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.
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.
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.
Gladys Medalie Heldman was an American tennis player, promoter, 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. She helped form the Virginia Slims Circuit in the early 1970s. She is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
Allison Bradshaw is an American former professional tennis player. She was born in San Diego, California in the United States.
The Virginia Slims World Championship Series or WTA World Championship Series was the women's top tier tennis tour administered by the Women's Tennis Association that was first founded in 1970 as the Virginia Slims Series of events that were then part of ILTF World Circuit. It 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. In 1971 it was rebranded as the Virginia Slims Circuit until 1978 and was a rival tour to the ILTF Women's International Grand Prix until 1976. In 1979 it was branded as the Avon Championship Circuit until 1981. In 1982 it was merged with the Toyota International Series as a single women's tennis tour and rebranded under it's last title name until 1989. In 1990 it was succeeded by the WTA World Tour.
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.
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.
Larry William King is an attorney, pilot, real estate broker, American sports promoter, and the ex-husband of former World No. 1 professional tennis player Billie Jean King.
The 1971 ILTF Women's Tennis Circuit was the 58th season since the formation of the International Lawn Tennis Federation in 1913, it consisted of a number of tennis tournaments for female tennis players.
The 1972 ILTF Women's Tennis Circuit was the 58th season since the founding of the International Lawn Tennis Association and was the final season to be solely administered by the ILTF.
The 1970 Italian Open also known as the Italian Open Championships was a combined men's and women's tennis tournament that was played on outdoor clay courts at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy. The men's tournament was initially part of the Grand Prix circuit but was withdrawn during the tournament when it became known that the organizers had paid management fees to the competing World Championship Tennis (WCT) organization in order for the WCT players to participate. The women's tournament was a non-tour event, i.e. not part of the Virginia Slims Circuit. The tournament was held from 20 April through 27 April 1970. The singles titles were won by Ilie Năstase and Billie Jean King.
The women's doubles tournament at the 1970 French Open was held from 25 May to 7 June 1970 on the outdoor clay courts at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. The fourth-seeded team of Gail Chanfreau and Françoise Dürr won the title, defeating the first-seeded pair of Rosie Casals and Billie Jean King in the final in three sets.
The 1972 Virginia Slims of Oklahoma City was a women's tennis tournament played on indoor carpet courts at the Frederickson Field House Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the United States that was part of the 1972 WT Pro Tour. It was the second and last edition of the tournament and was held from February 16 through February 19, 1972. Third-seeded Rosie Casals won the singles title and earned $4,000 first-prize money.
The 1971 Virginia Slims of San Diego was a women's tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Morley Field Sports Complex in San Diego, California, United States, that was part of the 1971 Women's Tennis Circuit. It was the inaugural edition of the tournament and was held from April 22 through April 25, 1971. First-seeded Billie Jean King won the singles title and earned $2,5000 first-prize money.
Joyce Williams also known as Joyce Barclay is a retired tennis player from Scotland who was active in the 1960s and 1970s.
The 1970 Virginia Slims of Richmond was a women's tennis tournament played on indoor clay courts at the Westwood Racquet Club in Richmond, Virginia in the United States. It was the inaugural edition of the tournament and was held from November 5 through November 8, 1970. It was the second Virginia Slims tournament after the 1970 Houston Women's Invitation in September and was not sanctioned by the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA). First-seeded Billie Jean King won the singles title and earned $2,400 first-prize money.
United States
