45 years ago today: Arthur Ashe is the first African American to triumph in Wimbledon
Since the tennis fans have to do without competition tennis from Wimbledon , London these days, we look back at the most beautiful stories of the Grand Slam on the "Holy Lawn". Arthur Ashe made history there 45 years ago.
by SID
last edit: Jul 05, 2020, 02:21 pm
Arthur Ashe spread his arms and nodded triumphantly to the cheering Wimbledon crowd. The 31-year-old made history as the first black winner on the Sacred Lawn on July 5, 1975. His opponent: Jimmy Connors, 22 years old, defending title, number one in the world and the big favorite.
Ashe gave his otherwise so confident US compatriot no chance that day in London SW19. Already after an hour he led with 2: 0 sets, in the end there was a clear 6: 1, 6: 1, 5: 7, 6: 4. Ashe had brought the highly favored Connors out of the concept with a real game plan: he did not play pure power tennis, but relied on his first serve and served snapped balls into the half field - a strategy with which Connors could not cope at all.
When Arthur Ashe was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1943, there was little to suggest that he would one day win the most important tennis tournament in the world. Blacks were excluded from elite sports at that time, Ashe played in public places and dusty streets as a child until a local school teacher discovered the talent of the ten-year-old in 1953. The rest is history.
Great honors for Arthur Ashe
Ashe's career ended five years after his triumph at Wimbledon. Following a heart operation in December 1979, he announced his retirement in April 1980 at the age of 36. In 1992 he made his HIV disease public, and he is said to have received a contaminated blood supply during a bypass operation. From then on, Ashe spent the last year of his life fighting AIDS. He died on February 6, 1993 at the age of 49 from pneumonia.
Ashe was inducted into the Hall of Fame in Newport in 1985. In 1993, the then US President Bill Clinton posthumously awarded him the "Presidental Medal of Freedom". A statue of him was erected in his hometown of Richmond, and the world's largest tennis stadium bears his name in New York: the US Open men's singles final is held annually at Arthur Ashe Stadium.