RICHMOND, Va. — A statue honoring tennis legend Arthur Ashe in his hometown of Richmond, Virginia, was spray painted Wednesday with the words “White Lives Matter” and “WLM.”

Ashe, who died in 1993, was the first black man to win Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the U.S. Open. His statue is situated on Richmond's five-mile Monument Avenue, dotted with several prominent Confederate monuments, The New York Times reported.