ON THIS DAY 7 5 2023

This Day in History: July 5

Featured Event

1975




Arthur Ashe defeated Jimmy Connors in four sets of tennis at the 89th Wimbledon Championships.

Arthur Ashe
American tennis player


Arthur Ashe, in full Arthur Robert Ashe, (born July 10, 1943, Richmond, Virginia, U.S.—died February 6, 1993, New York, New York), American tennis player, the first Black winner of a major men’s singles championship.
Ashe began to play tennis at the age of seven in a neighbourhood park. He was coached by Walter Johnson of Lynchburg, Virginia, who had coached tennis champion Althea Gibson. Ashe moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he was coached by Richard Hudlin, before he entered the University of California at Los Angeles on a tennis scholarship. In 1963 Ashe won the U.S. hard-court singles championship; in 1965 he took the intercollegiate singles and doubles titles; and in 1967 he won the U.S. clay-court singles championship. In 1968 he captured the U.S. (amateur) singles and open singles championships. He played on the U.S. Davis Cup team (1963–70, 1975, 1977–78) and helped the U.S. team to win the Davis Cup challenge (final) round in 1968, 1969, and 1970. In the latter year he became a professional.

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Featured Biography

Megan Rapinoe
American soccer player


Megan Rapinoe, in full Megan Anna Rapinoe, (born July 5, 1985, Redding, California, U.S.), American football (soccer) player and social activist who was one of the sport’s leading wingers. She helped the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) win two Women’s World Cups (2015 and 2019) as well as a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics and a bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Rapinoe was named Women’s Player of the Year by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) in 2019. She was also an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights and gender equality.


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