evonne goolagong was the first black tennis player to win a grand slam.
evonne goolagong was the first black tennis player to win a grand slam.
first black tennis player to win a grand slam?
evonne goolagong
althea gibson became the first black player to play in a grand slam event in 1950 (in 1957 she became the first black player to win the tournament), and billie jean king was the first player to win a grand slam event with a metal racket in 1967. in 1968, the year of the first televised broadcast of the us open, arthur ashe became the first black man to win a grand slam tournament there. beginning in 1971 the stadium was home to the annual robert f. kennedy memorial tennis tournament which was a celebrity pro-am for charity featuring the likes of chevy chase, arnold schwarzenegger, carlos santana, edward m. kennedy, elton john and more throughout the decade.
west side tennis club
as an african-american, ryland was the first black tennis player to compete in the ncaa national championships, the first black player/coach to lead a college team twice to the small college national championships, the first black tennis player to play at the los angeles tennis club and the first african-american to play tennis professionally. he has been inducted into the wayne state university athletic hall of fame (1991), the black tennis hall of fame (2009), and the eastern tennis hall of fame in 2002, where he also received a lifetime achievement award in 2012. ryland has also given lectures at the harlem armory, the arthur ashe youth tennis and education and the usta billie jean king national tennis center.
bob ryland