Tennis Star Starts an Animal Rescue
The tennis season just wrapped up and we got to see some of the best tennis players in the world go head-to-head in tournaments worldwide. Wimbledon, the oldest tennis tournament in the world, showcased the talent of players from around the globe, including Canada native Denis Shapovalov. However, in April he set his eyes beyond the court to team up with fellow tennis pros Cornelius Haarmann and Nadia Abdala to found ShapoShelter. This was an initiative to help shelter pets find their forever families.
Shapovalov has been a long-time animal lover. Last year on a trip to Athens, he paid a visit to Save a Greek Stray, which is an Athen-based non-profit that works to rescue the strays of the city and find them forever homes. “Animals have always had a special place in my heart, and even with everything they have been through, each dog was super loving and happy,” said Denis of the experience.
Shapovalov is an animal lover. He is a cat and dog dad and when he announced the launch of ShapoShelter, he took to Twitter to say, “I have a huge love for animals, and over the years, I’ve heard so many cruel stories about animals that were so helpless and I’ve always wanted to do more to help them.” So he did.
ShapoShelter is not a shelter itself but instead acts as a spotlight to showcase animals in need all over the U.S. and Mexico. They partner with existing shelters like Humane Societies or Mexico’s Adopta Una Amigo Para Siempre to give them national attention and help pets in search of families find a wider audience.
For those curious if this initiative is making an impact, it is. Denis Shapovalov has a reach of 600k Instagram followers and his Twitter announcement of the launch of this organization amassed over a quarter of a million views. Denis says, “With ShapoShelter, we’re going to highlight the stories of these poor animals that can’t tell their own stories in the hopes of finding them new homes.”
This organization is working hard to pair families with the perfect dog for them. And it only makes sense that a person with a tennis career is doing work to help animals with a love of fetching tennis balls!