Arthur Ashe.

Arthur Ashe. Arthur Ashe (1943-1993), American tennis player, the first African American man to win a major tennis tournament. Ashe's powerful ground strokes and accurate serves produced singles victories in the United States and Australian Opens and at Wimbledon. He was an annual fixture on the U.S. Davis Cup team from 1963 through 1984, first as a player and then as a coach. Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr., was born in Richmond, Virginia. At age ten he began to play tennis under the direction of Dr. Walter Johnson, who also taught the game to the 1957 Wimbledon women's champion, Althea Gibson. Ashe went on to attend the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In 1963 he became the first African American to play on the Davis Cup national tennis team. Two years later he won the U.S. intercollegiate singles championship, leading UCLA to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) team championship. After graduating from UCLA in 1966 with a degree in business administration, Ashe was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve. During his period of active service, Ashe was stationed at the U.S. Military Academy and continued to play for the Davis Cup team. He won several tournaments during his service time, including the U.S. clay-court championship in 1967 and the U.S. amateur championship in 1968. In 1968 the major tennis tournaments opened their competitions to professionals, but Ashe remained an amateur because of his military status. At the U.S. Open that year he defeated several professional players and won the men's singles title. Ashe became the only amateur ever to win the U.S. amateur championship and U.S. Open titles during the same year. After an honorable discharge as a first lieutenant, Ashe joined the professional tennis circuit in 1969. That same year he and several other players formed the group that became the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the governing body that oversees rankings, prize money, and international tennis events. Ashe won his second major tennis championship in 1970 by capturing the Australian Open singles title. His best season came in 1975, when he upset fellow American Jimmy Connors for the Wimbledon singles title and attained the number-one ranking in the United States. Ashe also won doubles championships at the French Open in 1971 and at the Australian Open in 1977. Ashe survived heart surgery in 1979 and announced his retirement from competition a year later. He then served as nonplaying captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team from 1981 to 1984. Ashe also became involved in various charitable and youth-oriented activities such as the National Junior Tennis League and the ABC Cities Tennis Program. During a second heart surgery in 1983, it is likely that Ashe was given blood tainted with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). After acknowledging his disease, he became an active fundraiser and speaker on behalf of AIDS research. Ashe wrote A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete (3 volumes, 1988) and Days of Grace: A Memoir (1993). In 1997 the U.S. Tennis Center's main stadium in New York City was named Arthur Ashe Stadium in honor of his many contributions to the game. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.