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US Open to honor Althea Gibson with statue

Published Mar 09, 2018

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Althea Gibson will be honored with a statue at the site of the US Open, the USTA announced on Tuesday.

In 1950, Gibson broke tennis' color barrier by becoming first African-American to play in the U.S. National Championships.

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Althea Gibson is finally getting her statue. The 1st African-American to win a Grand Slam & a two-time U.S. National Champion, Althea was a tremendous influence on my life & all those who followed in her trailblazing footsteps. #champion #BlackHistoryMonth https://t.co/eW6LTCf9gZ
— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) February 27, 2018

Six years later, and 12 years before Arthur Ashe won the US Open, Gibson became first African-American Grand Slam champion by winning the French Championships. She went on to win two Wimbledon titles and two U.S. National Championships in singles, in addition to six Slams in doubles.

"We owe a great debt of gratitude to them to make sure that our path and our road was a lot easier to come into this sport."@katadams68 honors the contributions made by trailblazers Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe.https://t.co/VRfs8Lb8Bb #USTAEmbraceAll #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/PxvWzgdssS
— USTA (@usta) February 26, 2018

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"Althea Gibson really is the Jackie Robinson of tennis," said USTA president Katrina Adams.

Despite her contributions to tennis, Gibson doesn't currently have a court named for her at the USTA National Tennis Center. Adams suggested to The Undefeated that there's some red tape preventing any changes in that area.

You know the Althea statue would look great in front of a stadium name after her @USTA *cough cough*
— Bri 🟪 (@4TheTennis) February 27, 2018

The artist and completion date of the statue haven't yet been determined.

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