Today would have been Althea Gibson’s 94th birthday.

I first saw Althea at the Los Angeles Tennis Club when I was a young player. This day forever changed the trajectory of my life. I now knew what World No. 1 looked like. If you can see it, you can be it. And I wanted to be it.

In 1956, Althea became the first Black person to win a major when she won the French Championships. In total, she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments: five singles titles, five doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title.

In 1957, Althea won the women’s singles at Wimbledon for the first time, and New York celebrated their Harlem-raised champion, with a ticker-tape parade.

Althea was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame (@tennishallofame) and the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. And many don’t know that Althea was actually a two-sport athlete. In the early 1960s, she also became the first Black player to compete on the Women’s Professional Golf Tour.

Not only did I stand on the shoulders of the great pioneer, Althea Gibson, but today’s players do as well.

Althea triumphed despite extremely limited resources, rampant racism, and the lack of sponsors.

She is the Jackie Robinson of tennis, who broke the color barrier so that those who came after her could succeed.

We are forever grateful.

Thank you, Althea. And happy birthday.

????: @alamyltd

#AltheaGibson #champion #tennishistory #tennis #tennislife #sportshistory #instasport #history #rememberhername

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