ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- WTA Charities, the philanthropic arm of the WTA and WTA Tour title sponsor Hologic have renewed their financial support for researchers and nonprofits dedicated to fighting cancers that affect women through the ACEing Cancer campaign. Hologic makes a donation to the campaign for every ace served during singles competition at WTA 1000 and WTA 500 tournaments in 2023.
Tennis fans are also welcome to support to ACEing Cancer by making donations at wtatennis.com/aceingcancer.
The 2023 campaign will honor Carla Suarez Navarro, a former WTA Top 10 player who underwent treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2020. Suarez Navarro won two WTA singles titles in her career and was a seven-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist. After undergoing her cancer treatment, Suarez Navarro returned for the 2021 season, when she was named WTA Comeback Player of the Year by the international tennis media.
Suarez Navarro has stated that her diagnosis in 2020 was a surprise and urges women to make preventive care a top priority. “The message I would give to everyone about health would be to tell them the importance of visiting the doctor and getting checkups to detect possible illnesses. Catching them in time can save many lives, as it did mine.”
Click here to learn more about Suarez Navarro’s story in her own words.
As in past years, a portion of the proceeds from the 2023 ACEing Cancer campaign will fund a researcher who studies women’s cancers. This will be the fourth researcher to receive a grant from the American Cancer Society co-funded by WTA Charities and its fundraising partner Cancer Research Racquet, and the second since Hologic joined the ACEing Cancer campaign.
The 2022 ACEing Cancer research grant was recently awarded to Jennifer Karlow, Phd whose research conducted at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute focuses on understanding initial ovarian cancer development to both identify new markers of early tumor formation and devise effective therapies. The 2022 grant honored the late Jeanne Evert Dubin, sister of WTA legend Chris Evert. Dubin also competed on the WTA Tour and passed away in 2020 as a result of ovarian cancer, a diagnosis Evert would eventually face herself.
“Sooner or later, cancer has a way of touching all our lives,” said Evert, who credits her sister’s cancer battle with motivating her to get tested and find ovarian cancer early. “I know the donations from this campaign will make a difference, and I encourage everyone to stay on top of their testing. It might save a life like it did mine.”
With the funds raised in 2019 and 2020, WTA Charities and Cancer Research Racquet funded their first ACEing Cancer research project at Duke University Medical Center, through Dr. Timothy Trotter’s research on how to treat dormant tumor cells in breast cancer survivors.
In 2021, WTA Charities and Cancer Research Racquet selected Dr. Amy Schade, a Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School to receive the ACEing Cancer research grant. Dr. Schade’s project at Harvard’s Cichowski Lab focuses on finding a cure for metastatic triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive and difficult-to-treat cancer.
“There is a big need in identifying these sorts of projects,” Dr. Schade said. “Donating to ACEing Cancer will allow your funds to go directly into researchers’ projects that allow for the development of novel treatments for cancer.”
To learn more about ACEing Cancer and make a donation, visit wtatennis.com/aceingcancer.
