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David Dinkins Kept Loving Tennis, No Matter Who Mocked Him

Neal Boenzi/The New York Times

David N. Dinkins, who died Monday night at 93, was the mayor of New York. But he was also the unofficial mayor of the tennis world.

Dinkins was an avid, even obsessive player, a friend of tennis stars — in 1990, Jennifer Capriati said, “The mayor is one cool dude” — a United States Tennis Association board member, and an advocate for African-Americans and youth in the sport.

Among the signature achievements of his tenure was the deal announced in 1991 for a new stadium that helped keep the United States Open in Queens.