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Even though he has yet to crack the Top 100 in the world rankings, Zizou Bergs is already giving back. The 23-year-old Belgian, fresh off his fifth ATP Challenger title in Tallahassee, Fla., shared how his unused tennis gear is getting a second life in Burundi.

Bergs, in partnership with his longtime sponsor Yonex and friend Marcel Van der Haegen, has been donating clothing and equipment to people in the East African country for the last eight years. Bergs first visited Burundi at the age of 15, and told the ATP Tour's Grant Thompson that he was moved by the conditions that the people live in there. Burundi is one of the world's poorest nations.

"You grow up in a very good culture, in a very good country and you think everything is quite normal that you have all these clothes, shoes, racquets, you can string whenever you want, get great food at the table every day. That is not common [there]," Bergs said. "It really opened my eyes. They would play with my [stuff], even if it was like five sizes too big, they would still play with it. That really touched me.”

Earlier this year, the ITF World Tennis Tour came to Burundi for the first time in 10 years, and staged its first women's professional tournament. There, Bergs' influence could be felt: A friend reported to him that she spotted multiple men wearing Bergs' donated clothes and playing with his racquets in the capital city of Bujumbura.

“That was heartwarming that they're so grateful for that,” Bergs said. “I definitely have enough clothes to keep sending them every year. At a certain point, Yonex [started] helping us, too. We're definitely grateful that Yonex is also willing to support me and the project I have, even though it's very small.

"It's important to me that it's not only taking, because tennis has given me a lot. It's giving back and I really like that in this project.”

Bergs reached his career-high ranking of No. 112 in February of this year, and returned to the Top 150 on the back of his triumph in Tallahassee.