US Open Honors Althea Gibson& The Women Who Shine In Her Footsteps

Black Women Dominate 2025 US Open 75 Years After Althea Gibson Broke Barriers

Source: John Pratt / Getty

Photos of tennis legend Althea Gibson are all over this year’s US Open, 75 years after her contribution to breaking the color barrier in the sport.

In 1950, Gibson participated in the then-called US National Championship event. In 1957, she became a Grand Slam champion, the first Black woman to do so. A full on decade before another notorious tennis great, Arthur Ashe, won.

While Gibson has been memorialized with a statue at the Flushing Meadows site, many still do not know of her pioneering legacy as a tennis player.

Gibson fought with the US Lawn Tennis Association just to get admitted in the competition in 1950. It took a letter from a prominent white player, Alice Marble, for her to even be accepted.

Sally Jacobs, author of “Althea: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson, said, “(Organizers) put her on a very back court, No. 14. Hard to get to. The area for people to watch was tiny. And they changed the rules and sent photographers to take pictures of her match, which was never allowed for other people.”

Source: Evening Standard / Getty

“Personally, I feel like everybody’s waited too long to really celebrate her,” Billie Jean King told The Associated Press in an interview. “She was the first, and when you’re the first, you should be celebrated the most.”

Gibson won her match in 1950 against Barbara Knapp and continued on to win US Nationals and Wimbledon titles in 1957 and 1958. She also broke the color barrier in golf. But as an athlete who has paved the way for so many other great names, her name is still left out of the conversation.

On Monday, the US Open held a ceremony for Gibson at the Arthur Ashe Stadium and will continue to honor her contributions throughout the two week tournament.

“I think the most important part is that we are celebrating it and recognizing it,” Venus Williams said in an interview with Andscape. “Althea accomplished so much, and a lot of it has not been given the credit it deserves and the attention and the praise.”

In what is being seen as one of the most exhilarating US Opens in recent years, here are the Black women who are following in Gibson’s footsteps playing in this year’s US Open.

Black Women Dominate 2025 US Open 75 Years After Althea Gibson Broke Barriers was originally published on foxync.com