"Tennis was only a small part of it. More than anything, I remember him being the person he is--a very caring person and a loving person. His heart is the biggest I've ever seen."

McNeil, also at the Yokohama tournament, said she met Ashe in 1975 at a clinic at Houston's MacGregor Park. They last spoke at an AIDS benefit in November.

"As a black player, I admired him a lot and looked up to him," she said. "Like any other Black player, he gave us a dream and made it a reality. He was definitely a forerunner for all of us."

In Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, play in a tournament was held up for a moment of silence in Ashe's honor.

In Sweden, former Davis Cup player Ove Bengtson, now a TV commentator, said, "Arthur was unique, but not only as a player...Arthur was the first gentleman in modern tennis that I got to know. He was one of the finest representatives in international tennis. In politics, he always went his own way during a time when there were a lot of militants."

In Philadelphia, U.S. Indoor tournament chairman Tom Gowen, Ashe's ball boy at the 1963 tournament, remembered Ashe not only as a great player, but "he was such a gentleman, on and off the court. Never threw his racket, never argued a call. He handled himself with quiet dignity."