Champions On and Off the Court: Tennis players, Karen Khachanov, Andrey Rublev, and Andre Agassi

[Music] Karen hainov he's your winner tonight ladies and gentlemen Garin kachanov is a professional tennis player ranked number 15th in the world Ken congratulations this is your seventh Australian Open it was your after playing at Indian Wells and just before the Miami open kachanov made a stop in Los Angeles to play a charity exhibition match with his childhood friend and fifth ranking tennis pro Andre rublev they were play they were playing before you know we grew up together we were practicing a lot and uh we played many doubles I guess everyone was watching our matches and I think it's great to share the course today with Andre panov has reached the quarterfinals of all four grand slams and was in the semi-finals of the 2022 US Open and the 2023 Australian Open he won the silver medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and in 2024 he won the Qatar open Kar I don't have so much spare time you know to do it constantly say more often but uh you know I like to do master classes like or interactions with the kids like kids they on the court but they just wanted to talk to me or to make photo or to to get a gift so I think it's great you know if you can do some good things like that let's say G set he is a champion on the tennis court and a force off the court with a passion and pride for his Armenian Roots do you have a nickname John like Ken John yeah it's all you cannot or you know sometimes he likes to call himself in a shower Armenian Warrior he's been outspoken about his Heritage posting pictures on social media about his trip to Armenia in 2021 and using his Global platform to show his support for Armenian issues I've been saying this many times that I have Armenian Roots you know I was born in Russia but uh um you know my family was part half Armenian half Russian so um that's why I always said that you know for me is very important you know I always have um I'm attached to to this country you know and um kachanov made headlines in 2023 during the Australian Open he wrote a message to Armenians in artak on the camera lens the first one reading artso stay strong and the other saying keep believing all the way until the end artso stays strong Karen hatchin off is half Armenian and he explained that the messages were a symbol of support to his people the people of arak are Armenians who lived on indigenous land conflict over the territory led to a 44-day war in 2020 a blockade followed more than 12,000 artak residents were left without food fuel or medical supplies you telling [Music] [Music] me the humanitarian crisis led to a mass Exodus from the region Armenians across the world watched [Music] helplessly Hop's public support inspired members of omet man glendel arat a nonprofit organization in Los Angeles serving the largest Armenian population outside of Armenia to organize a charity exhibition match to raise money to help the thousands who've been displaced last year's exhibition helped a lot of families I'm happy to report that because of his support homeed when was able to buy hundreds of boxes of baby formula and get it to families who needed it desperately during the blockade give yourselves a round of applause because many of you participated and it's because of your support that that's possible we met last year with um you know Amendment arat you know here I think they're doing a good job I support um all the directions they they move and all the causes let's say that we try to to bring up the money you know [Music] for hello and welcome everyone to the 2024 katanov arat fundraiser this year's charity weekend kicked off with a private Charity Dinner at Lulu's at the Hammer Museum in La the dinner sponsored by movie producer Dr Eric esraelian and his family his son Andrew esraelian told us how Garen inspired him to get involved in organizing the charity event he went over to the camera and then he wrote like we will never give up like our talk stay strong and I was like oh my gosh like this is amazing I'm my heart just like lifted I was like he really does feel Armenian like this is a star someone in our community who relates to like his struggles my like my uh ethnic group struggles it's amazing I I felt so connected with him and after that I was like this guy is amazing you know the support is tremendous I'm happy to be part of it I'm proud to be part of it and uh hopefully it's going to be a tradition you know maybe supporting the fundraising efforts a surprise guest another tennis Legend with Armenian Roots we're also joined by a very special guest first family friend and Tennis Legend Andre [Applause] [Music] Agy it was really interesting to chat with him I think from a champion like him uh to hear some advises and some stuff I think it's always great for for myself to take uh and consider some some changes let's say [Applause] we may be a small country but we're a global Nation thanks to all of you let's show them that Armenians you know what we may be small but we're [Applause] Mighty 3,000 right here we have 35 35 35 35 going once do 3,000 a piece and we'll sign one more to 3,000 a piece I love that 3,000 3,000 let's go 3,000 [Applause] [Music] pleas the next morning Ken visited home and atment glendel arat campus to meet and greet dozens of athletes and their families he spent hours answering questions and talking with young athletes giving away a 100 tennis rackets and uniforms sponsored by Nike and Wilson what type of streams do you use and what pension here you want to see but you're very precise question you're a professional I can see check come and it's 232 1 kilos thank you all for coming out and we have a couple of Wilson [Music] gear when Gan came to ARA when he saw the keys and when the kids saw him I think that excitement alone uh some of these kids Carin was probably an icon and Idol for them for a while and the fact that now they had the chance to actually see him talk to him ask some very interesting questions I believe they would never forget that I always uh uh you know feel so happy when any Armenian athlete in the world no matter what sport uh wins something has an achievement and makes us proud I will my a the basketball game I got very emotional because we had young athletes who are our board members kids uh we had a professional athlete we had someone who's been here for 45 years and and us just it it literally is the whole epitome of batti batur you know you elevate yourself and then you elevate others we know that it's going to uh inspire all the young athletes um their dreams we know that we living in us which you know Athletics are so high and so competitive but we should not uh uh kill their friends they should think that okay they can one day become a kenanov Kobe Brian doesn't matter who thank you guys let's go show me you're excited to see Ken and Andre play this incredible match today the weekend coming to an end with the exhibition match at UCL Garen kachanov versus Andre [Music] [Applause] rublev I think it's great to share the course today with Andre I would like that everybody give a big Applause to him to to to accept our serious invitation to the serious exhibition here we are still learning how to give the balls in the nice way and uh I think uh the the main point is to enjoy and I hope you guys enjoy and we do it for a for a good cause thank you what's your favorite Armenian food dolma [Applause] have you tried Armenian food uh yes I think with Karen what's your favorite which my favorite k l thank you for being here this means a lot to us can we give him a round of applause thank you so much guys thank you Armenian Warrior he likes to call himself like this I know that he I know that he have this I know that he have this nickname in the chess chess.com you have a nickname Armenian Warrior thank you for coming apprciate of Theo exec we would like Tok for trly taking us we would like to present certific they are proclamation of gratitude our committee presented an attendance that was actually designed by our committee members it had the Armenian alphabet in the back and their names and a logo AR's logo on on top and it was the the piece itself was very beautiful and um I think it it will be a nice also item for them to remember this event [Music] forever the charity weekend raised $100,000 they'll be going to Armenian families from artak from Los Angeles I'm silvara pon [Music]