.

The total of more than £83,000 could provide more than 16,000 children with blankets to help keep them safe and warm.

Andy, who was crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December, said: “I remember watching the news last summer and deciding I wanted to do something to help some of the millions of children whose lives have turned upside down by the situation in Syria.

“It’s amazing that we’ve been able to raise so much, and I’m very grateful to my sponsors and fans for their help in this – I couldn’t have done it without them.

“I know how hard Unicef are working to support these children, and millions of others around the world and I’m proud to have been able to help.”

Unicef UK executive director David Bull said: “All of us here at Unicef UK are incredibly grateful to Andy for his

As the aces piled up for Andy last year so did the cash for Unicef.