Federer serves up big bonus for Oxfam

Did you watch Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer win his seventh Wimbledon gentlemen’s Grand Slam title on Sunday? I did, and it was nail-biting stuff when he lost the first set to Andy Murray. But then Federer came back by winning the next three sets and take the champion’s trophy. He could have won his seventh Wimbledon two years ago but he came unstuck against Rafa Nadal. And last year, Federer was knocked out of the competition in the quarter-final.

But this year, he prevailed. Once he had overcome Novak Djokovic in the semi-final, it was rather expected that he would also win in the final.

It was reported in the newspapers today that one of the biggest beneficiaries of Federer’s success was Oxfam, an international confederation of 17 organisations networked together in 92 countries as part of a global movement for change to build a future free from the injustice of poverty.

Oxfam had inherited a betting slip that was willed to the organisation by a recluse and tennis fan, Nick Newlife, who had died in 2009. Newlife had placed a wager of £1,520 in 2003 on the Swiss tennis champion to win Wimbledon seven times by 2019 at odds of 66-1.

Newlife died three years ago and in his will, he bequeathed the betting slip to the charity. When he passed away in 2009 aged 69, Oxfam narrowly missed out on the prize money when Federer crashed out to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga last year. On Sunday, with Oxfam bosses watching in delight, Newlife’s bold gamble won them the six-figure sum of £101,840.

All the news about this wager here. However, I wouldn’t really recommend that you emulate Newlife by willing away your lottery tickets.

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