Jenice Armstrong: Black tennis players shouldn't have to deal with this

Jenice Armstrong, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Oct 18, 2026

Published in Op Eds

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If you know me, you know I love tennis. I play on two U.S. Tennis Association teams. It’s a stress reliever, and I enjoy the camaraderie that comes with doubles tennis.

But what I’ve never appreciated is the negativity the game sometimes invites. Like what Coco Gauff experienced at the China Open earlier this month.

Or like the racist messages sent to Howard University’s club tennis team recently.

I wasn’t surprised — not really — by either. Racism and tennis go way, way back.

Althea Gibson, the daughter of a sharecropper, played on segregated teams and courts before becoming the first Black athlete to win the Wimbledon Championships in 1957.

Arthur Ashe was also barred from playing in many club tournaments, and even on public courts, because of his skin color — but still became the No. 1 tennis player in the world.

Venus and Serena Williams dominated the sport for years, but faced racist comments about everything from their physicality to their hairstyles.

Still, when I hear of racism once again rearing its ugly head over a game that’s supposed to be fun, I get riled up.

In this latest instance, Gauff withdrew from the China Open after losing in straight sets to Elise Mertens, following a torrent of racial abuse online. The 22-year-old said she needed a break, and I believe her. It’s understandable after the ugliness the two-time Grand Slam champ was subjected to in Beijing.

It all started after Gauff raised her hand during a rally to indicate that she was distracted by some flickering electronic advertising. The point was replayed. Gauff won the point and eventually the match — which upset some fans.

Instead of letting it go, they went after Gauff on social media, using profanity and calling her the N-word.

“Hey everyone, you can dislike me or disagree about what happened without being racist,” Gauff responded on X. It got so nasty that the United Nations Human Rights Committee stepped in and issued a statement in Gauff’s defense. “There is no place in sport for racial or sexist slurs and abuse,” the global organization posted on X.

It’s unfortunate that the University of Maryland’s club tennis team didn’t get the memo.

Maryland officials have suspended the university’s club tennis program after racist imagery resembling Ku Klux Klan hoods was emailed to invitational tournament participants, including students at Howard University, a historically Black college in Washington, D.C.

Whoever was behind that email must not know the students at my alma mater. Howard students don’t let things like that go. They push back.

“I don’t know what the intent was behind that, if it was nefarious or not, but no matter what they kept it on there” this year, said Toni Rachal, president of the club team at Howard, according to the Washington Post. “That was wrong.”

Howard’s interim president, Wayne A.I. Frederick, said in a statement that “The imagery displayed evoked a painful history of racial terror and exclusion that has no place in an environment dedicated to learning, personal development, and mutual respect.”

As I pointed out earlier, this kind of thing has gone on for years.

Robert Foster, president of the American Tennis Association, which was founded in 1916 because Black players weren’t allowed to participate in many tournaments, told me his organization stands with Gauff as well as the Howard players.

He added that he hopes the University of Maryland will investigate what happened and “hold those responsible accountable.”

University of Maryland president Darryll J. Pines released a statement saying the matter had been referred to the school’s campus police department and will be reviewed by the school’s civil rights office.

“We are committed to doing all we can to repair the hurt and harm that this has caused,” Pines said in a statement.

Hopefully it will be a learning experience for all involved.

Rachal, the Howard team captain, told a TV reporter, “It’s just something that I can’t be silent about.”

The exact same thing should be true for all tennis players of all backgrounds — not just the ones who are African American.

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