The Dawn
Of The WTA
T
he Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organising body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King with the vision of a better future for women’s tennis, the WTA today has more than 2,500 players representing nearly 100 nations competing for a record $146 million in prize money. When the Women's Tennis Association was founded, Billie Jean King was one of nine players that comprised the WTA, also referred to
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as the Original 9. The other players were Rosie Casals, Nancy Richey, Kerry Melville, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kristy Pigeon, Judy Dalton, Valerie Ziegenfuss and Julie Heldman. In September 1970, they signed a $1 contract to join the Virginia Slims Circuit at the Houston Racquet Club in protest against the inequity in prize money awarded in the men’s and women’s games. Casals defeated Dalton in the final of the Houston event, which boasted a total prize purse of $7,500. Recognizing that traditional events had to raise their game or risk fading away, the WTA was created at a gathering of more than 60 players in a room at the
Gloucester Hotel in London, one week before Wimbledon. The WTA immediately began helping women tennis players gain recognition and equality. The increase in prize money offered to women tennis players produced a ripple effect across all women’s sports, with female athletes gaining well-deserved and longoverdue recognition, endorsement deals, and pay equity with their male counterparts. In 1971, Billie Jean King became the first female athlete to cross the six-figure mark in season earnings. In 1973, the US Open offered equal prize money to men and women for the first time. At present, men and women now
