As Tiafoe showed, Grand Slamma hits on legacy of Black pros

When Frances Tiafoe won the Challenger tournament on clay in Parma, Italy, a couple of weeks ago, it marked the end of a two-year title drought at any level.

The American said he was there for one thing only.

Judging by his post-match attire, it appears that Tiafoe has even bigger aspirations for the rest of his career. His T-shirt refers to the first Grand Slam titles won by Arthur Ashe and Yannick Noah at the US Open and French Open, respectively. Noah’s victory 37 years ago marks the last time a Black man has won a major—another drought Tiafoe is looking to end.

That T-shirt wasn’t from Nike, Tiafoe’s clothing sponsor. Rather, it was from a start-up apparel company, Grand Slamma, which puts the history and accomplishments of Black tennis players front and center through lively messaging and imagery.

The Maryland-based business is the brainchild of sisters Jeri and Sharon Ingram. Jeri Ingram’s long background in tennis includes an undefeated run all through high school, an ACC individual championship while playing for the University of Maryland, and an eight-year run on the WTA Tour, which saw her crack the top 200 in the late 1980s. Currently, she runs the Metropolitan Tennis & Education Group, part of the National Junior Tennis & Learning network.

According to Jeri, the idea for this new endeavor came about in response to the current climate in the nation around race relations.

“We were being called to action from the parents and our supporters,” Jeri says. “Sharon is on our board and we were having a conversation: What can we do for the youth that we serve that depend on us, and also what can we do that’s responsible, it’s educational and it’s going to be longstanding?

“We came up with the idea of some sort of swag because that what the youth are into. They’ll pay attention to that,” she added. “We also wanted to give it a little more meat with the website. We have a story page that goes into the history of players, coaches and hitting partners that have been in the Black tennis community a long period of time.”

Another initiative of Grand Slamma is to continue to support the tennis program, given the current economic situation in the country, says Sharon. “It was late nights of me thinking what’s our plan C here, what can we do to keep these kids playing tennis? It was always a way to assist my sister’s program as far as their training, their preparation.”

From concept to going live, the period was relatively brief. “The shirts, the website, the meaning behind everything really came together in about a two-month period,” Jeri says. “The name of the company is Grand Slamma, and so we had to get it out by the first Grand Slam [during the pandemic], which was the US Open.”

Sharon, whose professional background is on the creative side, led the efforts on the messaging and imagery for the shirts, which range from listing the Black men among the Top 300 on the ATP Tour to naming the women who’ve won Grand Slam singles titles—from Althea Gibson to the Williams sisters to Naomi Osaka.

Making their US Open deadline, the company then sent apparel to some of the players while they were in New York. Sloane Stephens wore a T-shirt at practice during the French Open, while Tiafoe brought Grand Slamma further into the public eye from the winner’s circle in Parma. With their “DMV” ties, Jeri said she and Tiafoe have known each other for years.

“Frances is always gracious about people appreciating him,” she said. “We spoke and he said he loves everything, and that he’s definitely gonna rock it. I told him when I saw the photo, ‘Oh you rocked it during the trophy ceremony getting your hardware,’ he said he loved to do it and wants to support.”

“We’re super-pleased with how things are going so far, and this is something we’re going to continue to do,” Sharon said. “It’s a conversation starter and we really want to build up the educational component [about Blacks in pro tennis] for our students.

“This is a multi-pronged endeavor.”