![Bob Ryland, first Black pro tennis player, lived a lifetime in the sport - Official Site of the 2023 US Open Tennis Championships - A USTA Event Bob Ryland, first Black pro tennis player, lived a lifetime in the sport - Official Site of the 2023 US Open Tennis Championships - A USTA Event](https://photo-assets.usopen.org/images/pics/large/f_USTA1185399_20190904_USO_D10_ML1_9940.jpg)
Bob Ryland, first Black pro tennis player, lived a lifetime in the sport - Official Site of the 2023 US Open Tennis Championships - A USTA Event
The LGBTQ Center - Althea Neale Gibson was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956,
![The house that Ora Belle built: A historically obscure figure who forged the way for Black women in pro tennis - Ark Republic The house that Ora Belle built: A historically obscure figure who forged the way for Black women in pro tennis - Ark Republic](http://www.arkrepublic.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Serena-and-Venus-Williams.jpg)
The house that Ora Belle built: A historically obscure figure who forged the way for Black women in pro tennis - Ark Republic
![Sixty-Five Years Ago, Althea Gibson Broke the Color Line at the French Open | At the Smithsonian | Smithsonian Magazine Sixty-Five Years Ago, Althea Gibson Broke the Color Line at the French Open | At the Smithsonian | Smithsonian Magazine](https://th-thumbnailer.cdn-si-edu.com/xN6OYCAxvEhS0wLSTj9Qc2HahtQ=/1400x1050/filters:focal(811x200:812x201)/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer/70/20/7020b698-77d0-43da-a4aa-5bd1113f9fad/althea_social.jpg)
Sixty-Five Years Ago, Althea Gibson Broke the Color Line at the French Open | At the Smithsonian | Smithsonian Magazine
![Kalamazoo Native Lendale Johnson, America's First Gay Black Tennis Pro, on How 'Visibility Is Invaluable' - Pride Source Kalamazoo Native Lendale Johnson, America's First Gay Black Tennis Pro, on How 'Visibility Is Invaluable' - Pride Source](https://pridesource.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/ASC8065-683x1024.jpg)