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.
Martina Navratilova is a Czech-American former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 major women's doubles titles, and 10 major mixed doubles titles, for a combined total of 59 major titles, the most in the Open Era. Alongside Chris Evert, her greatest rival, Navratilova dominated women's tennis for the first two-thirds of the 1980s.
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.
William Tatem Tilden II, nicknamed "Big Bill", was an American tennis player. Tilden was the world No. 1 amateur for six consecutive years, from 1920 to 1925, and was ranked as the world No. 1 professional by Ray Bowers in 1931 and 1932 and Ellsworth Vines in 1933. He won 14 Major singles titles, including 10 Grand Slam events, one World Hard Court Championships and three professional majors. He was the first American man to win Wimbledon, taking the title in 1920. He also won a joint-record seven U.S. Championships titles.
Andrea Jaeger is an American former professional tennis player. A former world No. 2, Jaeger's brief but successful tennis career ended prematurely due to injury.
Vincent Richards was an American tennis player. He was active in the early decades of the 20th century, particularly known as being a superlative volleyer. He was ranked World No. 2 as an amateur in 1924 by A. Wallis Myers, and was ranked joint World No. 1 pro by Ray Bowers in 1927 and World No. 1 pro by Bowers in 1930.
Taylor Phillip Dent is a retired professional tennis player from the United States. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21, winning 4 singles titles.
Renée Richards is an American ophthalmologist and former professional tennis player who competed in the 1970s, and became widely known following male-to-female sex reassignment surgery, when she fought to compete as a woman in the 1976 US Open. The United States Tennis Association began requiring genetic screening for female players that year. Richards challenged that policy, and the New York Supreme Court ruled in her favor, a landmark case in transgender rights. Among the first professional athletes to transition, she became a spokesperson for transgender people in sports. After retiring from play, she coached Martina Navratilova to two Wimbledon titles.
Barbara Jordan is an American former professional tennis player who won the 1979 Australian Open singles title.
Gail Chanfreau, also known as Gail Lovera and Gail Benedetti, is a French former amateur and professional tennis player.
Mary Carter Reitano is a former tennis player from Australia.
Renée Schuurman Haygarth was a South African tennis player who won five Grand Slam women's doubles titles and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title.
Erica Kathleen "Kathy" Horvath is an American former professional tennis player. She is best known for upsetting world No. 1 Martina Navratilova in the fourth round of the 1983 French Open, delivering her only defeat for the season.
Second Serve is a 1986 American made-for-television biographical film starring Vanessa Redgrave as retired eye surgeon, professional tennis player, and transgender woman Renée Richards. The film is based on her 1983 autobiography Second Serve: The Renée Richards Story that was written with John Ames. The script is by Stephanie Liss and Gavin Lambert and the film was directed by Anthony Page. Second Serve aired on CBS on May 13, 1986.
Lea Antonoplis is a former professional tennis player from the U.S. who won the Wimbledon Girls' Singles in 1977 and four WTA doubles titles.
Raquel Atawo is an American former professional tennis player, who is currently the head woman's tennis coach for the Washington State Cougars.
Mary Lou Piatek-Daniels is a retired tennis player from the U.S. who played on the WTA Tour during the 1980s.
John Harding Lucas II is an American professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as an assistant coach for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played basketball and tennis at the University of Maryland, College Park and was an All-American in both.
Betty Ann Grubb Stuart is a retired American professional tennis player. She had her most significant success in doubles, including reaching the final of the 1977 US Open with Renée Richards as her partner.
The New Orleans Sun Belt Nets were a charter franchise of World Team Tennis (WTT). The team first played as the Cleveland Nets in 1974, and was known as the Cleveland–Pittsburgh Nets in 1977, when it played roughly half of its home matches in each city. The Nets moved to New Orleans for the 1978 season. Following the 1978 season, the Nets announced that the team would fold. The Nets played all five seasons in WTT from the league's inception in 1974, until its suspension of operations after the 1978 season. The team had losing records in each of its five seasons.
United States