Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 18, 1991 TAG: 9102180070
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL MARKOWITZ THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But behind the headlines of the Davis Cup victory, the all-American men's final at the U.S. Open and an all-American women's final at Wimbledon, there were disturbing rumblings about racism in the game.
Last summer, Shoal Creek Country Club's exclusionary membership practices flared into a national embarrassment for golf, forcing a new awareness of the way the pro tour conducted its business. Several blacks in the tennis community voiced frustration last summer that similar abuses had not led to commensurate changes in the policies, procedures and attitudes in the tennis establishment.
Arthur Ashe, the former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion, said that administrators of the U.S. Tennis Association, whose mandate it is to promote the game and develop young talent, held "a latent fear" of black players' potential.
"They're worried that if we made our mark, we'd take over the sport," Ashe said. "They're worried that we'd start producing tennis players like we have basketball players."
William Washington, the father and coach of MaliVai, who at No. 97 in the official Association of Tennis Professionals world ranking is the top-ranked black American man, found fault with the USTA's training programs for inner-city black youngsters and its slack response to incidents of possible racism on the national junior circuit.
"The USTA's answer to handling racism is to try and sweep it under the rug," Washington said.
Although the reported incidents on the junior tennis circuit, which includes four divisions for players 18 years old and under, happened between three and 10 years ago, the charges of institutional racism in pro tennis are current, and, several black players say, have been happening for years.
These charges are in many cases subjective and unprovable, involving the assignment of less desirable practice times, courts and balls, and the pairing of black opponents against each other in the early rounds of tournaments, but in the light of Shoal Creek they deserve thought and attention.
USTA officials dispute charges of racism and defend the organization's recent record in involving minority players in its programs.
"What Arthur said flies against the facts of the matter, and I don't think he thought it out," said David Markin, the association's president. "The USTA is color blind when it comes to trying to bring minorities into the sport of tennis. We've tried to involve many other minorities as well, Chinese and Japanese and Hispanics."
Recent USTA initiatives, however, are partly a response to past neglect. "In a study we did in 1988," said Ron Woods, the director of the association's player development program, "we found that the average national junior player came from a family that was making $80,000. Our main goal was to get more kids from every background playing tennis and to keep them playing. But, indirectly, we were trying to address racial inequities from the past."
One case in point involves Bryan Shelton, No. 121 in the world and second among American black players, who tells a story of country club racism that predates Shoal Creek by 10 years.
"I entered a junior tournament at the Vestavia Country Club," Shelton, 24, said, referring to a club in Birmingham, Ala. "Going into the tournament, the officials there didn't know who I was. Then, I ended up winning it.
"The next year they changed it to an invitation-only tournament, and I didn't receive an invitation. It turned into a big deal, not just with me, but with other players - not just black, either - who rallied behind me. Vestavia ended up losing their Southern Tennis Association sanction the following year. But they eventually got it back."
In October 1988, William Washington brought his grievances against the USTA to a congressional subcommittee on employment opportunity. He charged that his younger son, Mashiska, was unfairly denied access to playing in the USTA National Indoor 14-and-under tournament in 1988 as a representative of the Western Tennis Association (the Western and Southern associations are two of 17 USTA sections in the nation).
Mashiska's No. 4 ranking in the region should have reserved him a spot in the tournament, but a Western spokesman said his application arrived late.
Washington also questioned the USTA's handling of a previous national tournament in 1981 held in Birmingham, where his daughter, Michaela, was bused across town to a different club to play her matches.
"The USTA is not divined to help minority kids," Washington said this summer. Washington made his statements even though MaliVai is a member of the USTA's Touring Pro Team, which provides coaching and assists young players in making the transition to the demands of the pro tour.
"When talking about Mr. Washington, you have to realize that he has had many years of acrimonious dealings with the USTA," Markin said. "For as long as I have known him, Mr. Washington has always been angry. Anytime something has gone wrong regarding the USTA and his kids - and like any large organization, we've had our administrative foulups - he's charged it was racism.
"As intelligent a man and as fine a coach as he is, Mr. Washington would be a large help to the USTA if he worked with us instead of branding us racists."
Benny Sims, who is black and a national coach with the USTA, defends the player development program, which the USTA initiated in the spring of 1988.
A lot of the grievances that are being made date to before the development program started, Sims said. "At that time, the USTA was a broad-based organization whose primary concern was to introduce tennis to as many youngsters as possible. Now it's more specialized," he said.
The USTA points out that Chanda Rubin, a 14-year-old from Louisiana who is black, is a member of the 18-player national team, and three blacks are members of the 12-player touring pro program: Stacey Martin, Jeri Ingram and MaliVai Washington. Of the 12 black players in the top 100 in the national junior rankings, eight attended the association's developmental camps.
Still, Sims said, "The people who are going to have to assume the responsibility for building black players are black parents and coaches."
On the pro tours, many black players are aware of an undercurrent of racial tension. Some choose to acknowledge it, while others say it never comes to mind.
"Most of the racism I've encountered is under the surface," said Todd Nelson, who is 29 and once held a world ranking of 56, but is now No. 489. "If you're looking for it, you feel it. It's there in the scheduling of matches, the practice court time and the balls you're given. But if I get a bad break on the court - like a bad line call - I don't think it's because I'm black."
Other black players mentioned the cultural wear and tear of traveling and competing on a tour dominated by white players and white fans.
"If you grow up listening to rap or African music, it's going to take some time to adjust to hearing country music," said Yannick Noah, the African-born Frenchman who once was the No. 3-ranked player in the world and has since slipped to No. 142. "I don't want it to be taken that you have to live in a white way if you're black. But there is something in there that needs to be thought about."
Then there was the struggle of Zina Garrison, now the No. 10 player in the world, to attain racquet and clothing endorsements. These deals are considered a given for a top-10 player, but Garrison couldn't find a contract until she became the first black woman since Althea Gibson in 1958 to reach the Wimbledon final last year. Then Reebok signed her.
"Zina just didn't match the Madison Avenue paradigm of the cute blonde," Ashe said.
It is not surprising that racial accord is elusive in a sport that, once solely the bastion of the country club set, now is openly played by members of minority groups on city courts.
As Sims said, "Tennis is just a microcosm of life."
But if the United States hopes to remain at the top of the game, it seems certain that more black players, like J. J. Jackson and Chanda Rubin, who were No. 1 in the national boys' and girls' 14-and-under rankings in 1989 - the first time in history that two blacks held the top spot in the same year in the USTA junior rankings - will need to emerge.
by CNB