Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (1943–93) was an American tennis player, social activist, teacher, and charity worker. He won the U.S. Open singles championship in 1968, becoming the first black winner of a major men’s singles championship. When he won the Wimbledon in 1975, he became the first black male player to achieve world rankings.
Born in Richmond, Virginia, Ashe played tennis at the age of seven in a neighborhood park. While attending the University of California at Los Angeles on a tennis scholarship, he won the U.S. hard-court singles championship in 1963. He took the intercollegiate singles and doubles titles in 1965.
When Ashe was 25, he won the U.S. Open singles championship as a fifth-seeded player. An amateur, Ashe could not accept the champion’s prize money of $14,000. He also played on the U.S. Davis Cup team (1963–70, 1975, 1977–78) and helped the U.S. team win the Davis Cup finals in 1968, 1969, and 1970.
Ashe became professional in 1970. In 1975, when he won the Wimbledon singles and the World Championship singles, he was ranked first in world tennis. Ashe retired as a professional in 1980 after heart surgery and captained the U.S. Davis Cup team 1981–85.
Ashe was an inspired critic of South Africa’s apartheid racial policy. South Africa banned him from participating in that country’s open tournament (consequently, South Africa was banned from Davis Cup competition.) Ashe also used his distinctive sportsman profile and legendary self-assurance to promote human rights, education, and public health.
Ashe underwent coronary bypass operations in 1979 and 1983. In 1992, he disclosed that he had become infected with the AIDS virus, possibly via a tainted blood transfusion received during one of those operations. For the rest of his life, Ashe dedicated considerable time and effort to educate the public about the AIDS disease.
Ashe is the author of Days of Grace: A Memoir (1984) and Arthur Ashe On Tennis: Strokes, Strategy, Traditions, Players, Psychology, and Wisdom (1995.) He served as a television commentator at tennis matches, a sports consultant at tennis clinics, and a columnist for the Washington Post.
The Arthur Ashe Stadium, the main stadium of the U.S. Open tennis tournament and the largest tennis stadium in the world, is named in his honor.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Arthur Ashe
You’ve got to get to the stage in life where going for it is more important than winning or losing.
—Arthur Ashe
Topics: Wisdom, Winners, Winning
Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.
—Arthur Ashe
Topics: Appearance, Winners, Winning
Trust has to be earned, and should come only after the passage of time.
—Arthur Ashe
I wanted to indulge and explore my love of humanity and especially my concern for persons less fortunate than myself.
—Arthur Ashe
From what we get, we can make a living. What we give, however, makes a life.
—Arthur Ashe
My only true regret, however, is that now that I see the world more clearly than ever, as I believe I do, I don’t seem to have the time left to translate my visions into action as I would like.
—Arthur Ashe
Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
—Arthur Ashe
Every time you win, it diminishes the fear a little bit. You never really cancel the fear of losing; you keep challenging it.
—Arthur Ashe
Topics: Fear
One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.
—Arthur Ashe
Topics: Strength, Preparation, Confidence
My potential is more than can be expressed within the bounds of my race or ethnic identity.
—Arthur Ashe
I accepted the face that as much as I want to lead others, and love to be around other people, in some essential way, I am something of a loner.
—Arthur Ashe
I have tried to keep on with my striving because this is the only hope I have of ever achieving anything worthwhile and lasting.
—Arthur Ashe
Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.
—Arthur Ashe
Topics: Success & Failure, Success, Strength
We must reach out our hand in friendship both to those who would befriend us and those who would be our enemy.
—Arthur Ashe
I know I could never forgive myself if I elected to live without humane purpose, without trying to help the poor and unfortunate, without recognizing that perhaps the purest joy in life comes with trying to help others.
—Arthur Ashe
True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.
—Arthur Ashe
Topics: Heroes/Heroism, Heroes, Vision
The ideal attitude is to be physically loose and mentally tight.
—Arthur Ashe
A wise person decides slowly but abides by these decisions.
—Arthur Ashe
I have always drawn strength from being close to home.
—Arthur Ashe
I wish more of us could understand that our increasing isolation, no matter how much it seems to express pride and self-affirmation, is not the answer to our problems.
—Arthur Ashe
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