Tennis News You Can Use
Editorial Note: In the middle of a day long power outage yesterday, I somehow released “Tennis Technology and Training Tuesday” on a Monday. To fix that error, this is the missing “Tennis News You Can Use” post that should have been issued instead. In related news, one of the symptoms of hypothermia is confusion.
This is a great week to pay a virtual visit to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Many readers in the United States are likely to be snowed in today. There is no better time to curl up under a blanket and transport yourself to a different place in time. The curators at the International Tennis Hall of Fame are serving up the perfect fare for Black History Month.
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is currently offering a virtual exhibit titled “Breaking the Barriers: The ATA and Black Pioneers.” As a word of warning, I had intended to give the exhibit a quick perusal for the purpose of this post, but wound up completely losing myself in it. The virtual exhibit does a wonderful job laying out the history of black tennis in America and the American Tennis Association (ATA). The information is presented in the context of other of other significant historic events in the same era. It is really well done.
Before Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe made their respective breakthrough into the lily white world of international tennis, there were countless others who came before them. The Breaking the Barriers exhibit tells their stories. Persons of color have a long history of playing and competing in tennis. Sadly the ITF and the National Associations do not always have a strong history of embracing diversity.
When Dartmouth grad Talley Holmes founded the governing body for black tennis, he optimistically named it the “American Tennis Association.” Other options might have included descriptors such as African American, Black, or Negro. Talley’s belief was that a single unified body for tennis that embraced all persons regardless of their ethnicity would be imminently forthcoming. The ATA still exists as an independent organization to this day, distinctly separate from the USTA. ATA membership has always been open to people of all backgrounds.
The multimedia content in the Breaking the Barriers exhibit presents a vivid account of the early days of integrating the sport. As one example, in 1940 Don Budge played an exhibition match against ATA player Jimmie McDaniel. Budge he won decisively, but despite that fact his post match comments indicated that he thought that McDaniel had the skills and talent to win championships.
Of particular interest to me was the bibliography that was referenced at the end of the exhibit. I always love a good list of tennis books. The Breaking the Barriers bibliography confirmed that I am (mostly) on the right track in my reading in this particular area. At least one of the books on the ITF list is an exceedingly rare collectors item that was already on my wish list. So many books, so little time.
I highly recommend taking the time to go through the “Breaking the Barriers: The ATA and Black Pioneers“ exhibit. However, be careful. You may lose yourself in it as I did.
