Swiss tennis icon Roger Federer is a champion through and through. As a tennis player, he affected the lives of people on a global scale. While he retired as one of the greatest tennis players, Federer is still affecting lives with his humanitarian work.
The Swiss maestro has always advocated for the importance of education, and its accessibility to children. This time, Federer took up the cause at the United Nations.
Roger attended the UN General Assembly meeting in New York this week. He met with several distinguished leaders and dignitaries to discuss how to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4.2. It works with the aim of providing care and quality education to children by 2030.
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The tennis ace spoke of the initiatives undertaken by the Roger Federer Foundation, adding the impact it has had. He highlighted how the Foundation works to achieve some of its main objectives.
Roger stated that the responsibility of providing quality education at an early age fell on the parents, working in tandem with higher authorities. Federer also emphasized the importance of establishing facilities that children can have access to. And lastly, he touched upon the subject of having qualified teachers.
Roger Federer was at the UN to call for more funding for UN Sustainability Development Goal (SDG) 4.2
Here’s what he shared about his foundation’s work and his call to action pic.twitter.com/JRIR7MJ4mI
— GlamSpinTennis (@GlamSpinTennis) September 19, 2023
While speaking on this topic, Federer delineated the difficulties they have had to face on the path to achieving this. The biggest roadblock was funding.
However, Roger Federer is certain that with the help of the UN, his Foundation can help even more children. Federer believes in the power of people, and that sometimes they only need an initial push. It is something his Foundation has provided since its inception.
How did the Roger Federer Foundation come to be?
Besides being a tennis sensation, Roger is also a philanthropist. Roger established his foundation quite early on in his career when he was only 22 years old. He credits his mother, Lynette, and her South African upbringing for it.
The family trips to South Africa made Federer realize that he wanted to help the less fortunate. He vowed to help them as soon as he started earning, and he kept his word. “Seeing that Switzerland is different to southern Africa, that you can have a big impact if you do it the right way,” he said.
The Foundation now provides support to six countries in Africa. It also helps out financially disadvantaged schoolgoers in his home country, Switzerland.
Roger will go down as one of the biggest champions of tennis. But there is more to be said of his humanitarian work. His influence transcends the boundaries of the tennis court, and his Foundation has altered lives for the better.