The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour, which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women, and was founded to create a better future for women's tennis. The WTA's corporate headquarters is in St. Petersburg, Florida, with its European headquarters in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Beijing.
Christine Marie Evert, known as Chris Evert Lloyd from 1979 to 1987, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Evert won 18 major singles titles, including a record seven French Open titles and a joint-record six US Open titles. Evert was ranked world No. 1 for 260 weeks, and was the year-end world No. 1 singles player seven times. Alongside Martina Navratilova, her greatest rival, Evert dominated women's tennis for much of the 1970s and 1980s.
Beatriz "Gigi" Fernández is a Puerto Rican former professional tennis player. Fernández won 17 major doubles titles and two Olympic gold medals representing the United States, and reached the world No. 1 ranking in doubles. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 17 in 1991. Since retiring from the professional tour in 1997 at the age of 33, Fernández has been a tennis coach and entrepreneur. She now shares her knowledge of doubles with tennis enthusiasts throughout the US by conducting Master Doubles with Gigi Clinics and Doubles Boot Camps. Fernández is the first Puerto Rican to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Goolagong was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Monica Seles is a former world No. 1 tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. She won nine major singles titles, eight of them as a teenager while representing Yugoslavia, and the final one while representing the United States.
Zina Lynna Garrison is an American former professional tennis player. Garrison was the runner-up in singles at the 1990 Wimbledon Championships, a three-time major mixed doubles champion, and an Olympic gold and bronze medalist from the women's doubles and singles events, respectively, at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4, on 20 November 1989.
Olga Vasilyevna Morozova is a retired tennis player who competed for the Soviet Union. She was the runner-up in singles at the 1974 French Open and 1974 Wimbledon Championships.
Pam Teeguarden is a former American professional tennis player in the 1970s and 1980s, ranked in the top 20 from 1970–1975. She won two Grand Slam Doubles Titles and was a quarter finalist in singles at the U.S. Open and The French Open. Her father Jerry, a well known coach, helped Margaret Court win the coveted Grand Slam in 1970 and Virginia Wade to her 1977 Wimbledon triumph. Teeguarden was voted the "Most Watchable Player" based on play and appearance by a group of Madison Avenue advertising executives or "Mad Men" while playing at the US Open. Teeguarden played in 19 consecutive US Opens, holding the record until Chris Evert played in 20. She wore the first all black outfit in the history of tennis in 1975 at The Bridgestone Doubles Championships in Tokyo, starting a trend that is still popular today. Teeguarden was the first woman tennis player signed by Nike. She played on the victorious Los Angeles Strings Team Tennis team in 1981 and won the Team Tennis Mixed Doubles Division with Tom Gullikson in 1977; they were also runners-up in the league that year.
Kerry Melville Reid is a former professional tennis player from Australia. During her 17-year career, Reid won one Grand Slam singles title and 26 other singles titles and was the runner-up in 40 singles tournaments. Reid was included in the year-end world top-ten rankings for 12 consecutive years (1968–1979). She won at least one tournament annually from 1966 through 1979, except for 1975. Her career-high ranking was world No. 5 in 1971, behind Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong, and Rosie Casals.
Françoise Dürr is a retired French tennis player. She won 50 singles titles and over 60 doubles titles.
Julie Heldman is an American tennis player who won 22 singles titles. In 1968 and 1969, she was ranked No. 2 in the U.S. She was Canadian National 18 and Under Singles Champion at age 12, U.S. Champion in Girls’ 15 Singles and Girls’ 18 Singles, Italian Open Singles Champion, Canadian Singles and Doubles Champion, and U.S. Clay Court Doubles Champion. She won three medals at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, and three gold medals at the 1969 Maccabiah Games.
The U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships is an annual ATP Tour tennis tournament. Founded in 1910, it has been held in nearly two dozen cities, and since 2001 has been held in Houston, Texas. It currently pays out US$474,000 with the winner receiving US$85,900. It is the only remaining ATP World Tour-level tournament in the United States to be played on clay courts.
Ilana Sheryl Kloss is a former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and commissioner of World TeamTennis from 2001–21. She was the World's No. 1 ranked doubles player in 1976, and World No. 19 in singles in 1979. She won the Wimbledon juniors singles title in 1972, the US Open juniors singles title in 1974, and the US Open Doubles and French Open Mixed Doubles titles in 1976. She won three gold medals at the 1973 Maccabiah Games in Israel.
Lori McNeil is an American tennis coach and former top 10 player. McNeil was a singles semifinalist at the US Open in 1987 and Wimbledon in 1994, a women's doubles finalist at the Australian Open in 1987 with Zina Garrison and French Open mixed-doubles winner in 1988 with Jorge Lozano.
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sport with more complex rules. The first Lawn Tennis Club and tournament was held in Royal Leamington Spa on 1 August 1882.
Mariaan de Swardt is a former professional tennis player from South Africa, who was active from 1988 to 2001. She twice represented her native country at the Summer Olympics, in 1992 and 1996, and was a member of the South Africa Fed Cup team in 1992 and from 1994 to 1997. In 2006, de Swardt became a U.S. citizen.
Kerry Harris is an Australian former professional tennis player, active from 1967 to 1975, who reached the semi-final of the 1972 Australian Open, and reached four Grand Slam doubles finals, of which she won one, in the 1972 Australian Open.
The 1970 Houston Women's Invitation was a women's only tennis tournament. The tournament was the first women only tournament and was created by Gladys Heldman and held at the Houston Racquet Club.
Dianne Evers is a retired female tennis player from Australia. With her partner Judy Chaloner, she won the 1979 Australian Open Doubles title and had a career high singles ranking of No. 42.
Nathalie Fuchs is a French former professional tennis player.
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