{"id":941193,"date":"2026-10-21T10:36:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T10:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/941193\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T10:36:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T10:36:25","slug":"remembering-althea-gibsons-lasting-impact-on-tennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/941193\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Althea Gibson\u2019s lasting impact on tennis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Billie Jean King\u00a0said: \u201cIf it hadn\u2019t been for her, it wouldn\u2019t have been so easy for Arthur Ashe or the ones who followed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Yasmin Clarke, a former elite player who comes from a tennis family, said: \u201cI was introduced to Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe from a really young age. My dad always made a point of showing us these incredible players as we were growing up and finding our way in tennis.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think there\u2019s a real connection between these generations of players who have challenged perceptions of what a tennis player looks like and the diversity in tennis today.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthea opened doors that had previously been closed, and Venus and Serena changed the sport forever. I think the real power of these women is that they\u2019ve helped generations of young Black players see tennis as a sport where they can succeed and thrive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lta.org.uk\/fan-zone\/gb-teams\/billie-jean-king-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Billie Jean King Cup<\/a> captain Anne Keothavong, who is of Laotian descent, recalls tennis still being a white-dominated sport early in her playing career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow, when I look at British tennis, I do feel that we have come a long way and it is more diverse, from junior tennis all the way through to professional tennis,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it is fantastic, and I do think the Williams sisters have contributed a lot to not just tennis but sport and how women of colour are seen. Tennis is now more diverse and hopefully stronger for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Clarke is now a member of the LTA Board Member and a Councillor, and Level 5 Master Tennis Coach. \u201cI think we\u2019re making some really positive progress, but there\u2019s still plenty to do,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur vision of Tennis Opened Up is about making tennis a sport for everyone. Ultimately, I\u2019d love us to reach a point where someone\u2019s background is never a barrier to what they can achieve in tennis. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don\u2019t want the next generation to have to be trailblazers, just to simply feel that they can achieve whatever they set their minds to. That\u2019s the legacy I think we should all be working towards.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Article written by\u00a0Neil McLeman<\/p>\n<p class=\"u-title-case1\" style=\"text-align: center;\">Find out more\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Learn more about Tennis Opened Up, the LTA&#8217;s vision to make tennis relevant, accessible, welcoming and enjoyable for everyone, and discover the partnerships helping to drive the sport across Britain.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<a class=\"rt-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lta.org.uk\/what-we-do\/inclusion\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Inclusion in tennis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billie Jean King\u00a0said: \u201cIf it hadn\u2019t been for her, it wouldn\u2019t have been so easy for Arthur Ashe&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941194,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-941193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}