This is a guest post by sports journalist Cecil Harris, who has covered major tennis events including the U.S. Open. He has written for the New York Times, the Associated Press, and USA Today. He is the author of several books, including “Different Strokes: Serena, Venus, and the Unfinished Black Tennis Revolution” and “Charging the Net: A History of Blacks in Tennis from Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe to the Williams Sisters”.
In the 1950s, Althea Gibson became the first black player to win Grand Slam tennis titles. She won eleven in all—five in singles, five in doubles and one in mixed doubles.