Fiona Crawley at 2023 US Open.Photo:Mike Lawrence/USTA via AP
Mike Lawrence/USTA via AP
Fiona Crawleyis staying motivated after her run at the US Open, despite forgoing over $80,000 in prize money to keep her NCAA eligibility.
Reaching the main draw of the US Open allowed Crawley to collect $81,000 in prize money, according toThe News & Observer, which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill athlete will not collect.
“I would never take the money and never risk my eligibility, but I worked my butt off this week and it seems unreal that there are football and basketball players making millions in NIL deals, and I can’t take the money that I worked so hard for,” she said, per the outlet.
Crawley, 21, faced a first-round loss to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Tuesday night, 6-2, 6-4, after winning three qualifying matches last week.
“I’ve dreamed about this moment for so long … since I was 5 years old and old enough to know what the US Open was,” shesaid in an interviewposted to the tennis tournament’s website before her main draw debut.
“After the match, when I finished, I definitely was in shock. I’ve had a day and night to process it, and I’m still definitely in shock,” she said. “I feel like I won’t really digest it until I’m about to serve or return the first point of my first [main-draw] match.”
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Crawley has been arising star at the collegiate level, winning multiple awards, including being named the 2023 ITA National Player of the Year and receiving the 2023 ACC Player of the Year award.
According to her bio on the university’swebsite, Crawley learned how to play tennis in Japan between the ages of 6 and 9.
Fiona Crawley at US Open.Pete Staples/USTA via AP
Pete Staples/USTA via AP
On Thursday, she and teammate Carson Tanguilig fellshort in the women’s doublescompetition losing to Irina Khromacheva and Daria Saville 2-6, 2-6.
source: people.com
