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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Geneva Abdul

How Wimbledon and apartheid South Africa blocked a teen’s tennis dream

Tennis South Africa Wimbledon Peter Hain AELTC ITF the All England Lawn Tennis Club
Hoosen Bobat as a junior tennis player
Hoosen Bobat hailed from a segregated Durban suburb and travelled 50km to practice on private courts as a youngster. Photograph: Hoosen Bobat

When a telegram arrived from the All England Lawn Tennis Club inviting Hoosen Bobat to play in the 1971 Wimbledon junior tournament, he read it more than a dozen times to be certain it was addressed to him.

The accomplishment was surreal for the then 18-year-old, hailing from a segregated Durban suburb where life was a “struggle all the time” under South Africa’s brutal apartheid regime.

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