Episode description

Broadcaster Qasa Alom chooses the first African American tennis player to win the US Open and Wimbledon, Arthur Ashe.

Arthur Ashe was born in Richmond, Virginia, a state in the US that in 1943 was still part of the segregated south. If Arthur wanted to compete with white players, he had to leave for St Louis and then California to play. His story is staggering, and not just his success in a notoriously elitist sport. His mother died when he was six, he had a heart attack when he was 36, and he died of AIDS when he was just 49, contracted from a tainted blood confusion.

Film maker and broadcaster Qasa Alom grew up loving Rafa Nadal. Then Ashe's story blew him away. "In a world where we have so many demonstrative heroes, in sport, in politics, the extrovert who is shouting the loudest often gets heard. There's a really good opportunity here to showcase other ways of being a champion, and Arthur Ashe for me is certainly that person."

Programme contains historic interviews, including Arthur Ashe talking to Anthony Clare for In The Psychiatrists Chair shortly after his first heart attack. Also includes a new interview with Raymond Arsenault, American author of Arthur Ashe: A Life.

Presenter: Matthew Parris

Producer: Miles Warde

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2023.