WASHINGTON (AP):THE UNITED States post office is honouring star tennis player Arthur Ashe with a postage stamp.
The first day of issue ceremonies for the 37-cent stamp were scheduled yesterday as part of Arthur Ashe Kids Day activities in New York before the US Open. The stamp will be available tomorrow.
In addition to his tennis fame, Ashe established foundations to help disen-franchised youth and to support the fight against AIDS, which he contracted from a blood transfusion during heart surgery.
Ashe, who died in 1994, was a native of Richmond, Virginia, where he learned to play tennis on the blacks-only Brook Field playground.
Racial barriers limited Ashe's freedom to compete in the South, but he eventually played in the world's top tennis tourna-ments, became the first black man to win the US Open in 1968, adding the 1970 Australian Open and 1975 Wimbledon.
He became the first African-American to represent the United States on the Davis Cup team, playing in 32 Davis Cup matches and winning 27.
Ashe was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1985, and the main stadium at the National Tennis Center, home of the U.S. Open starting tomorrow, is named in his honour.
