WIMBLEDON - TWO MEMORABLE DAYS

Delayed by a week, the 136th edition of the Wimbledon Championships, that got underway from 3 July 2023 is the first under King Charles III, after the passing away of the former patron, Queen Elizabeth II, last September...

This day in 1975 and in 1980 saw history being created by US's Arthur Robert Ashe (10 Jul 1943 - 6 Feb 1993), and Sweden's Björn Rune Borg (b. 6 Jun 1956) respectively, both winning their singles final match...

The first Afro-American to be included in the US Davis Cup team, Ashe was a winner of three Grand Slam titles - the first ever US Open in the Open Era, in 1968, Australian Open in 1970 and Wimbledon in 1975...

A child tennis prodigy, Ashe is one of only two men of African descent to win any Grand Slam singles title, the other being France's Yannick Noah, who won the French Open in 1983...

Retiring from the game in 1980 Ashe is said to have acquired HIV from a blood transfusion during his heart bypass surgery in 1983. Declaring his predicament in April 1992, Ashe took upon the task of educating others about HIV and AIDS through his institutions viz. Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health...

Ashe passed away at the age of 49 from AIDS-related pneumonia. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously in June 1993, and in 1997 the USLTA named the main stadium of the Flushing Meadows arena after Arthur Ashe, and with a capacity of 23,771 is the largest tennis stadium in the world...

Beginning his career in his teens, Borg's consistency propelled him into the tennis limelight in the 1970s. Cutting a long list short, Borg became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles with six at the French Open and five consecutively at Wimbledon...

However, despite being a finalist four times, the US Open title eluded him. His competition with John McEnroe is regarded as exemplary in tennis history, their match this day in the 1980 Wimbledon final considered as one of the greatest matches ever played...

After an unexpected retirement in 1981 and a brief unsuccessful comeback in 1991, the 1987 Hall Of Fame inductee Borg remains one of the all-time greats of the sport...

🎾 🎾 🎾

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