Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal, among other players, expressed sympathy and support for the victims of Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake in Japan and the resulting tsunami that has killed thousands, as well as caused an explosion at a nuclear power plant. At Indian Wells, Sharapova,who was born in the wake of the Chernobyl accident in Ukraine 25 years ago, was a wearing a shirt noting the April 26 anniversary date of the disaster. She runs a foundation that gives scholarships to youths from the area around Chernobyl.
"Crazy, right? Can you believe one disaster 25 years ago? Now another? In terms of what's going on over there, it's crazy and something that you can't even prepare for," she said. "It happens, and you see the coverage on it and the videos, and it's really incredible that something like that can even happen in the world. It opens your eyes, and obviously puts a lot of perspective in your life. [Japan] is a country where I have very great memories from. I started playing there when I was very young, and I always loved my experiences there. So to see it going on there to its culture and the people, it's really sad.”
Nadal added that he would like to something for Japan while at Indian Wells: "All of us are have connection with Japan, especially myself. I was there last year, and the people was always really nice with me, so I am open to do everything for Japan, and am very sorry and so sad, because what's happening is terrible. So hopefully the situation gets better soon. Seems like gonna be difficult. But if we can help, I don't know which way, but for sure we gonna try something." - MC