Tennis Player Taylor Fritz is Donating Australian Open Prize Money to LA Wildfire Relief Funds

Taylor Fritz of the US plays a forehand return to Cristian Garin of Chile during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Taylor Fritz of the US plays a forehand return to Cristian Garin of Chile during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
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Tennis Player Taylor Fritz is Donating Australian Open Prize Money to LA Wildfire Relief Funds

Taylor Fritz of the US plays a forehand return to Cristian Garin of Chile during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Taylor Fritz of the US plays a forehand return to Cristian Garin of Chile during their second round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

American tennis player Taylor Fritz said Thursday he is donating the prize money he earned for his first-round victory at the Australian Open — about $82,000 — to relief funds to help people affected by the wildfires in the greater Los Angeles area.

“I mean, I feel like it’s really the least I can do,” said US Open finalist Fritz, who was born in Rancho Santa Fe, California, and still is based in the state.

“Obviously ‘SoCal’ has been my home forever. I still spend a lot of time in LA, but I lived in LA for quite a while. I have friends impacted; family not so much. I had some family have to evacuate. The house that my brothers grew up in burnt down. Obviously, they’re not living there anymore,” Fritz said after reaching the third round at Melbourne Park with a 6-2, 6-1, 6-0 victory over qualifier Cristian Garín of Chile.

“A lot of people are affected by it,” added Fritz, the runner-up to Jannik Sinner at the US Open in September and seeded No. 4 in Australia. “I feel like if you’re in a place to help, then you should.”

Authorities have not determined a cause for the major blazes in what is on track to become the nation’s costliest fire disaster, with at least 25 people dead and thousands of homes destroyed, according to The AP.

Several athletes with connections to the LA area have been competing at the year’s first Grand Slam tournament.

Naomi Osaka, a four-time major champion, said she sent someone to retrieve her 1 1/2-year-old daughter’s birth certificate from their California home in case it got caught up in the fires. Tristan Boyer, a 23-year-old from California who had a first-round win but lost Thursday, said his father had to evacuate their house in Altadena.

“We have friends and family who are homeless now. It’s really, really devastating to see,” Boyer said. “Obviously trying to do what I need to do to prep and play tennis, but control what I can control in this moment. But it’s hard for sure.”

Fritz will play French veteran Gael Monfils on Saturday for a berth in the fourth round in Australia. Also on Fritz’s mind is what is happening back home.

“I just want everyone to obviously stay safe,” Fritz said. “It’s just insane what happened.”



Barcelona Reaches Copa Del Rey Quarterfinals. Atletico Also Advances

Barcelona's Gavi gestures during a Spanish Copa del Rey round of 16 soccer match between Barcelona and Real Betis at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Barcelona's Gavi gestures during a Spanish Copa del Rey round of 16 soccer match between Barcelona and Real Betis at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
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Barcelona Reaches Copa Del Rey Quarterfinals. Atletico Also Advances

Barcelona's Gavi gestures during a Spanish Copa del Rey round of 16 soccer match between Barcelona and Real Betis at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Barcelona's Gavi gestures during a Spanish Copa del Rey round of 16 soccer match between Barcelona and Real Betis at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona followed up its rout of Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final with a comfortable 5-1 victory over Real Betis in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.
Gavi and Jules Koundé scored a goal each in the first half-hour and Raphinha, Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal added to the lead in the second half to give the Catalan club the win and a spot in the quarterfinals.
It was the fourth straight victory in 2025 for Barcelona, which on Sunday defeated Madrid 5-2 in Saudi Arabia to win the Spanish Super Cup.
“We wanted to keep the momentum from the Super Cup here at home in front of our fans,” Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsí said. “We continue like this and keep the foot on the throttle. The (Christmas) break did well for us, we were able to refresh.”
Barcelona had lost its last two games in 2024 before going on a winning streak against Barbastro in the Copa del Rey and Athletic Bilbao and Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup.
Playmaker Dani Olmo, registered in the last minute after a long battle between Barcelona, the Spanish league and Spain's federation because of a missed deadline by the club, helped set up Gavi's opening goal in the third minute at Montjuic stadium. Yamal gave the pass for Koundé's goal in the 27th.
Koundé thought he had added to the lead in first-half stoppage time but his effort was disallowed by video review because he was offside. Yamal also had one called back by the VAR because of offside early in the second half.
Barcelona's third goal finally counted when Raphinha found the net in a breakaway in the 58th. Torres scored the fourth from inside the area in the 67th, a few minutes after coming off the bench, and Yamal sealed it after a nice run in the 75th.
Vitor Roque scored Betis' lone goal by converting an 84th-minute penalty kick.
Atletico Madrid, playing without many regular starters, routed second-division club Elche 4-0 to extend its record winning streak to 15 matches.
The club had never won more than 13 games in a row across all competitions before.
Alexander Sorloth scored from close range in the eighth and converted a 29th-minute penalty kick. Rodrigo Riquelme scored the third from long range in the 61st, and Julián Álvarez closed the scoring in the 75th.
Elche played a man down from the 50th after Nicolás Fernández was sent off with a second yellow card.
Other results Álvaro Rodríguez scored two minutes into the match as Getafe won 1-0 at fourth-division club Pontevedra.
The visitors played a man down from the 41st after a straight red card was shown to Rodríguez.
An 86th-minute goal by Diego García gave Leganes a 3-2 win at second-division club Almeria.
In other round-of-16 matches on Thursday, defending champion Athletic Bilbao hosts Osasuna and Real Madrid welcomes Celta Vigo.