Plant-Based Tennis Ace Novak Djokovic Donates €1 Million To Fight Coronavirus

Plant-based tennis ace Novak Djokovic and his wife Jelena have donated €1 million to Serbian hospitals to buy medical equipment and supplies to fight the coronavirus.

The coronavirus is understood to have originated from a wet market – where live animals are kept and slaughtered in close proximity to dead ones – in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Since then, the virus has spread, killing more than 47,000 people at the time of writing.

The number 1 tennis player has revealed during a video press conference last week, that the couple have been carefully researching how they could ‘make the biggest and best impact on our country’ in tackling the disease. He thanked people from the Republic of China, saying they have given the pair ‘tremendous help and support’.

View this post on Instagram

Dear friends, this is a video from the press conference my wife @jelenadjokovicndf and I hosted this afternoon to announce that we donated 1 million euros through our @novakfoundation to Serbia for the purchase of medical equipment and supplies. We have spent the past several weeks gathering every piece of necessary information on COVID-19 in order to make this informed decision on how my family could make the biggest and best impact on our country. People from the Republic of China have given us tremendous help and support, we cannot thank them enough. I keep receiving calls from all over the world and people want to help but don’t know where or how. We have decided to open an emergency account through Novak Djokovic Foundation where our family money will go and I’m directing any other person that wishes to help to donate there. All the money will go towards the purchase of respirators, medical equipment, and any required supplies like masks. I am fully aware of how much this crisis has impacted everyone on all fronts.. I am touched by the generosity that keeps pouring from across the globe with the intention to give back and help in Serbia. I am very proud to be an athlete in these times, among many greats who have come forward to bring people together at a time when we are apart – to bring hope, community, and inspire others in the same way to use our platforms for good. This is what life is all about – giving. For more information, please visit @novakfoundation and novakdjokovicfoundation.org. Our team is here to help. Stay positive, we will get through this together ????. Much love to all, Novak

A post shared by Novak Djokovic (@djokernole) on Mar 27, 2020 at 8:32am PDT

‘Life is about giving’

Writing on Instagram, Djokovic said: “I keep receiving calls from all over the world, and people want to help but don’t know where or how. We have decided to open an emergency account through the Novak Djokovic Foundation where our family money will go, and I’m directing any other person that wishes to help to donate there. 

“All the money will go towards the purchase of respirators, medical equipment, and any required supplies like masks.

“I am fully aware of how much this crisis has impacted everyone on all fronts. I am touched by the generosity that keeps pouring from across the globe with the intention to give back and help in Serbia. 

“I am very proud to be an athlete in these times, among many greats who have come forward to bring people together at a time when we are apart – to bring hope, community, and inspire others, in the same way, to use our platforms for good. This is what life is all about – giving.”