Tennis

As part of Tennis Channel’s “Signature Series,” a collection of documentaries about some of the sport’s most celebrated athletes, the network is airing a televised biography of Arthur Ashe at the conclusion of its US Open coverage Sun, Aug 31, 11pm ET. An activist and humanitarian as well as a best-in-class player, Ashe was the first man to win the US Open in 1968, in its very first year. With that result, he became the first African-American man to win the singles title at the US Open or as it was known at the time, the U.S. National Championships. Ashe died of AIDS in 1993, which he contracted from a blood transfusion during heart surgery. We caught up with Tennis chmn and CEO Ken Solomon to chat about the doc and Arthur Ashe, as the exec played a significant role in its genesis. 

How were you involved with this project? And were you more involved with this than with others in the series?

One of the advantages of being a nimble, independent network is that we all get to work on everything without unnecessary bureaucracy. That said, this project was extremely personal for me and began with my discussions with [Arthur’s widow] Jeanne Ashe quite some time ago. While I have been closely involved with many of our originals, especially our other Signature Series premiere events like Agassi, Vita, Martina and Bud Collins, this was by far the most hands-on for me in working with head of programming Laura Hockridge, director Nitin Varma and our originals team.

Given that Ashe’s civil rights activism is a focus of the doc, what do you think about the timing, in light of what has occurred in Ferguson?

Though we obviously could have never foreseen these events, it is uncanny that this civil and racial unrest is happening now, near the very city of St. Louis that Arthur moved to as a child, just so he could play interracial tennis legally. Many of the barriers Arthur broke through have afforded us all great progress and new freedoms in the area of equality and education for that matter. However, without taking sides or making any statement regarding Ferguson, what has happened there recently and in other communities throughout our country seems to indicate that we still have work to do when it comes to living together in a way that I believe Ashe would’ve hoped for.

Why is this the right time for this documentary, after so many years? Did it have anything to do with gaining the authorization from his family (or others) to televise his biography?

Jeanne Ashe asked me that very question when I first raised the idea of an authorized biography, “Why now Ken, why is this the right time?” Ashe’s story is uniquely American and in many ways he was a Ghandi- or Mother Teresa-like figure—reflecting and influencing our humanitarian evolution as a people both in the US and around the globe. His footprint across our culture is huge, and yet his story has never really been told. In addition, we wanted to have those who were closest to Arthur—his brother Johnnie, Rod Laver, Donald, Andrew Young, Yannick Noah, David Dinkins, Charlie Pasarell, etc., help tell the story through their personal writings to Arthur and comment and to be candid. Now was the time.

Speaking of his family, how much were they a part of its creation and/or the supervision of the production?

Anyone who has ever met her knows that Jeanne is truly a brilliant, passionate and stunning artist, advocate and force of nature. She was Arthur’s partner in life and his globally impactful leadership in race relations, educational opportunity, and pioneering the destigmatizing of AIDS while creating mass awareness. From the very beginning and at literally every stage it was important to get to the truth of what Arthur intended his legacy to be through Jeanne. It is what this film is about. In addition to opening key family archives, including her amazing and award-winning personal photos, it is the first-ever official filmed biography. Jeannie had to be the ultimate North Star on the authenticity and tone of the piece, particularly.

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