Making A Difference | Liezel Huber

ALONIA RIGGLETON is matter-of-fact as she speaks from the FEMA trailer in her front yard, six feet from the house she is rebuilding in New Orleans's Ninth Ward: "I think I'd be dead if it wasn't for Liezel Huber." The unlikely pair—Riggleton is a 61-year-old retired New Orleans police officer, Huber, 31, the WTA's top-ranked doubles player—met in Houston in September 2005, where Riggleton (third from right) had fled in advance of Hurricane Katrina.

Huber (in green), whose church had opened as a shelter, spent 18-hour days providing clothing, food and housing for displaced families. Riggleton estimates that Huber donated $10,000 to help Riggleton and her family, including the $800 rent for six months on an apartment she found them in Houston. (Riggleton moved back to New Orleans in '06, and her house should be finished in the next few months.) Huber solicited donations from fellow pros such as Martina Navratilova, Jennifer Capriati and Lisa Raymond and started Liezel's Cause (liezelscause.com), a private nonprofit foundation to help victims of Katrina.

Huber has helped more than 20 families relocate while winning 12 doubles titles. "I'm very proud of her," says Riggleton, who hopes to attend one of Huber's matches. "I will never live long enough to tell the story of how much she's helped me."