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Player Advice
Being Black in College Tennis: Players Share Their Stories
by Rhiannon Potkey, 11 June 2020
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Black Lives Matter has been a rallying cry for people across the world protesting against racism, police brutality and social injustice following the death of George Floyd.
Floyd, a black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd gasped for air.
Floyd’s death came weeks after Breonna Taylor, a black female, and Ahmaud Arbery, a black male, were killed. Taylor was shot in her home in Louisville while police were issuing a no-knock warrant, and Arbery was killed by two white men in Georgia while jogging.
Sports figures have been using their platforms to push for change to end systematic racism. Being a largely white sport, tennis hasn’t featured as many outspoken athletes as prominently as other sports.
Given our place in the landscape of college recruiting, I reached out to a few former and current black college players to ask about their experience with race in college tennis.
The ones who responded discussed how race may have factored into their recruiting, how they were treated in college and what future generations of aspiring black college players may learn from their experiences.
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