The First African American Tennis

508 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The history of table tennis essay

What exactly is tennis? How long has tennis been around? As, we all know tennis is a sport that has been around for many generations. In today’s world tennis is a very popular sport. Tennis is popular in the world Olympics. In my paper, I will be discussing the history of tennis. I will also, be discussing about the first black male and female tennis player’s. Many historians believe that tennis was introduced thousands of years ago when the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans were around. Historians also, believe that tennis was developed around the 12th century. When the monks created the game of tennis they called it game of the hand or Jea de Paume. Around the 12th century the monks learned how to play tennis with a rope or played against …show more content…

In 1599 the Europeans loved the game of tennis however, the rise of puritanism caused the game of tennis in Europe to suffer. Puritanism almost caused the game of tennis to be deserted for good. Around the 16th century people in the country of Europe was using a glove before they started using a racquet to play tennis. When they introduced the racquet in the 16th century tennis had reached its peak of popularity in Europe.
So, who is the first black male tennis player? A man named Arthur Ashe was the first African American male tennis player to win the United States Open and Wimbledon. He was born on July 10, 1943 in Richmond Virginia. He is also, first African American to be ranked as the number one tennis player in the entire world. He was the first African American to be introduced in the international tennis hall of fame. After his death, his legacy still lives on today.
Who is the first black female tennis player? Her name was Althea Gibson. Althea was born on August 25, 1927 in South Carolina. When she was a little she developed a passion for playing tennis. One of the problems around 1940’s and 1950’s was that a lot of African Americans had a hard time to be able to play in tournaments. She was the first African American woman to play at

Show More
Related

  • Indigenous Australian People: Evonne Goolagong-Cawley

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    She used to practice the tennis by hitting the ball against a wall with anything she found. Then, her shy nature was another barrier during her sport career. She either preferred to be alone or be in the company of older people, which stopped her being a part of the team. “She admitted her shy nature to an Australian newspaper” (Encyclopedia, 2004). Further, she faced racial comments and bias behaviour during her career. Tatz & Tatz 2000 (as cited in Sean Gorman, 2010) highlighted the racial comments by a senior Victorian politician during 1980 Wimbeldon tournament when he said, “he hoped she “wouldn’t go walkabout like some old boong”. However, Goolagong raised as a star among these racial comments and mostly remained silent. “She chose to let her work on the court speak for itself and remain mostly silent” (Net Industries, 2015). She emerged as a rising star amongst white

    Read More

  • Althea Gibson

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the time that Althea was emerging as a recognized tennis player, African American’s opportunities were somewhat limitied. One organization called the American Tennis Association provided tounament opportunities for African American tennis players. In 1942, Althea Gibson had her first landmark

    Read More

  • Billie Jean King Research Paper

    534 Words  | 2 Pages

    This had a positive impact on society because of what she did to make a change. Billie Jean King is a pro tennis player who wanted the pay in sports to be equal for women. She won many tournaments such as Wimbledon women’s singles, U.S. Open singles and the French Open. “.first woman athlete to win more than $100,000 in a single year” (“Billie Jean King”). Billie Jean King noticed that women were not winning the same amount as men in prize money.

    Read More

  • Billie Jean King Thesis Statement

    1432 Words  | 3 Pages

    Billie Jean King is known as not only one of the best female tennis players of all time, but also as one of the leading activist in the LGBT community. Billie Jean King was born on November 22, 1943 in Long Beach, California. As a child King decided that she wanted to be the best women’s tennis player in the world, and she accomplished her goal in 1967. She went on to win multiple grand slams and went down as one of the best to ever play the game. King was married for 22 years from 1965 to 1987 even though she came out as lesbian in 1981 amid a lawsuit from her former female lover. King was one of the first openly gay athletes and she did not shy away from the public scrutiny that came along with it at the time. She lost all her sponsorships

    Read More

  • The Determined Victor Jimmy Connors

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    A champion was born unknowingly on September 2, 1952. A child was born to rise above his comrades. He was born James Scott Connors after his father. From the time he was barely three years old, no one could tell that little Jimmy was going to be a champion. Destined for glory his mother and grandmother knew that for Jimmy to be great he would have to work extremely hard. So everyday until Jimmy was a teenager his mother and grandmother would drill him with tennis balls, seeing early that he had tremendous talent. Small for his age, Jimmy had to make up for it somehow. So while other children his age played with toys or watched T.V., Jimmy would be out on the tennis court working on his game. Jimmy wanted to be the best. He knew that his success depended on his speed and his technique.

    Read More

  • History Of Racquetball

    620 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1968, Sobek started talking to the head of the US Handball Association, Robert Kendler. In 1968 the National Paddle Racquet Association held the very first racquetball tournament called the Gut-Strung Paddle Rackets National Championship. It was held in Milwaukee. The next year Kendler started the International Racquetball Association, and racquetball got its official name.

    Read More

  • Racquetball

    6997 Words  | 14 Pages

    Racquetball is a competitive game in which a strung racquet is used to serve and return the ball.

    Read More

  • First African Americans In Basketball History Essay

    781 Words  | 2 Pages

    Earl Lloyd Became The First Black Player In The NBA 1.) The history of African-American’s in basketball players opened opportunities for African American’s to have hope about be part of entertainment, to have a higher paying job, and to begin to end discrimination about African-Americans in sports.

    Read More

  • Arthur Ashe's Accomplishments

    2019 Words  | 5 Pages

    United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young once said, “he took the burden of race and wore it as a cloak of dignity” (Bradley). A promising career as a tennis player, being the first African American tennis player to be ranked number one in the world, was paralleled with success in the battle for racial equality around the world (“Achievements”). People were touched and impacted, yet they only know him for his tennis accomplishments. He, Arthur Ashe, dedicated his life to helping others, as his life was goal was to help the poor, unfortunate, and misinformed (Carter). Arthur Ashe’s advanced coaching, competition, and acceptance into UCLA all led to his successful tennis career, including playing in the Davis Cup for the US and coaching the US

    Read More

  • How Did Arthur Ashe Influence The Sports World

    605 Words  | 2 Pages

    Johnson, Ashe began to play in competitions. In 1958, Arthur Ashe became the first African-American to participate in the Maryland boys’ championships. He would travel across the country to compete in various competitions throughout his summers. However, Ashe was restricted to playing other local black children around Richmond during the school year. This setback did not stop him from winning several junior tennis tournaments across the nation. As a result, Ashe earned a full scholarship to UCLA which had one the top college tennis programs at the time. In 1965, he won the individual NCAA championship and led UCLA to win the team NCAA tennis championship. Arthur Ashe also became the first African-American player on the U.S Davis Cup team. During his professional years, he travelled the world competing in various tennis competitions. In 1970, Ashe won the Australian open; he earned one of his three grand slam singles titles. After years of being denied a visa to South Africa, Ashe was finally granted one which enabled to participate in the South African open. Although Ashe lost the in the singles finals, he went on to win the doubles title with Tom Okker. Despite all his previous accomplishments, 1975 proved to be the highlight year of Arthur Ashe’s career. He defeated Jimmy Connors to earn the Wimbledon singles title and became the only African-American man to win the grasscourt tournament. Ashe’s success led to him being ranked #1 in the world in men’s

    Read More

  • The Results of Title IX on Women's Sports

    489 Words  | 1 Pages

    In 1995, some legendary tennis players such as Martina Navarotilova, Chris Avert, founded Women's Sports Legends Foundation. In 1997, seven more players joined this group with several common goals of marketing themselves as ambassadors for women and sports. They pooled their resources and called on their individual talents as players, teachers, entertainers and leaders.

    Read More

  • Radical King Jr

    1812 Words  | 4 Pages

    As stated by Norton et al. (2008) W.E.B DuBois was the first African

    Read More

  • The History of Volleyball: William G. Morgan

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    The way Morgan incorporated tennis into his game is by using a similar net; however, he raised the height to six feet and six inches off the ground. He also created this game for his fellow businessman Blain. When Morgan invented his game he came up with a set of rules, however many of his rules have been changed or there are new ones. One of the rules to this game is that before the game starts, there is a coin toss. This coin toss determines which team gets to decide who gets the serve first.

    Read More

  • The Sport of Tennis

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tennis is a sport that many people love to play. It is not the hardest sport in the world to learn. When playing against someone, it is called a match. Tennis can be played one on one or a doubles match. The main object of the game is to hit the ball over the net, inside of the lines so that the opponent can't get to it. There are two lines about two feet parallel to each other that outline the court. In a singles match, the inner line is the out of bound line, while the outer line is out of bounds in a doubles match. If you want to play, take a look at my two favorite tennis players because they are masters at serving and scoring, a few key aspects of the game.

    Read More

  • Tennis Essay: Playing Tennis: One's Personal Life

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    Hearing the loud “thump” as the ball hits the racket is extremely satisfying, especially if your life now revolves around this fast-paced and exhilarating sport. Tennis is an outdoor game played by two individuals or pairs of players on a clay or grass court that’s divided by a low net. Each game is played with tennis rackets and small, yellow elastic balls. Tennis was first introduced in Wales and the United Kingdom in 1873 by “Major Walter Wingfield” (tennistheme.com). While most sports are easy to pick up, tennis takes extreme dedication to learn how to play the game, to perfect the amount of technique it takes, as well as its great impact on one’s personal life.

    Read More

More about The First African American Tennis

Open Document