It’s not hyperbolic to say the game in the States is alive because of African American players like the Williams sisters and Sloane StephensThere’s been no shortage of anxiety over the future of American tennis over the last decade. That it was Stephens, who is black, defeated Keys, whose mother is white and whose father is black, is not insignificant in a sport predominantly owned, played and watched by affluent white people. It’s not hyperbolic to say American tennis is in the suddenly vibrant state it’s in because of black women, who have been among the most oppressed and marginalized people in the country’s history. – videoAthletes of color are far more commonplace today than six decades ago, when Althea Gibson won the first of her two US Open titles shortly after becoming the first African American tennis player of either gender to break the sport’s color line. But that it’s a pair of black women leading the group who would make American tennis great again must not be lost in the confetti.

Source: The Guardian September 11, 2017 10:00 UTC