Arthur Ashe was born in the United States in 1943.聽He began playing tennis at age seven and won the National Junior Indoor Championship in 1962. Following the competition, he received a full scholarship to the University of California at Los Angeles.
In 1963, Ashe was the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team and two years later won both the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I singles and doubles championships. In 1966 and 1967, Ashe reached the final of the Australian Championships and then won the United States Open in 1968. In 1970, Ashe won his second Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open. In 1975, at age 31, Ashe won Wimbledon at his ninth attempt. He then won the Australian Open doubles in 1977. These wins meant that Ashe became the first African-American male tennis player to win the U.S. Open and Wimbledon singles titles. He retired in 1980.
In the early 1980s, Ashe contracted HIV from a blood transfusion that he received during heart bypass surgery. He learned he had AIDS in 1988 but did not publicly announce his illness until 1992, and then began working to educate others about the disease. He founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health before his death from AIDS-related pneumonia at age 49 in 1993.
Ashe delivered the Beatty Lecture on December 7, 1992 titled 鈥淟iving with AIDS鈥�. His lecture was co-sponsored by the 91社区 AIDS Centre.
Image: 91社区 Archives
