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Arthur Ashe, a great sporting hero

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Arthur Ashe, a great sporting hero
Arthur Ashe was a hugely talented tennis player and a social activist as well. He remains the only African American man to ever win the singles title at Wimbledon, the US Open or the Australian Open.
He used his life to champion several causes from the civil rights movement, to health care equality for all. During his later life, after retiring from tennis, he suffered a massive heart attack, which required two separate operations many years apart. Due
to complications from the second operation he developed AIDS from infected blood. He passed away in 1993 at the age of 49 and remains one of the greatest humanitarian tennis players of all time.
Arthur Ashe showed a talent for tennis at an early age. He started to play the game in high school but soon got tired of having to travel great distances to play Caucasian players out of his segregated State of Richmond.
He was accepted to the Summer High School in St. Louis and moved to play tennis there. He was so good as a youngster that he was recognised by Sports illustrated for his skills on the tennis court. After high school he received a tennis scholarship to attend
UCLA in 1963.
He became the first black player to ever be selected to the US Davis Cup team. In 1968, he won the NCAA tennis championship and led UCLA to a tennis championship as well. 1968 was characterised by his visa to South Africa getting refused on racial grounds
and he could not travel to the country to play in the South African Open. He openly spoke out about the Apartheid movement in South Africa and criticised the policies of the country. This seemed to be the start of his activism.
1968 was also important for the young tennis player because he won the US Open that year. He also managed to win the Australian Open in 1970 and pulled off a shock defeat of Jimmy Connors to win Wimbledon in 1975. He reached the semi-final and quarterfinal
of many tournaments and had a very impressive 106-28 win-loss record during his career.
He continued to play until he started to slow down in 1979 after suffering a massive heart attack that required quadruple bypass surgery. He retired from the game in 1980 after a hugely impressive career.
After retirement, Ashe took on many roles including writing, commentating and doing social work. He even served in the army after his tennis career, reaching the rank of second lieutenant. He suffered a heart attack in 1979 and it surprised a lot of people
because they did not understand how a very fit athlete could have a weak heart.
It highlighted the link between genes and heart disease and also the hereditary link in heart attacks. While on a family vacation in 1983, Ashe developed chest pains and was advised to get a second operation done to correct a problem with his first bypass.
During the second operation the former tennis player contracted AIDS from receiving tainted blood. Even though he tried to keep it a secret, he had to reveal the fact to the public soon after.
Ashe was a pioneer in the world of sports. He was one of the first tennis players to use his fame and wealth to try and help other people. The tennis star protested and was arrested in 1985 for opposing the South African government’s racially discriminatory
policies. After contracting AIDS, he donated a lot of money to finding ways to fight the disease and also set up many foundations, the biggest being the Arthur Ashe Foundation, to help others.
Ashe was one of the first tennis stars to show the world that you could become a sporting champion, no matter your race, skin colour, country of origin or social standing. He helped break down barriers and opened up the sport of tennis to everyone.
He wanted to show the world that it was your skills and talent that defined you not who you were or what colour your skin was. He also brought a lot of focus on to the deadly disease of AIDS and helped to break down taboos and barriers there as well. He
will be remembered as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, not only for his skills on the court but for all the amazing work he did off of it too.
 

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