The cornerstone for women’s professional tennis was set by Gladys Helman, magazine publisher for World Tennis. Helman organised a professional tennis tour which catered exclusively to women, and it was held on September 23 in 1970, forty years ago. The first
tournament of this tour had nine entrants and a total of seventy-five hundred dollars in prizes.
The nine participants of this tournament were the pioneers of women’s tennis. These women included Billie Jean King and Rosemary “Rosie” Casals, as well as less famous players such as Kristy Pigeon, Kerry Melville, Valerie Ziegunfuss, Nancy Richey, Julie
Heldman, Judy Dalton and Jane “Peaches” Bartkowicz. Together, they were the Original Nine Dollars.
Among these, the most prominent player was Billie Jean King, and she became the first female athlete to pull in an income of six figures in the year 1971. When asked about her mission in tennis, she said,
“We wanted to make sure that any young girl, if she was good enough and if she wanted to, would have the opportunity to make a living from playing tennis.”
The former professional tennis player, who is now 67, managed to make an irrevocable mark in the tennis world. During the course of her career, she amassed 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles and 16 Grand Slam doubles titles.
She was not just a tennis player, but an advocate of women’s equality in the world of both society and sports. She contributed to women’s tennis by giving the sport credibility and respect, as well as an equal pay check. She is very popular for her battle
against sexism and her “Battle of the Sexes” in 1973.
She managed to defeat former World Number 1 and Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs in three sets out of five. In addition to this, Billie Jean King is founder of three tennis organisations: the Women’s Tennis Association, the Women’s Sports Foundation and World
Team Tennis. She founded the last organisation with her former husband, Lawrence King.
The second-most popular player in the Original Nine was Rosemary “Rosie” Casals. Casals, who is now 70 years old, was a former professional tennis player from a very poor background. She once talked about the difficulties of participating in such an elite
sport, saying, “The other kids had nice tennis clothes, nice rackets, nice white shoes, and came in Cadillacs. I felt stigmatized because we were poor.”
However, lack of wealth did not stop the determined player from becoming one of the major motivating forces in Tennis. She established a reputation as a rebel in the world of Tennis since she started playing in the early 1960s.
Her career lasted over two decades, and she won over 90 tournaments during this time. She motivated other women in the Tennis world, and she supported Billie Jean King in the battle for equal prize money. The boycott of Jack Kramer’s tournament was also
called for by Casals and King.
Rosie Casals participated in 685 total tournaments during the course of her career, and won 112 doubles tournaments. This record is beaten only by Martina Navratilova, who played with Casals at her last doubles tournament. Rosie Casals was given a place
in the International Tennis Hall of Fame in the year 1996.
Another one of the Original Nine Dollars is Kristy Pigeon. She won the US Girls title as well as junior Wimbledon, and progressed from there to reach fourth round of the singles events at the All-England Club for two consecutive years in 1968 and 1969.
Through the course of her year, she reached the US Top 10 players. She was one of the nine to take a stand for her rights at the 1970 Virginia Slims Invitational. Pigeon retired from the sport and left the tour in 1975, but not before representing her country
in team competitions and winning the Welsh Open.
To be continued…
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