This latest Sexy Tennis swing went through Milan and Monte Carlo, and Zendaya went with white each time — including a stop at the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters tennis tourney, for which the designers at On Running recreated some of Althea Gibson’s tennis whites. I’m just going to let the first paragraph of her Wikipedia page say it: Gibson “was one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African American to win a Grand Slam event (the French Championships). The following year she won both Wimbledon and the US Nationals (precursor of the US Open), then won both again in 1958 and was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years. In all, she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments: five singles titles, five doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title. “She is one of the greatest players who ever lived”, said Bob Ryland, a tennis contemporary and former coach of Venus and Serena Williams. “Martina [Navratilova] couldn’t touch her. I think she’d beat the Williams sisters.” Gibson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. In the early 1960s, she also became the first Black player to compete on the Women’s Professional Golf Tour.”
She did all that a decade before Arthur Ashe, after whom a court at Flushing is named, but Gibson did finally get a statue there. Sure wish she’d gotten her name on an arena, too. Anyway, as much as people enjoy the little games of which historic athlete would defeat today’s stars, I far prefer the idea of them standing shoulder to shoulder. And I love that Zendaya and Law used one of these events to bring Althea Gibson’s name back into the conversation.
