A moment worth celebrating: WTA Foundation ACEing cancer at Roland Garros
On Sunday, May 24, Court Philippe-Chatrier was filled not with the sound of competition, but with the kind of purpose that reminds you why sport matters in the first place.
The WTA Foundation and Cancer Research Racquet hosted 200 cancer research supporters at Roland Garros, bringing together cancer survivors, players and advocates to honor the life-saving work they do together in collaboration with the American Cancer Society.
The gathering was a reflection of something the WTA Foundation has long understood -- that women face persistent gaps in research, investment, access to care, inequities that affect their health, performance and long-term well-being. From sport to communities worldwide, these disparities limit opportunity and prevent women from reaching their full potential. Events like these exist because closing those gaps requires the global sports community to show up, speak out and act.
Among those on hand in support of the event were Martina Navratilova and Gabriela Dabrowski, two women who know firsthand what's at stake. Both are cancer survivors, as well as tireless advocates for the program and the lives it fights to protect. Their presence was a powerful reminder of why this work matters, and what it looks like when athletes use their platforms for a purpose that reaches far beyond the court.
The occasion was also marked by a milestone, as the WTA Foundation and Cancer Research Racquet presented a $297,000 check toward research to fight women's cancers. The funds will be directed towards breast cancer research led by Rebecca Riggins, PhD. Riggins is a professor in the Department of Oncology at Georgetown University, a member of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and a research grantee of the American Cancer Society. Dr. Riggins' work represents exactly the kind of targeted, expert-driven research that ACEing Cancer was created to fuel, putting resources directly into the hands of those working on the front lines of women's cancer research.
Launched in 2019, ACEing Cancer was built on a simple but powerful belief that sport can be a force for raising awareness, promoting early detection and advancing research for women's health and cancer. It is part of a broader mission that the WTA Foundation carries into everything it does, mobilizing the global sports community to advance better health standards, expand access to essential care and support solutions that enable women and girls to thrive in competition, leadership and life.
Sunday was proof of that community coming together, united by the belief that every woman deserves the resources and care to reach her full potential.