A History of Segregation in US Tennis
Many tennis players don’t know the history of struggles that Black players encountered to participate in USTA (originally USLTA) tournaments. While Blacks played college tennis at historically Black colleges like Howard and Tuskegee Universities from the 1890’s, they were denied admission to many private clubs whose membership was restricted to Whites. They joined tennis clubs that operated for Blacks but were denied opportunities to compete in US tournaments, especially after the USLTA barred Blacks from participating. The American Tennis Association (ATA) was formed in 1916 to provide blacks with an alternative tournament circuit. The tournaments were held at historically Black college campuses in the south where players could be housed since most hotels refused to accommodate Blacks.
The segregation system began to fail in 1938 when Don Budge entered an ATA tournament and played doubles with Dr. Reginald Weir, a Black man. The USLTA’s discriminatory practices finally ended after support from within the association by Alice Marble and Edward Niles and from outside by the ATA. Dr. Robert Walter Johnson, Dr. Hubert Eaton and Bertram Baker were among the ATA officials who were the key force behind negotiations that in 1950 led to the United States Lawn Tennis Association’s acceptance of Althea Gibson’s application to become the first Black to ever compete in the U.S. National Championship at Forest Hills. Between 1956 and 1958, Althea Gibson was the world’s dominant woman player. She won on clay at the French Open in 1956, as well as the All-England Lawn Tennis Women’s Singles championship in 1957 and 1958 and the U.S. Open in 1957 and 1958. She was also a finalist in the 1957 Australian Open.
ATA created a junior development program to train talented players including Arthur Ashe, Zina Garrison, Leslie Allen, Lori McNeil, Chandra Rubin, Katrina Adams, and Mali Vai Washington. It continues today to develop young talent and provide them with opportunities to travel and compete in tournaments. More about ATA history
