Tennis Legends: Althea Gibson - a US Open trailblazer and winner of five Grand Slam singles titles with a deeper legacy

At this year’s US Open, the US Tennis Association (USTA) marked the 75th anniversary of Althea Gibson becoming the first African American to play in the New York Grand Slam. Gibson throughout the 1950s blazed a trail for black players. A winner of five Grand Slam singles titles, Gibson’s legacy goes far deeper.

Born on the 25th, August 1927, in South Carolina, USA, to parents Daniel and Annie Bell Gibson, who worked as sharecroppers on a cotton farm. With the impact of the Great Depression disproportionately affecting the southern farmers, Gibson’s family opted to relocate to Harlem. This was when her four siblings - three sisters and a brother - were born. 

Gibson quickly developed an aptitude for paddle tennis. By the age of 12, Gibson had become New York women's paddle tennis champion. Aged just 13, Gibson quit school and concentrated on sport. She developed boxing skills through her dad's tutelage. Gibson also played a lot of basketball. Her father could be violent and Gibson spent a period of time in a shelter for abused children. 

In 1940, a collective of neighbours clubbed together to raise funds so Gibson could obtain membership at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem. Initially, Gibson was averse to tennis as she considered it a sport lacking toughness. This attitude thawed and Gibson was triumphant, the following year, in the American Tennis Association (ATA) New York State Championship. Success in ATA events continued through the 1940s. From 1947, Gibson won ten consecutive titles.

By the late 1940s, Gibson was now residing in Wilmington, North Carolina. Obtaining sponsorship from physician and activist Hubert A. Eaton enabled Gibson to join the racially segregated Williston Industrial High School.

Gibson’s fast growing reputation led to calls for her to be allowed to enter the US National Championships (now the US Open). In 1950, the USTA allowed black players to play at the major, but to qualify for the tournament players needed to acquire points at events held at clubs operating a whites only policy. The USTA, under intense pressure, provided Gibson with an invitation to play at Forest Hills. One of that era's biggest stars, Alice Marble, had written a letter vehemently attacking the failure to facilitate a pathway for Gibson to take part. Her debut ended in round two at the hands of Louise Brough.

Participating was a huge success, though, in regards to smashing down barriers for black athletes. Comparisons were made with baseball player Jackie Robinson becoming the African American to compete in Major League Baseball within the modern era.

Her maiden international title came in 1951 at the Caribbean Championships in Jamaica. It was a year that witnessed Gibson’s Wimbledon debut, losing in round three to Beverly Baker.

Her amateur career gradually built momentum as the decade wore on. She graduated as a teacher of physical education in 1953, going on to take a role teaching at Lincoln University. Her tennis career accelerated when she undertook a tour of Asia in 1955. This tour fuelled her belief and once it was finished, Gibson went onto triumph in 16 of 18 tournaments across Europe and Asia.

The 27th May 1956 is a landmark day in the history of tennis and for black athletes in sport. Gibson became the inaugural African-American to win a Grand Slam title. Victory over Brit Angela Mortimer provided a breakthrough for the powerful Gibson. Her power game was considered ahead of its time. Her near 6ft stature made her an imposing presence when the average height of tour players was less than today.

Other titles in 1956 included the Italian and Asian Championships. Shirley Fry proved a thorn in her side this season, beating Gibson in the Wimbledon quarter-finals and the US Nationals final.

The 1957 season is widely regarded, including by herself, as the zenith of Gibson’s career. At Wimbledon, she became the first black champion after defeating compatriot Darlene Hard in the women's singles final. Gibson was the first winner to receive her trophy from Queen Elizabeth the second. She made it back-to-back Grand Slam singles titles when toppling Louise Brough in the US Nationals showpiece. Her trailblazing continued at the season's end by being the first black player to compete in the Wightman Cup team event, assisting the USA in a 6-1 thrashing of Great Britain. A 55 match winning streak underlined dominance this term, a run eventually stopped at 57.

Gibson retained both her Wimbledon and US National titles in 1958. When you consider Gibson missed both French Opens in 1957/58 and the Australian Open in 1958, her tally of four major titles from five events played saw Gibson placing herself as the dominant force. Her run to the 1957 Australian Open final was Gibson’s solitary visit to the Melbourne major.

Her return home after a season of excessive glory resulted in Gibson receiving only the second ticker tape parade a black American had been awarded in New York, following in the footsteps of legendary Olympian Jesse Owens.

Gibson enjoyed an immensely successful doubles career in the amateur ranks. She triumphed in five of her seven Grand Slam finals. In tandem with Briton Angela Buxton, they won Wimbledon and the French Open in 1956. Gibson retained the Wimbledon title alongside Darlene Hard and won the Australian Open in alliance with Shirley Fry. The last of her Grand Slam doubles titles was a third consecutive success at Wimbledon, partnered on this occasion by Maria Bueno. Gibson claimed a solitary Mixed Doubles Grand Slam, from four finals, when emerging victorious at the 1957 US Nationals with Dane Kurt Nielsen.

After collecting 56 singles and doubles titles, including five Grand Slams from seven finals, Gibson opted to retire from amateur competition and turn professional. The glory was a great thrill but the financial allure proved hard to resist as she once memorably said: “Being the Queen of Tennis is all well and good, but you can't eat a crown”.

At this point, professionalism in women’s tennis was limited primarily to exhibitions, a full scale tour nearly 15 years away. The most significant title she won in this period was the World Pro Championships in Cleveland.

She felt her ethnicity denied her greater opportunities as a professional and despite her past success at Wimbledon, Gibson was denied membership of the All-England Club. As a result of these barriers, Gibson opted to pursue other career avenues, making use of her skills as a saxophonist and vocalist. She released an album, Althea Gibson Sings, in 1959. Gibson also played the part of an enslaved woman in the 1959 film The Horse Soldiers. Her income was supplemented by commentary work and a memoir release, I Always Wanted to Be Somebody.  

In 1964, now aged 37, Gibson made a return to competitive sport. She became the first African-American woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). Her progress was again impeded by discrimination. A number of hotels forbade black guests. This made it difficult for Gibson to find a base to stay at a tournament. Her highest ranking was 27th and a tie of second at the Len Immke Buick Open proved to be her tournament showing. She retired from golf in 1978.

Gibson, who briefly came out of tennis retirement in her early forties, took a role as a coach running the Pepsi Cola’s mobile tennis project. It was a scheme that enabled underprivileged areas to benefit from a plethora of tennis equipment. Gibson ran many other clinics in the following years and coached juniors such as Leslie Allen and Zina Garrison, who cited Gibson’s influence, I'm her memoir, as vital in her career.

Gibson made a foray into politics when contesting the incumbent Essex County State Senator Frank J. Dodd in the Democratic primary for his seat. She finished second. Gibson undertook a number of governance roles such as managing the Department of Recreation in East Orange, New Jersey.

William Darben became her first husband in 1965. They divorced in 1976. Seven years later Gibson married her former coach Sydney Llewellyn. They also divorced. Gibson never had any children.

Gibson’s health declined considerably in the 1980s, suffering two cerebral haemorrhages. In 1992, Gibson had a stroke. Shamefully, given her stellar career, Gibson received no support from several tennis organisations she'd asked for financial support to pay her medical expenses. Her close friend and past doubles partner Angela Buxton helped raise around a million dollars accumulated through donations raised from within the tennis community. Gibson survived a heart attack in 2003 but complications from bladder and respiratory affections saw her pass away later that year on September 28th.

The Associated Press crowned Gibson as Athlete of the Year in 1957 and 1958. In 1980, Gibson was one of the first group of sportswomen to be included in the first ever International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. It's one of many Hall of Fames that Gibson has been inducted into. This includes the Black Athletes Hall of Fame and the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

In 1991 Gibson became the first woman to receive the Theodore Roosevelt Award. It's the highest accolade you can receive from the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The award was in part down to her breaking through the glass ceiling for black athletes.

A column by journalist William C. Rhoden, in the New York Times, eulogised over Gibson’s impact in sport's history, “Althea Gibson and Wilma Rudolph (athletics) are the two most significant athletic forces among black sports women in history. While Rudolph's accomplishments brought more visibility to women as athletes…Althea's accomplishments were more revolutionary because of the psychosocial impact on Black America.”

Billie Jean King, a great activist and pioneer herself, has often lauded the impact of Gibson, recognising how she made things easier for black players that followed her. Serena Williams became the next African-American woman to win a major at the 1999 US Open, more than 40 years after Gibson’s last Slam title. Serena and sister Venus have been keen to point out they're standing on the shoulder of giants when it comes to Gibson.

Gibson has been honoured in various ways, including statues, postage stamps and had a gymnasium named after her in Paris. Perhaps the best of all things named after Gibson, is the bronze statue erected in 2019 on the site of the US Open.

In amongst all the charter around her legacy as a trailblazer, it shouldn't be forgotten what an outstanding champion Gibson was. If the need for remuneration to turn professional had not been so important, Gibson is very likely to have at least doubled her tally of five Grand Slam singles titles. She was beginning to dominate women's tennis in the late 1950s and her powerful game was overwhelming opponents. Some observers feel she could've even become the greatest ever. Bob Ryland, once a coach of the Williams sisters, was unqualified in his praise, “Martina (Navratilova) couldn't touch her. I think she'd beat the Williams sisters”.

Althea Gibson was held back through discrimination and her numbers as a consequence are not reflective of her talent and emerging dominance. However, Gibson’s legacy outstrips many of those that won more. Her success went beyond majors, she defeated the bigots and changed the course of history.