Serena Williams and Venus Williams dominated women’s tennis for nearly two decades. They planted a seed for women of color and young children from minority communities to see themselves in the Williams sisters. Players like Coco Gauff, Jelena Ostapenko, Danielle Collins, and Naomi Osaka have spoken highly of the tennis legends’ influence on their careers in the past. Now, Christopher Eubanks has joined the chorus, as he reminded the world about their reign and revealed how they revolutionized the game.

Black players were scarce on both the ATP and the WTA Tours until the Williams sisters stepped into the field. Except for Arthur Ashe, tennis has witnessed only a few, if any, black champions who dominated the game like the Willams sisters. Eubanks sang praises of the American WTA legends, who, according to him, have made the biggest impact on the sport.

Serena Williams and Venus Williams continue their off-court dominance

Starting their career at 16 years old, Queen Vee and ReRe ruled both the singles and doubles for more than 20 years. Serena even made history by winning her last Australian Open title while she was 9 weeks pregnant with Olympia in 2017. In an interview with Time, the 23-time Grand Slam winner said, “I don’t know any other person that has won a Grand Slam or a championship in the NBA or anything else nine weeks pregnant.”

Not only for their on-court achievements, but the 14-time doubles Grand Slam winners have also inspired the world with their mental strength. According to the Washington Post, Eubanks said, “I think obviously a lot of [Black players on the WTA tour come] from Venus and Serena’s dominance for so many years, that little Black girls can look on TV and see someone that looks like them excelling. It naturally feeds them right into the sport. It makes total sense.”

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Speaking of ATP players, the American rising star said, “On the men’s side, we’ve had Roger [Federer], Rafa [Nadal], Novak [Djokovic], [Andy] Murray. … Outside of Blake getting up to [No.] 4 in the world [in 2006], we had Mal Washington, Bryan Shelton, [Young] got up there, top 40 for a while, Rodney Harmon.” Except for the ‘Big 4,’ none of the players the Wimbledon quarter-finalist mentioned have won a Slam.

Though ATP had its fair share of black players, the ‘Big 3’ have dominated the tour for more than two decades, with Novak Djokovic still on the top. It is too soon to say that they are dominating, as there are less than 5 Black players among the Top 50. But the latter part of the 21st century is filled with the possibility of witnessing many young Black ATP players rising to the top. Eubanks also revealed his hope of seeing more top players from the black community.

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Eubanks reveals how good it feels to see people of color in the ATP

Speaking about the present black players on the court, the 27-year-old said, “I think it’s been a while since we have had that type of group. So it’s really cool, a really cool moment to be on that court and look across at Ben and then look to my left and see Frances and Michael, because we’ve all been good friends for years.” 

Ben Shelton is Bryan Shelton’s son and is being coached by his father. Michael Mmoh and Shelton are yet to win titles in their careers. Eubanks has one, and Frances Tiafoe has 3 titles. Tiafoe and Eubanks are improving with each game and keeping themselves in perfect shape to play as many tournaments as they can.

While the Williams sisters won 30 Grand Sams together, with Serena winning 23 and Venus 7, an ATP Black player did not achieve even a single Slam after Yannick Noah.

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After Ashe, it took almost 8 years for an ATP Black player to win a Grand Slam. Only two people of color have won a major title, the second being Yannick Noah. Over 40 years have passed since Noah claimed his only major, and the tennis community is still awaiting the 3rd person of color on the ATP Tour to win a Slam.

Will any of the rising ATP Black players end the drought and win a Grand Slam?