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First black player to win Wimbledon, US Open passes away
Wimbledon, Sept 29: Athea Gibson dies.
Wimbledon, Sept 29: Athea Gibson dies.
Althea Gibson, the first black tennis player to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, died on Sunday (September 28) aged 76.
In 1950 Gibson became the first black player to compete in the U.S. Open. She went on to win both that event and Wimbledon ain 1957 and 1958.
She also won the women's French Open singles and took three Wimbledon doubles titles.
Gibson, who had been ill for several years, died at the East Orange General Hospital in New Jersey.
Bureau Report