The First African American Tennis

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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

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