The Novak Djokovic Foundation, and Children Change Colombia, supported by Jamie Murray, have been selected among nine recipients in the ATP ACES For Charity grant programme for 2017. Grants of $/€15,000 will be awarded to a total of nine charitable causes, nominated by ATP World Tour players, tournaments and alumni.

A total of eight grants will benefit youth through programmes worldwide, including Djokovic and Murray’s causes which respectively focus on early childhood education and development in Serbia and dedicated to defending the rights of Colombia’s most at-risk and neglected children. The other causes include the Zelmerlöw & Björkman Foundation’s boarding school in Kenya, Corazoncitos Foundation and Fundación Tenis Uruguay, Greater Curacao Tennis Patrons Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages, Beijing Golden Wings Art Rehabilitation Center For Disabled Children and four social projects supported by the Rio Open: Tênis Para Todos, Tênis Solidário, Tênis na Lagoa and Escolinha de Tênis Fabiano de Paula.

More On ATP ACES For Charity

An ATP ACES For Charity grant has also been awarded to CSJ leMoNaiD, founded by 13-year-old Juliette Jones in Sydney with a mission to stop Motor Neurone Disease.

Entering its seventh year in 2017, the ATP ACES For Charity program is a global initiative aimed at giving back to communities where ATP World Tour events are played, as well as recognising and supporting tournament, player and alumni charitable initiatives. Since 2011, the grant programme has awarded 76 grants totalling more than $940,000 in donations.

The recipients of the 2017 ATP ACES For Charity grants are:

Jonas Bjorkman: The Zelmerlöw & Björkman Foundation works hard for a better world through education and opportunities for needy youths. It is the main sponsor of the high school Kenswed Academy in Nairobi, Kenya. The Foundation has recently drilled a well for 600 households in the region and will build a boarding school for 32 homeless girls at the start of 2017. The ATP ACES for Charity grant will benefit this project, with the annual cost of food for these 32 girls equalling the grant amount. The Zelmerlöw & Björkman Foundation is also involved in two primary schools and one high school in the HIV/AIDS-exposed Kwazulu-Natal region in South Africa, and plans to expand its project to Ethiopia and Uganda this year by building a high school for needy girls in Addis Ababa and a youth centre for street orphan boys in Kampala.

Pablo Cuevas: The Uruguayan supports two foundations that work with children in his home country: Corazoncitos Foundation and Fundación Tenis Uruguay. Corazoncitos Foundation is dedicated to helping children with congenital heart diseases, providing them with access to special treatment and resources that are often limited in Uruguay. Fundación Tenis Uruguay has a mission to promote the development of self-confidence and responsibility in children from deprived communities, giving them the opportunity through the systematic and disciplined practise of tennis to improve their lives. The foundation aspires to contribute to the formation of principles and values that enable these youths to fully integrate into society. Fundación Tenis, officially established in May 2001 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, currently supports 200 children in Uruguay and more than 600 in total.

Novak Djokovic: The Novak Djokovic Foundation, founded in 2007, focuses on Early Childhood Education and Development for disadvantaged children. Its project work has a strong presence in Serbia, where there is tremendous need, and its advocacy is global. The Foundation’s mission is to enable children to grow up, play and develop in stimulating, creative and safe settings, whilst learning to respect others and care for their environment. The ATP ACES For Charity grant will go towards the “Friendship Games”, a camp created for Serbian children from socially disadvantaged communities, age 7 to 10, with an aim to inspire better socialisation and inclusion through numerous creative workshops, games and group activities. To date, the Foundation has organised four camps benefitting 300 children from 26 locations. Watch: Friendship Games

Jamie Murray: Children Change Colombia, established in 1991, is dedicated to defending the rights of Colombia’s most at-risk and neglected children, working on issues that are neglected by others, including sexual violence and exploitation, forced recruitment into armed groups and demobilisation of child soldiers, access to education, and violence in schools and communities. Murray and his wife Alejandra have supported CCC since 2011, organising a number of children’s tennis clinics to raise funds and awareness. The ATP ACES For Charity grant will help support a project that will focus on preventing the commercial sexual exploitation of youths in the district of Sante Fe, Bogota, and provide young people already experiencing commercial sexual exploitation with the tools to rebuild their lives. The project, which runs from January to December 2017, will work with 840 youths and 326 adults.

Jean-Julien Rojer: The Greater Curacao Tennis Patrons Foundation, to be re-named the Jean-Julien Rojer Foundation, was established in 2005 and is run by Rojer’s father Randall. It has a mission to support and guide children of all ages, diversity and social economic backgrounds who strive to maximise their potential by promoting and cross weaving education and sports. Its goal is to raise awareness of education in the community and make it possible for every child to have an opportunity to excel in their studies as well as in their sport. The donation will be used towards tools and equipment that are needed for less-fortunate children in schools as well as the sporting arena.

European Open (Antwerp): SOS Children’s Villages, supported by the European Open, has a mission to build families for children in need, help them shape their own futures and share in the development of their communities. Established in 1949 in Austria with a commitment to help children following the Second World War, SOS has grown to help children all over the world who are orphaned, abandoned or whose families are unable to care for them. Prior to last year’s tournament, the European Open in collaboration with the Kim Clijsters Academy, raised € 25.000 for SOS Children’s Villages new multi-sport ground in Tryavna, Bulgaria through a successful World Record attempt by Peugeot, in which tennis coach Maxime Braeckman set a new record by playing 40 consecutive matches of tennis over 25 hours.

China Open (Beijing): The Beijing Golden Wings Art Rehabilitation Service Center For Disabled Children provides a unique charitable service to the families of disabled children and a unique rehabilitation program through all forms of art education. Its mobile art museum has featured 2,300 pieces of Gold Wings students’ art works and been seen by more than one hundred thousand visitors over a three-year span, with the organisation raising ￥600,000.00 for the students’ families over seven years. Since 2015, the China Open Little Painter programme with Golden Wings has given children the opportunity to understand and learn about tennis through painting, with the artwork made into posters by the tournament. In 2016, the organisation established the first tennis team of autistic children in China, which will be further supported by the ATP ACES For Charity grant.

Rio Open presented by Claro: The Rio Open supports four social projects benefitting 436 children and their families, promoting internal tournaments, clinics, interaction with their idols, among many other things. The biggest project supported by the tournament, Tênis Para Todos, has a mission to provide integrity and education to children in a well-known Brazilian favela. Tênis Para Todos provides complete nutrition, uniforms, classes, transportation, sports equipment, monthly events outside the hotel and even 100 per cent scholarship at Estacio University if they achieve all the requirements. The ATP ACES For Charity grant will help support the project for another 12 months, paying for the children’s courses. The tournament’s other beneficiaries are Tênis Solidário, Tênis na Lagoa and Escolinha de Tênis Fabiano de Paula. Watch: Rio Open Supports Social Projects

Apia International Sydney: CSJ leMoNaiD, supported by the Apia International Sydney, was founded by 13-year-old Juliette Jones with a mission to stop Motor Neurone Disease (ALS). It has a goal of raising awareness and creating a steady flow of revenue into research for a cure. First established as a lemonade stand in 2014, the sale of leMoNaiD has raised more than $20,000 through the Go Fund Me page and a regular Saturday stall at the Ramsgate Foodie and Farmers Market in Sydney. Funds from the ATP ACES for Charity programme will significantly help Juliette and leMoNaiD hit its $40,000 target in order to continue to produce leMoNaiD and to recruit Dr Dominic Rowe and his neurology team at Macquarie University’s research facility.

He’s currently at the top of the tennis world, but how do Andy Murray’s fellow ATP World Tour stars treat him now that he’s been knighted?

The 29-year-old Scot received the title in Queen Elizabeth II’s New Year’s Honours list, and the recognition hasn’t been ignored by his peers, who have reportedly been calling him “Sir”.

“A few of the players have been joking about it, but I don’t expect any of them to call me by that seriously,” Murray said after his first-round win at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open on Tuesday. “For me it’s more the sort of honour or recognition of what you’ve achieved. It’s obviously very, very nice.”

Keeping himself grounded, Murray joked he will keep the status quo in terms of what he asks to be called.

“I wouldn’t think I would use the ‘Sir’ much nowadays. I feel like I used to say that to teachers and people much, much older than me.

“Andy is good.”

World No. 1 Andy Murray began his 2017 ATP World Tour season in fine fashion on Tuesday when he defeated Jeremy Chardy 6-0, 7-6(2) at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. The Briton is now 25 matches unbeaten.

Murray came out fresh in the first set, dropping only seven points. The Dunblane native secured the first round victory after 81 minutes. He will next face Gerald Melzer, who needed two hours to defeat Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-2.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the fifth seed, fought his way past Andrey Kuznetsov 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 in 87 minutes and awaits the winner of the match between Dustin Brown and Facundo Bagnis. The Frenchman is making his first appearance in Doha since beating Gael Monfils in the 2012 final.

Sixth seed Ivo Karlovic fired 13 aces and did not face a break point to beat Illya Marchenko 7-6(5), 7-6(0). He next faces NextGen star Karen Khachanov, a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Mubarak Shannan Zayid in 57 minutes. Elsewhere, Seventh seed Philipp Kohlschreiber overcame Malek Jaziri 6-2, 7-6(3) in one hour and 43 minutes.

Top Team Advances To Quarter-Finals

World No. 1 doubles team Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares began their 2017 season with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Marcos Baghdatis and Marcin Matkowski. They next face David Marrero and Nenad Zimonjic in the quarter-finals.

Second seeds Mate Pavic and Alexander Peya were upset by Nicolas Almagro and Fernando Verdasco. The all-Spanish duo won 7-6(3), 5-7, 10-7 to set a quarter-final meeting with Facundo Bagnis and Jiri Vesely, who were 6-4, 7-6(7) winners over Philipp Kohlschreiber and Jan-Lennard Struff. Third seeds Vasek Pospisil and Radek Stepanek beat Paolo Lorenzi and Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4 to reach the last eight.

Benoit Paire lost just three of his first service points (23/26) to beat Konstantin Kravchuk 6-3, 6-4 on Tuesday at the Aircel Chennai Open. The fifth-seeded Frenchman next faces home hope Yuki Bhambri, a 6-1, 6-1 winner over Indian compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan.

Seventh seed Mikhail Youzhny, who lifted the trophy in 2008 (d. Nadal), proved too strong for wild card Saketh Myneni, 6-4, 6-3. He will next face Renzo Olivo, a 7-6(3), 6-2 victor over wild card Casper Ruud.

Yen-Hsun Lu, the eighth seed, topped Radu Albot 6-2, 6-1 to set a second-round meeting with NextGen’s Daniil Medvedev. Aljaz Bedene, who reached his first ATP World Tour final as a qualifier in Chennai two years ago (l. to Wawrinka), will play fourth seed Martin Klizan after he saved all five break points he faced in recording his third straight win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in a 6-3, 6-3 victory.

In doubles, James Cerretani and Philipp Oswald upset top seeds Jonathan Erlich and Scott Lipsky 6-4, 1-6, 10-8 to reach the quarter-finals.

Sixth seed Lucas Pouille recovered from a disastrous start to get the better of his French compatriot Gilles Simon for the first time on Tuesday at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. Roger Federer’s training partner during the off-season, who is currently No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, edged past Simon 7-6(6), 7-6(4) in two hours and six minutes.

Pouille was down 0-5 in first set against Simon and worried that he might be headed for a repeat of the 6-0, 6-1 loss to Simon in Miami last year. But he rallied en route to claiming his first win in three career meetings. Pouille saved two sets points in the first set at 2-5, 30/40 and at 5/6 in the tie-break, and another two set points at 4-5 in the second set.

“I used what happened in Miami as inspiration to fight back,” said Pouille. “I tried to stay focused, to be solid, more consistent, a little more aggressive and things turned out better.”

In other first-round matches, wild card Sam Groth delighted the local crowd with a 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 win over Pierre-Hugues Herbert. The Aussie held serve to stay in the match at 4-5 in the deciding set. Groth improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Herbert to 2-0, with the other win also coming in Brisbane in 2014.

“It’s been a while since I had a tour-level win. After last year it was nice to start the year with a win, that’s for sure,” said Groth, who struggled with injuries throughout 2016. “Foot feels good, body feels good, had a full off-season. I felt like I was moving better today than I probably moved for the whole of last year.”

Next up for the big server is fourth seed Dominic Thiem. The Austrian, currently No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 2-0, with both straight-set performances coming this past season in Miami and Stuttgart.

Qualifier and #NextGen star Jared Donaldson recorded an impressive 6-4, 6-4 win over veteran Gilles Muller. The 20-year-old American won 82 per cent of his first serve points and wrapped up victory in just 75 minutes. His reward is a tough second-round battle against third seed Kei Nishikori.

Viktor Troicki advanced on Tuesday with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over qualifier and #NextGen star Yoshihito Nishioka. Next up for the Serbian is second seed Stan Wawrinka. The Swiss star leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 6-0, including two victories this past season at Roland Garros and St. Petersburg.