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Wimbledon: How Arthur Ashe became only black man to win title
Updated on : 26 June 2015

Opposites do not attract. Rarely is there admiration between clashing personalities.

Sometimes the animosity and ill will can be all-consuming and sometimes these adversaries will scrap before a watching world. It is then that the rivalry becomes gripping.

"I swear, every time I passed Jimmy Connors in the locker room, it took all my willpower not to punch him in the mouth," recalled Arthur Ashe.

Ashe had plenty of willpower. He was a man in whose footprints others followed. The first black tennis player to win a Grand Slam singles title was popular and cerebral, an admired role model. Connors? The then world number one was Ashe's opposite: brash, annoying, arrogant.

By the summer of 1975, the 31-year-old Ashe had never beaten Connors. Three matches had brought three defeats.

Their fourth encounter was to be played on Wimbledon's Centre Court, a men's final that year which captured the attention of millions for the narrative as well as the sport. But Ashe was past his peak. The underdog had the backing of the majority, yet friends feared humiliation.

What unfolded was a match which has been described as the most amazing ever seen because of the manner of Ashe's triumph. Forty years on, family and friends remember the day Ashe became the first black man to win at SW19.


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