The Original 9 were a group of nine women's professional tennis players who broke away from the governing bodies of tennis in 1970 to launch their own professional tour, the Virginia Slims Circuit, which later evolved into the modern WTA Tour.
"BJ and Rosie were the ringleaders on court, close friends, doubles partners frequent final–round foes, super saleswomen for the emerging tour. They were perfect role players, feisty but good humored kids off the public courts who believed women had a destiny in professional sport." [1]
"We knew we were making history and we had such a strong sense of purpose. I just kept thinking about the vision we had for the future of our sport. We wanted to ensure that any girl in the world that was good enough would have a place to go and make a living playing tennis."
Billie Jean King speaking in 2010. [6]
Two other players withdrew from the event: Patti Hogan withdrew because she did not want to take the risk and stand against the establishment. Margaret Court, who, after completing her Grand Slam, had just lost in Charlotte to Chris Evert, who was 15 at the time, withdrew due to a left ankle injury which sidelined her for three months. She was replaced by Pigeon. [11] [2]
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. The association 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.
Billie Jean King, also known as BJK, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States team in seven Federation Cups and nine Wightman Cups. For three years, she was the U.S. captain in the Federation Cup.
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 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.
Nancy Richey is an American former tennis player. Richey won two major singles titles and four major women's doubles titles. She was ranked world No. 2 in singles at year-end in 1969. Richey won 73 singles titles during her career and helped the US win the Federation Cup in 1969. She won the singles title at the U.S. Women's Clay Court Championships a record six consecutive years, from 1963 through 1968.
Françoise Dürr is a retired French tennis player. She won 50 singles titles and over 60 doubles titles.
Christine Clara Truman Janes is a former tennis player from the United Kingdom who was active from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. She won a singles Grand Slam title at the French Championships in 1959 and was a finalist at Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships. She helped Great Britain win the Wightman Cup in 1958, 1960 and 1968.
Karen Susman is a retired female tennis player from the United States. She won the 1962 women's singles title at Wimbledon, defeating Věra Pužejová Suková in the final 6–4, 6–4, but did not defend her title in 1963. She won three Grand Slam women's doubles titles, all with Billie Jean King. She also won the 1960 Wimbledon junior girls' singles title.
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.
Judy Tegart-Dalton is an Australian former professional tennis player. She won nine major doubles titles, and completed the career Grand Slam in women's doubles. Five of her doubles titles were with Margaret Court. Tegart was also a runner-up in 10 major doubles tournaments.
Margaret Court defeated Billie Jean King in the final, 14–12, 11–9 to win the ladies' singles tennis title at the 1970 Wimbledon Championships. It was her third Wimbledon singles title, her third major singles title of the year, and her 19th major singles title overall. Court became the first woman to complete the career Grand Slam in the Open Era, and would later win that year's US Open, thus also becoming the first woman to complete the Grand Slam in the Open Era.
Gladys Medalie Heldman was an American tennis player, manager and magazine publisher. She was the founder of World Tennis magazine. As a manager, she supported and represented Billie Jean King and eight other female tennis players: Rosie Casals, Judy Dalton, Julie Heldman, Kerry Melville, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kristy Pigeon, Nancy Richey, and Valerie Ziegenfuss. They were called the Houston Nine and formed the Virginia Slims Tour in the early 1970s. She is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
The Virginia Slims Circuit was a tennis tour consisting of a group of originally nine female professional players. Formed in 1970, the Virginia Slims Circuit eventually became the basis for the later WTA Tour. The players, dubbed the Original 9, rebelled against the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) because of the wide inequality between the amount of prize money paid to male tennis players and to female tennis players.
Valerie Jean Bradshaw is an American former female professional tennis player. She started as an amateur player at the beginning of the 1970s, then turned professional.
This is a list of the main career statistics of Australian former tennis player Margaret Court. She won 64 Grand Slam events, which is a record for a male or female player. Her 24 Grand Slam singles titles and 21 in mixed doubles are also all-time records for both sexes. She achieved a career Grand Slam in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. She is one of three women to have achieved the calendar year Grand Slam in singles, and is the only woman to have achieved the mixed doubles Grand Slam, which she did twice.
The 2011 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions was a singles-only women's tennis tournament that was played on indoor hard courts. It was the third edition of the tournament and was part of the 2011 WTA Tour. It was held at the Bali International Convention Centre in Bali, Indonesia from November 3 through November 6, 2011. The 2011 edition was the last to be held in Bali before it relocated to Sofia in 2012. The tournament saw Ana Ivanovic successfully defend her title.
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.
Kristy Pigeon is an American retired tennis player who was active at the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s.
Joyce Williams also known as Joyce Barclay is a retired tennis player from Scotland who was active in the 1960s and 1970s.
Vicki Berner was a Canadian professional tennis player. During her career, Berner won the doubles event at the Canadian Open five times. Between 1964 and 1973, Berner competed in Grand Slam events. Her highest finishes were the quarterfinals of the 1967 Wimbledon Championships in women's doubles and the semifinals at the 1964 U.S. National Championships in mixed doubles. At the Fed Cup in the 1960s, Berner reached the quarterfinals at the 1964 Federation Cup in singles and the 1967 Federation Cup in doubles. In 1995, Berner was named into the Tennis Canada Hall of Fame.