MIAMI, Florida—Life as a professional tennis player is not only about wins and losses.
For players such as Nadia Petrova, it offers them an opportunity to give back to the community and help make a difference in the lives of the needy around the world.
Traveling across different lands and cultures gives tennis players a unique viewpoint of the world around them. They see the glitz and glamor at the hottest destinations on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, but often they observe the realities and hardships of life when adequate housing is a sought after commodity.
Miami-Dade county, home of the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open, is renowned for its sandy beaches, party atmosphere, and extravagant lifestyle. But despite all the glamor, there exists a dark side. The county, a favorite vacation and winter home location for countless celebrities, is also the place where many of the poorest individuals in America make their homes.
“Miami-Dade county is ranked the most rent burdened county in the United States,” said Michelle Marcos, Communications Director for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami. “About a third of the population lives in poverty.”
Petrova took part in a building project on Thursday morning in the inner-city, although this was not the first time that the eight-time Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles champion has lent her name—and hands—to the Habitat for Humanity cause.
Habitat for Humanity of Greater Miami is an ecumenical Christian ministry which builds homes and communities in partnership with low-income families in need of a simple, decent place to live.
While visiting the building site, Petrova helped mount a window and install insulation into a six-unit residence under construction.
Petrova, an official ambassador for Habitat through the Tour’s partnership with Whirlpool and the Aces for Homes initiative, has helped build houses in locales around the world, including Miami, Poland and Romania.
Families in need of housing are provided with an interest-free loan to finance the building, but are still expected to participate in the process.
“They have to be able to commit to partner with Habitat,” Marcos said. “They have to help build their house and the houses of their neighbors. That’s one of the criteria. They have to invest about two hundred fifty to three hundred hours of sweat equity into their house.”
While the sweat equity of the potential home owners helps contribute to the building, the real moving force behind Habitat for Humanity is the thousands of volunteers who help build houses in over one hundred countries.
“Volunteers are the face of Habitat,” said Johnnie Hall, a skilled builder who helped Petrova cut and install insulation.
Working alongside Petrova on Thursday was a group of college students from Dartmouth College. The young people were part of the Collegiate Challenge program, where students from 47 states and six Canadian provinces volunteer in more than 200 Habitat locations during their school breaks.
Community service is a cause close to Petrova’s heart.
“That’s actually why I am playing out there, not only to become a good and great champion, but also to try to bring the right message to people,” Petrova said. “I’m very happy to be part of Habitat for Humanity.”
“I really appreciate Nadia’s commitment to Habitat for Humanity,” Marcos said. “This is the third year in a row that she’s done this and come out to build for low-income families. It underscores her personal commitment to helping the poor in our community.”
Petrova’s participation does not stop at volunteering her time; she also wants to help motivate others to give back to the needs in their local community.
“I’m really trying to get some more people involved in this and bring the message out to the people that they should come out to help out because they are so many families who are living in need these days, especially right now with the financial crisis,” Petrova said.
To volunteer for a home building project in your area, please visit www.habitat.org today.
On the Baseline’s live coverage of the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open is brought to you by Grand Slam Tennis Tours.
Thanks for this great off-court story Aaress. Habitat for Humanity is a very well run organization and will benefit greatly from the help of a high profile player like Petrova. These desperate families need all the help they can get! Thanks to you too Nadia.
I really like this article. Too many times the “glamour” goal of the sport is shown with player parties and modeling gigs. I do like this about the SEWTA. I think that it is more important for people to see the players, like Nadia, helping out the community or other players involved in their charities. I hope the new CEO encourages this rather than make glamour an important part of the SEWTA.
Thanks, Karin and Sunny!
A lot of the players, not just Petrova, do things like this in their spare time and it was a pleasure to help promote their work.
A group of sixth graders in wellington, Ks are getting involved in their community. sixth graders at the Wellington Middle School are participating in Project citizen. one Project tjat was chosen is to up grade the tennis courts. We are trying to contact any professional tennis players who might want to help sponsor this project.
Hi Tina,
Thank you for your comment. If you would like to contact the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour about finding a player sponsor, you can find the information here: http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/3/thewtatour/contact/