Monument for Althea Gibson African-American tennis pioneer
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shes very important to our society in our sport particularly back in the 50s to be able to pave the road and provide pathways for others like arthur ashe zina garrison lori mcneil chanda rubin venus serena myself and others to be where we are today. its a proud moment to be able to say that we will be putting a monument on the usta billie jean king national tennis center premises next year1 a new interactive monument honouring african american althea gibson and set to be revealed at the 2019 us open will capture the spirit of an iconic pioneer1 gibson was the firstafrican-american player to break the colour line in international tennis and in 1956 she became the first person of colour to win a grand slam title1 now she will be immortalised alongside arthur ashe who is honoured with a statue outside the stadium that bears his name and billie jean king after whom the tennis centre was renamed1 the monument was commissioned by the usta in collaboration with sothebys. the usta also sought the input of fran gray one of the committee members and long-time friend of gibson whoruns her estate1 katrina adamschairman of the board and president of the usta saidapproval was granted in december to erect a monument to celebrate her greatness1 she is an historic icon said adams. in our sport of tennis she was the one that really broke the colour barrier. she is the jackie robinson of tennis1 while the exact design and placement on the grounds of the usta billie jean king national tennis center will be determined at a later date renowned sculptor eric goulder is planning a larger-than-life bronze figurine that will feature a combination ofdigital media and augmented reality a nod to both the past and the future1 goulder said the monument will probablybe made in clay cast in bronze and feature an element of stone1 it really got me thinking of how i could approach a sculpture of a sporting figure in a new way instead of just a figurine and also to make something that doesnt just memorialize her but tells more of her story which i think is really important goulder said1 added sotherbys chairman ben doller i think eric is one of the best sort of figurative and modernist sculptors out there. i think erics project and proposal combines something that will have a magic a genius of capturing a personality and then also has a concept of having something be traditional but really looking forward as well1 born in 1927 in south carolina gibson won the u.s. national championship in 1957 and 1958 in addition to two wimbledon titles and a french open crown. gibson also won the 1957 u.s. national championship mixed doubles and five womens doubles titles and became the world no. 1 in 1957. she was inducted into the international tennis hall of fame in 19711 for her to grace us to grace our sport with her talents and to be able to have the accomplishments that she did is one of the main reasons why we are celebrating her and we have in our own way but now the world will be able to see it adams said1 written by ashley marshall for usopen.org1