4 great women's Grand Slam champions who never won the Australian Open

#1 Althea Gibson

Althea Gibson at the 1957 Wimbledon Championships

The most prominent black player to compete on the women's professional tennis circuit in the 1960s was American Althea Gibson. At a time when racism and prejudice were widespread in sports and in society, Gibson achieved tremendous success and is an inspiration to many youngsters even today.

"Her road to success was a challenging one," said fellow American tennis great Billie Jean King about Gibson's career. Venus Williams and Serena Williams have often spoken about the kind of impact Gibson's success had on their own careers early on.

Gibson was a five-time Grand Slam Singles champion, winning Wimbledon and the US Open twice each and the French Open once. If Gibson had won the Australian Open, she would have become the fourth woman at the time to complete the Career Slam.

However, her best performance at the Australian Open came in 1957 where she was runner-up to fellow American Shirley Fry.