Robert Ryland, a trailblazing tennis player and coach, died Sunday, Aug. 2, 2020, at age 100. He was living in Provincetown, Mass., on Cape Cod.

A Chicago native, Mr. Ryland became the first Black athlete to play professional tennis in 1959 when he competed in a World Pro Tour event in Cleveland.

Later in life, he served as a mentor and coach to such tennis stars as Arthur Ashe Jr., Venus and Serena Williams, Harold Solomon, Renee Blount, Leslie Allen and Bruce Foxworth.

Mr. Ryland also coached entertainment celebrities, including Eartha Kitt, Bill Cosby, Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand and Tony Bennett.

In the early 1960s while serving as tennis pro at St. Albans Country Club in Washington, he provided lessons for the Kennedys and Robert MacNamara.

Mr. Ryland, who also taught at the Midtown Tennis Club in New York City from 1963 to 1990, posted a long list of superlatives in his distinguished career.

At Tilden Technical High School in Chicago, he led his team to the Illinois State title and also won the junior American Tennis Association singles title.

At Wayne State University in Detroit, he became one of the first two Black players to compete in the NCAA tennis championships in 1945.

In 1947, he was the first Black player to compete at the Los Angeles Tennis Club.

In 1954, as player-coach, he led Tennessee State University in Nashville to the small college national championship.

In 1955 and 1956, he won the ATA singles championships.

Mr. Ryland was 39 when he got his first shot at a pro title in 1959 on what had been an all-white tennis circuit.

A popular clinician, Mr. Ryland gave lectures at the Harlem Armory, the Arthur Ashe Youth Tennis and Education Center and the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Mr. Ryland was inducted into the Black Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009 and the Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame in 2002, which honored him with a lifetime achievement award in 2012.