“And Arthur Ashe becomes the first negro to win the single’s title at Wimbledon”, said the BBC commentator back in 1975. Listening to a BBC Radio Five Live documentary about Ashe, I was truly shocked to hear Ashe described in those terms. I’ll come to the context in a moment, but he might as well have used the far more offensive ‘N’ word for all it mattered. It certainly took me back to a very different time.
The context is time. 1975 was 40 years ago and, yes, times were different. America had emerged from segregation on racial ground, but not by that much. South Africa ran it’s entire country on the basis of separation, by apartheid. I find it a source of surprise, even shock, to learn that racism as operated on such a grand scale in my lifetime. I certainly find it incredibly offensive to recall that people of colour were undoubtedly regarded as second, or even third, class citizens.
I was certainly around when Ashe won Wimbledon although, strangely, I have no memory of it. I know he beat the All American Boy, Jimmy Connors and, like Cassius Clay before, he changed the world.
The world really was black and white in those days. Whilst our community included black people, our sports teams were usually white and so were our tennis players. I was not a huge tennis fan, but I sat up and took notice when Ashe came along. He defied perceptions of how we saw black people. Ashe was worldly, he read books, he was a deep thinker. Contrast with the much younger Connors who cheerfully admitted he had never read a book in his life. Ashe certainly changed the world for black athletes and particularly black tennis players, but he did something equally important with everyone else: he made more people understand that colour was just that; colour. It had no bearing on any other aspect of our very existence. It was just skin deep.
I have seen clips of Arthur Ashe playing tennis and it was a thing of rare beauty. He did not have the raw power of a Connors, but he had grace, he had style, he had class.
What the hell were we thinking about back in those days, when black people were regarded as different and inferior to white people? They were good boxers, some of them could sing, but they couldn’t win Wimbledon, be the best footballer in the world (Pele) and become president of America. The crazy colour bar, real and imagined.
I cannot deny that I have shed the odd tear in the last hour. Ashe’s struggle ended in tragedy, as he died at the age of 49 from AIDS, contracted in a blood transfusion when he was having heart surgery. And though his life was a struggle, it was an epic struggle that, ultimately, led to success and then tragedy. Who said life was fair?
In an ideal world, he would still be here today, inspiring young people of colour and those of none. He would be so proud of Serena Williams, of Compton, Los Angeles, because without his legacy she might never have made it to the very top. Now the sport of tennis, at least in America, tennis is more inclusive and so are many other sports.
Can you imagine that at one time, black players could not enter tournaments because of their colour? It happened and it’s a terrible blot on our history. People like Arthur Ashe started to change all that. He was an incredible tennis player and an incredible person and the world needs more people like him.
