King: The First Women's Tennis Player

Definitive proof of Ashe’s paramount position in tennis would be that he placed 1st at every tennis tournament he went to, and every tennis open there was.

Althea Gibson played the sport tennis and she Is the one who made the game tennis. They both wanted to be something In life. Barbara Jordan wanted to be a professor. When Althea was a child, she struggle and she loved to play sports. Althea was Inducted Into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971, later she served as and Commissioner of Athletics for the state of New Jersey. Jordan she had suffered from multiple sclerosis since 1973 and she was In a wheelchair bound by the time she was Invited to give her second Democratic Convention Keynote Address In 1992. Also they both achieve something that they wanted In life so If they can do It you can do

Althea Gibson: the first African-American to win the French championships, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Nationals.

being one of the first African-Americans to play on the United States Davis Cup team (“Life Story - Arthur Ashe, para. 3, 15). Arthur Ashe became an official professional tennis player in 1970, and his criticisms of South Africa’s racial policy lead to him being banned from the South Africa open tournament, leading to South Africa’s exclusion in the 1970 Davis Cup. (The

Althea Gibson was born in 1927 in South Carolina to two sharecroppers on a cotton farm. Her family later during the Great depression moved to Harlem. With the support of her neighbors for money, she received lessons at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club and in 1941, she won the ATA national championship in the girls division (Trong).Althea gibson was a great influence and role model for African Americans by being the first African American to win as many championships as she did , showing what African Americans could accomplish in tennis, and opening doors for African Americans . Althea Gibson influenced African Americans by being the being the first African American to win as many championships as she did.

Gibson, by this time, could now compete against tennis players globally because the segregation barrier had been somewhat transcended. She won the 1955 Italian Championships and the following year, her first Grand Slam titles win, capturing the French Championships in singles and in doubles with partner, Angela Buxton. Gibson became the first black person to win a title at Wimbledon, capturing the doubles title with

American professional tennis player Serena Williams has won over Grand Slam Single titles and several Olympic gold medals. “At age American Serena and her sister Venus started playing tennis. “(A&E) Since turning pro she’s countless awards and

was born on July 10th, 1943 in Richmond VA. His father was Arthur Ashe Sr. and his mother was Mattie Cunningham Ashe. When Ashe was four years old his mother Mattie passed away and Arthur was left with only his brother, Johnnie Ashe, and his father. Two year later, Arthur Ashe played tennis for the first time. He like it and started taking lessons from Dr. Walter Johnson and Ronald Charity. Arthur Ashe would go to win the Junior National Championship in 1960 and 1961. These wins attracted many colleges, and Arthur was offered a full scholarship from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). During this time he was selected to be on the US Davis Cup team and for about 10 years he helped the US win in 1963, 1968, 1969. In 1966 Arthur graduated from UCLA with a degree in business. Immediately he joined the army and was shipped to West Point where he rose to the rank of second lieutenant from

Althea Gibson became a professional tennis player in 1959. During this time women did have rights. This might have made it easier being that Althea Gibson was a African American Female. In the case of Barbara C. Jordan in 1974 she was running to be within the government. She had made yet another jump for African American women all over America. They were both the first of their race to accomplish these tasks. In an article entitled “Barbara C. Jordan” it states “She was the first black woman elected to the Texas state senate and the first black Texan in

She was also the first president of the Women’s Tennis Association, as well as helping to develop the WomenSports magazine (Baugess, 2012). Along with advocating for women in sports, Billie was also one of the first openly gay female athletes at the time. Although being public about her sexuality was not her choice. In 1981 Billie Jean King was publically outed by her girlfriend at the time Marilyn Barnett (Hingston, 2011). Marilyn Barnett filed a lawsuit against King for palimony leading for King to acknowledge her sexuality.

Serena Williams is the number one women’s tennis player in the world. Her outstanding skills have earned her 50 million dollars through just prizes; that is more than any other athlete in the world (“Serena Williams Fast Facts”). Her fast reflexes, amazing skills, and outgoing personality have made her known as a powerful woman and an inspiration to many young girls. This African-American woman is almost six feet tall and is made of steel. With her long, muscular legs and her quick arms, no wonder she is number one!

King supported peace agreements and movements until he was assassinated April 4, 1968. He wanted equality for all races and the world followed him and

Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer shows the dedication and drive that women had to have in order to be successful at sports in the twentieth contrary. Billie Jean King who came from a very athletic family first got her inspiration to succeed at sports from the athletic sermons she herd in church every Sunday as a young child. One of her friends was starting to play tenses and she wanted to start also. After working around the neighborhood to earn the money for her first racket, Billie Jean King overcame many obstacles along with great personal struggles to become the best professional tennis player of her time.

Bobby Riggs, who was formerly ranked the number one tennis player in the world, challenged King to a match (Lankhof). Although it was somewhat of a publicity stunt and Riggs was well past his prime at the age of 56, the game symbolized all that King had been working for throughout her career. More than 30,000 people watched in the stadium and fifty million others viewed from their televisions. King recalls, “I knew I had to win. I knew that we had worked so hard and that if Billie Jean King didn’t win that everything we had worked so hard for, for two and a half years, would go up in smoke in two and a half hours” (Calabria).

Tennis has a long standing history that like many other sports has been around for a long time. There is thin evidence to suggest that tennis has been around for thousands of years suggesting that the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans had played it (Barzum). However, for many tennis is known to have really begun in London in 1874 Major Walter C. Wingfield patented the game of tennis (Barzum). That same year saw the tournament at Wimbledon be played for the first time but at this time it was only men that were allowed to participate. Ten years later in 1884 women were finally able to participate at Wimbledon (Barzum). Tennis 100 percent a white mans sport until 1968 the beginning of the open era of tennis when