A SALUTE TO ASHE; STADIUM IN NEW YORK NAMED AFTER LATE STAR.

Byline: Associated Press 

Twenty-nine years after the first U.S. Open, the world's richest tennis tournament returns to its first champion: Arthur Ashe.

When the open begins its two-week run Monday, it will be in Arthur Ashe Stadium, a brand-new part of the U.S. Tennis Association's $234 million expansion and upgrade of the National Tennis Center .

In 1968, Ashe won the men's singles title at the first U.S. Open, defeating Tom Okker of the Netherlands in a marathon 14-12, 5-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 final on the grass at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens.

Because he was an amateur at the time, the 25-year-old Ashe was ineligible to receive the $14,000 first-place prize in the $100,000 event - at the time the biggest prize in tennis. Instead, the army lieutenant received $280 in expenses - $20 per diem for 14 days, which included two days of practice.

It was his second Grand Slam tournament title of 1968 - both coming at the famed club in Forest Hills. Earlier in the year, the Richmond, Va., native won the last U.S. Championships - an all-amateur event - as tennis' open era was about to begin. He defeated fellow American Bob Lutz, better known for his doubles play, in the final 4-6, 6-3, 8-10, 6-0, 6-4.

He was the first African-American man to win one of tennis' major tournaments, although Althea Gibson had broken the color barrier 12 years earlier when she won the women's singles at the French Championships. The next year, Gibson captured the women's singles at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships, then repeated in 1958.

Ashe won the Australian Open in 1970, but his greatest achievement came in 1975 when he reached the Wimbledon final against a seemingly unbeatable Jimmy Connors.

``That match was the biggest of my life,'' Ashe wrote in his book, ``Days of Grace.'' ``It was also one that just everybody was sure I would lose because Connors was then the finest tennis player in the world, virtually invincible. In fact, the match was supposed to be a slaughter, and I was to be the sacrificial lamb.''

Ashe, instead, changed him game, took all the speed off the ball and watched Connors self-destruct. Executing his plan perfectly, Ashe won 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

The U.S. Open switched from grass to clay in 1975, then moved to hardcourts in Flushing Meadows in 1978.

Ashe was seeded 16th that first year and battled to the fourth round, where he lost to eighth-seeded Raul Ramirez of Mexico.

It was his last U.S. Open.

Three weeks after a first-round loss at Wimbledon in 1979, Ashe suffered a heart attack. After undergoing bypass heart surgery, he retired as a player but not from the sport.

As captain, Ashe led the United States to the Davis Cup titles in 1981 and 1982. In 1985, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Ashe always looked to the future. Charlie Pasarell, a teammate at UCLA who played on the pro circuit and now is a tournament director, remembers that whenever Ashe was asked to do clinics or public appearances for youngsters, he would always ask: ``What will be there after I have gone?''

The answer is a lot.

Ashe co-founded the National Junior Tennis League in 1968, and lent his name and support to the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis Center in suburban Philadelphia in 1982. Ashe felt that tennis was a way to teach youngsters life lessons that reached beyond the sport, and that the key to success was education.

The recent merger of NJTL with the Ashe Youth Tennis Center means 5,000 youngsters in the Philadelphia area are served annually.

The USTA is now the umbrella organization for the NJTL, and Pasarell is a co-chairman of the program for public recreational team tennis for boys and girls 8-18.

Ashe died in 1993 after contracting AIDS through a blood transfusion. He won 51 singles and doubles titles during a 12-year pro career. He also played Davis Cup from 1963-70 and 1975, 1976 and 1978.

When the name of the new stadium was announced, Harry Marmion, president of the USTA, called Ashe ``the finest human being the sport of tennis has ever known. He was a citizen, a humanitarian, an ambassador and a role model for people around the world. The fact that the tennis court was his stage should make us all proud.''

Prize money at this year's tournament will be $11 million, with the men's and women's singles champions taking home $650,000 each.

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Photo

PHOTO Arthur Ashe poses with his U.S. Open championship trophy in 1968 after beating Tom Okker in the final.

Daily News File Photo