Why The Loss Of Muhammed Ali Is A Loss For The Tennis World - UBITENNIS
Editorial

Why The Loss Of Muhammed Ali Is A Loss For The Tennis World

By Adam Addicott
4 Min Read

Tributes have poured in from current and past tennis players following the death of former boxing heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali at the age of 74.

Born in 1942 as Cassius Marcellus Clay, Ali became one of the most inspirational and renowned athletes in the history of sport. Winning 56 out of his 61 professional fights, one of Ali’s most memorable performances occurred in 1974 when he defeated undefeated heavyweight champion George Foreman in Zaire. The event, named The Rumble in The Jungle, attracted 60,000 spectators.

Ali was also hugely influential outside of the boxing ring. A fierce critic of the Vietnam war, Ali campaigned for equal rights in America for minority races. Never afraid to speaki his mind, Ali inspired a generation battling racism in 1971 with this response to the sentence ‘not all white people are racist’.

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Never before had a boxer had such an influence in the tennis world, with past and current players previously praising him. In 2012 Andy Murray said that Ali was the sports personality that he would to like to meet the most. Three year’s later Murray, who is an avid boxing fan, explained when he has such a high regard for the boxer.

“I love Ali for what he stood for outside of the ring as much as in it; he transcended the sport and stuck to what he believed in passionately,” Murray told tennis.com in 2015.

Serena Williams attributed her run to the 2012 US Open title to Ali. Speaking with the media in New York, she said that he was ‘a person she always looked up to in sports’.

Perhaps the biggest influence in the tennis world concerning Ali involved WTA founder Billie Jing King. As King became a dominate figure in women’s rights, her authority was still far less than the influence Ali had in the black community. Nevertheless, both found common ground as they stood up for what they believed in. Throughout her career, King had great affection for the boxing sensation.

“Muhammed Ali and I had a genuine affection for each other,” King wrote in her autobiography.
“Whenever we would run into each other, he would whisper in my ear ‘Billie Jean King, you’re the Queen.’ I had no idea how much he thought about how our struggles for recognition as athletes ran parallel. But I think it was definitely part of our connection’.”

The world of sport has lost one of their greatest stars of the 20th century, however, Ali’s legacy will live forever in many sports, including tennis.

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