Serena plans a film on Gibson’s life

Serena Williams, a budding actress, is planning to make a movie about the life of trailblazing black tennis player Althea Gibson. Williams doesn’t plan to star or direct in the flick but is working on a script and will likely be a producer.

“I think Althea Gibson has a great story. We’re working on a script right now,” she said in Melbourne where she is competing at the Australian Open. “I think she had a great life, and I just think she’s a little bit overlooked. “You’ve got this US Open, you’ve got the Arthur Ashe court, and Arthur Ashe was a great guy, and it was my lifelong dream when I met him. “Then you have the Louis Armstrong Centre and the centre being named after Billie Jean King who, again, I always admired Billy and she’s someone that I love. But I just feel sometimes that Althea Gibson, who did so much for people like me to play this sport, and she was the first, before even Arthur Ashe, and I just think it will be a great story to tell. Yeah, it’s a good script. I definitely won’t be directing it. Hopefully I can produce it.”

Gibson overcame the odds to achieve international acclaim and success, clawing her way from the violent streets of Harlem to the grass courts of Wimbledon.

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She won 56 singles and doubles titles during her amateur career in the 1950s before gaining international acclaim on the professional circuit. Gibson won 11 major titles in the late 1950s, including singles titles at the French Open (1956), Wimbledon (1957, 1958) and the US Open (1957, 1958). She died in 2003.

Williams, who has won seven Grand Slam titles, is making a comeback from injury in Melbourne. As well as playing tennis, she has dabbled in fashion design and acting, with small roles in several American television shows while doing voiceovers for programs like The Simpsons and kids favourite Higgleytown Heroes.