“Althea and Angela: A Perfect Match“ follows the tennis careers and friendship of Althea Gibson, an African-American from Harlem and Angela Buxton, a Jewish player from England. Their doubles victory on Center Court at Wimbledon in 1956 was a breakthrough in a game where their race and religion had made them outcasts. The film features archival footage and interviews with tennis legend Billie Jean King, tennis analyst Bud Collins, former New York City Mayor David Dinkins and Wimbledon champion Angela Buxton, who is also co-producer of the film. Gibson, who recently was honored with the release of a stamp by the U.S. Postal Service for helping to integrate tennis in the midst of the civil rights movement, became the first African-American tennis player to win the U.S. Open, the same tournament that just a few years earlier prohibited her from playing because of her color. Buxton, now in her 70s, and living between the U.S. and England, continues to write about tennis and she develops younger players to prepare them for the tennis circuit. Buxton continued a lifelong friendship with Gibson until her death in 2003.
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