Billionaire star Jessica Pegula offers to help flooded city she has special connection to

Jessica Pegula, the world's richest tennis player, has offered to lend a helping hand to the citizens of a town ravaged by Hurricane Helene. The storm was the most powerful hurricane ever to strike the Big Bend region of Florida before moving inland and claiming more lives.

Most of the fatalities have been reported in North and South Carolina, where Helena landed as a tropical storm. At least 30 people are thought to have been killed in Buncombe County, home to the mountain city of Asheville where Pegula got married in 2021.

Taking to social media, Pegula said she was heartbroken by the devastation and asked for ways in which she could help the victims of the disaster.

She posted on X, formerly Twitter: "Asheville always holds a special place in my heart because it's where I got married. I can't believe the devastation right now. So many people stranded and missing.

"I hope everyone is staying as safe as they possibly can. What are some ways we can help?"

Pegula is technically worth billions as she is poised to inherit the wealth of her father, Terry, who is one of the richest businessmen in the United States. Her parents are the owners of two sports teams, the Buffalo Bills in the NFL and the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL.

Her father made his fortune in the oil and gas sectors and boasts an incredible net worth of around £5.7 billion, according to Forbes. The family's impressive wealth technically makes Pegula far richer than Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic combined.

Earlier this year, Pegula hit back at reports about her wealthy background and insisted that it never had an impact on her career.

Speaking on an episode of Netflix series Break Point, she said: "Some people get this image that it's really easy for me because my dad is very wealthy but that didn't happen until I was 17 or 18.

"My dad was probably more hard on me than my mum, the more old-school one pushing me. They gave me a great childhood and instilled a lot of work ethic in me. This definitely got me to this point.

"The journalists that write about me have no freaking clue. I can't buy my way into a semi-final. I was just like, what kind of clickbait trash is this? I would definitely give up everything to win tournaments."