8. The U.S. Open has Been the Site of Many African American Triumphs
The U.S. Open at Forest Hills is where Althea Gibson broke the color barrier to become the first African American woman to compete on the world tennis tour, and where she won a Grand Slam in 1956. It is also where Arthur Ashe became the first African American to win the U.S. Open in 1968. This inaugural men’s final was when the tournament officially became known as the “U.S. Open.”
The main stadium at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the name of the complex today is is the Arthur Ashe Stadium. The stadium honors Ashe’s contributions to the realms of tennis and the U.S. Open. Other institutions donning his name continue to expand the accessibility of tennis. According to the U.S. Open website, the Arthur Ashe Kids Day is the “largest single-day, grassroots tennis and entertainment event in the world, with chart-topping music acts and today’s best tennis players coming together to celebrate tennis legend and humanitarian Arthur Ashe.”
