Before they try to make history on the court this week at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, Taro Daniel and Hailey Baptiste learned about history at Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

The players on Monday received an exclusive tour of the Ray and Dagmar Dolby Hall of American Culture, where they saw a wide variety of cultural artifacts. The tennis world was featured, and the pair looked at dresses worn by Althea Gibson at Wimbledon in 1957 and Billie Jean King in the Battle of the Sexes in 1973.

“Super cool visiting the National Museum of American History. I was really excited to see some tennis pieces here. Althea Gibson and Billie Jean King, just over there. Hopefully I’ll be able to come back and experience a little bit more.”

<img src="https://eltaszone.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/star-wars-display-lights-up-museum-tour-for-daniel-baptiste-in-d-c.jpg" alt="Taro Daniel and Hailey Baptiste pose with Billie Jean King’s kit from the 1973 Battle of the Sexes match at the National Museum of American History.”>

Daniel particularly enjoyed a Star Wars display featuring popular characters C-3PO and R2-D2.

“Apparently they were the ones that were actually used in the movie. [I am] a huge Star Wars fan, so that definitely set up the tour right for me,” Daniel said. “Also it was cool to have some other tennis stuff and sports history over there with Althea Gibson and Billie Jean King and also Sesame Street to put it in the mix, which I have a lot of memories from when I was a kid. Really cool.”

<img src="https://eltaszone.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/star-wars-display-lights-up-museum-tour-for-daniel-baptiste-in-d-c-1.jpg" alt="Taro Daniel poses with C-3PO and R2-D2 from Star Wars at the National Museum of American History.”>