Tennis update: Women’s game hits forty years on Thursday
The Women’s game of tennis, which initially started with a 7,500-dollar competition and with a total of nine improbable revolutionaries at its heart, marks its 40th birthday on Thursday.
From its modest beginning, the women’s professional game of tennis had progressed to an 85-million dollar business towards the conclusion of last year and made household names of Serena and Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova as well
as Martina Navratilova.
However, despite their lengthy struggle for equal prize money at the sport’s four major events, concerns remain over whether or not the fanciers get value for money.
In an age when tennis rivalry has been overshadowed by men in general and the Federer-Nadal fight for dominance in particular, the women’s game is still looking for a powerful rivalry.
Back in 1970, a total of nine players known as the original nine and headed by Billie Jean King, signed a one dollar contract with Gladys Heldman who was the publisher of the World Tennis publications, to take part in the newly
formed Virginia Slims Circuit.
On September 23, 1970, Billie along with Judy Dalton, Rosemary Casals, Julie Heldman, Kristy Pigeon, Nancy Richey, Valerie Ziegenfuss, Peaches Bartkowicz as well as Kerry Melville decided to contest in the inaugural 7,500-dollar
Virginia Slims of Houston competition.
By 1971, and with a total of twenty competitions on the calendar, Billie registered her name as the first female tennis player in the history to surpass the six-figure mark in single year earnings.
"When the nine of us signed that one dollar contracts with Gladys, one of our aims was to create chances for the new generations. We were of the view that any young girl, if she was good enough and if she actually wanted to, would
have the chance to make a living playing tennis. Now, after forty years, we are seeing our dreams coming true,” said King.
The WTA Tour was founded after a meeting held during the 1973 grass court Grand Slam tournament at the Gloucester Hotel in London, which united the entire women tennis professionals on tour.
By 1980, there were more than two hundred and fifty professional women tennis contenders playing all over the world in the WTA’s forty seven competitions with an overall prize money of seven million dollars.
During the 1980s, Navratilova registered her name as the first tennis player from the women’s side to grab more than one million dollars in a single year.
By 2005, the Women Tennis Association struck a six year, eighty eight million dollar deal and by 2009, the WTA overall prize money had improved to a total of eighty five million dollars.
By 2007 both the clay court French Open tennis tournament as well as the grass court Grand Slam event had agreed to give equal prize money to both men and women on the tour.
However, on a couple of occasions the spectacle served by female stars had raised criticism.
At Wimbledon last year, the American tennis player Venus Williams dismissed the former world number one, Dinara Safina in a total of two sets in the semis. The final match score of a clash that was stretched to fifty one minutes
was 6-1, 6-0. It was the most single sided semi final battle in the forty year history of the women’s game of tennis.
Just a few days later, Roger captured fifteen major trophy after defeating Andy Roddick in a five setter epic which concluded after a time period of four and a quarter hours.
However, Dinara's loss attracted more attention as she was the top ranked tennis player at that time.
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