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58-643: The Virginia Slims of Richmond is a defunct WTA Tour affiliated women's tennis tournament founded in 1968 as the Westwood Indoor Invitation . It was held at the Westwood Racquet Club in Richmond, Virginia in the United States and played on indoor clay courts . The 1970 invitational tournament was the second women's only tennis tournament after the 1970 Houston Women's Invitation . In 1927

116-469: A tie-breaker system, experimented the "no-ad" scoring system on 40-40 (called at times "sudden death") and outfitted players with colored clothing, a radical idea at that time. WCT also strongly encouraged the audience to cheer for players, rather than politely applaud, as the more staid tennis audiences had done before. They publicly emphasized their prize money structure and special bonus pool as an incentive to attract top players. World Championship Tennis

174-560: A 12:1 ratio in the prize money difference between what males and females would win. This tournament provoked the top 9 woman tennis players to take a stand for equality. "These woman became known as the Original 9". They did not play in the Los Angeles tournament and instead wanted to create their own tennis tournament. Several female players contacted Gladys Heldman , publisher of World Tennis Magazine , and stated that they wanted to boycott

232-532: A Long Way , in 1988, "The women were being squeezed financially because we had no control in a male-dominated sport. Men owned, ran and promoted the tournaments, and because many of them were former players themselves, their sympathies lay with the male players, who argued vociferously that most of the money should be theirs." The low point in women's pay inequality came before the US Open in 1970. The Pacific Southwest Championships directed by Jack Kramer , had announced

290-430: A certain amount of distance. One player was quoted as saying, "But if you are not playing well, it is very hard." In 1984, The Australian Open joined the US Open in offering women equal prize money, but temporarily did not between 1996 and 2000. After a 30-year campaign, 2007 marked the historic achievement of equal prize money at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. This meant all four major tournaments offered parity. In 1995,

348-683: A hastily organized tournament held in the parking lot of the Channel 7 television studios in Epping and was won by Tony Roche. The first American WCT tournament was held in February 1968 in Kansas City, Missouri. In March 1968 Hunt and Hill took over Dixon's 50% stake in WCT and Dixon left the organization. WCT took a loss of $ 300,000 during its first year of operation. Al Hill, Jr. became president of WCT. By early 1970,

406-462: A new tennis event called the "Westwood Indoor Invitation usually held in November that ran until 1969. In November 1970, a group of professional women tennis players called the " Original Nine " played in a historical tournament at Westwood. this first all-women's tennis event known as the "Virginia Slims Invitational" that was part of the 1970 ILTF Women's Tennis Circuit that year. Philip Morris, Inc. .

464-693: A personal change in priorities. On 5 October 2015, Steve Simon , the Tournament Director of the BNP Paribas Open , was announced to succeed Stacey as the new WTA chairman and CEO. In December 2021, following Peng Shuai 's disappearance by the Chinese government, the WTA under Steve Simon suspended its operations in China and Hong Kong. The boycott was lifted in 2023 after 16 months, citing financial losses due to

522-547: A sport, in contrast to an amenable pastime." "From those first steps in Houston in 1970 to the current WTA Tour, with tournaments in 33 countries and total prize money of $ 139 million (in 2018); from a prize pot 10 times lower than the men at the Grand Slams in 1970 to parity in 2007 and ever since, women's tennis has become (almost) the equal of its male counterpart. And they did it themselves, which also explains why their governance

580-520: A year, Jones was paid $ 25,000, and Casals and Durr were paid $ 20,000 each. The group played established tournaments, such as the US Open and Wimbledon. But the group also organised their own tournaments, playing in the South of France for two months. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) then imposed several sanctions on the group: the women were not allowed to play in the Wightman Cup in 1968 and 1969 and

638-585: Is officially regulated under the current WTA official rulebook. In April 1977, the Washington Post published an article entitled "Social Variety Is Slim on Women's Tennis Tour" which looked at some of the downside and difficulties faced by touring tennis pros, not unlike the problems of traveling musicians performing a whole series of tour dates and gigs. The article included the phrase "comradeship that falls short of camaraderie", because fellow members were also competitors who usually felt they needed to maintain

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696-465: Is still independent today." The WTA was founded at a meeting organised by Billie Jean King, a week before the 1973 Wimbledon Championships . This meeting was held at Gloucester Hotel in London. In 1975, the WTA increased its financial stature by signing a television broadcast contract with CBS , the first in the WTA's history. Further financial developments ensued. In 1976, Colgate assumed sponsorship of

754-558: 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. The Women's Tennis Association

812-560: The Association of Tennis Professionals for the year-end Tour Finals . In April 1972 an agreement was reached between the ILTF and WCT that divided the 1973 tour in a WCT circuit that ran from January through May and a Grand Prix circuit that was scheduled for the rest of the year. Under this agreement WCT players were again allowed to play the Grand Prix tournaments. The WCT tour was merged into

870-584: The Grand Prix tennis circuit in 1978. On 30 April 1981 WCT announced its withdrawal from the Grand Prix circuit and the establishment of its own full calendar season for 1982. According to Lamar Hunt the reasons for the withdrawal were the restrictions placed on them by the Men's Professional Council, the administrators of the Grand Prix circuit. In January 1983, WCT sued the Men's International Professional Tennis Council (MIPTC),

928-600: The Open Era , but never on different surfaces. In Atlanta, McEnroe won the final over Paul Annacone in three sets. The WCT Tournament of Champions in Forest Hills ended with much anticipated final between Lendl and McEnroe. Despite winning only two of his last 12 matches over McEnroe in ATP tournaments, Lendl beat McEnroe 6–3 6–3. The WCT Atlanta tournament was marked by early exits of top seeds Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker in

986-551: The USLTA refused to include Casals and King in their rankings for those years. By the 1970s the pay differential had increased. King said "Promoters were making more money than women. Male tennis players were making more money. Everybody was making more money except the women ". In 1969, ratios of 5:1 in terms of pay between men and women were common at smaller tournaments. By 1970 these figures had increased to up to 12:1. Billie Jean King and Cynthia Starr wrote in their book, We Have Come

1044-599: The Association of Tennis Professionals and the ITF, claiming unfair restriction of trade. In November 1983 a settlement resulted in WCT's reincorporation into the Grand Prix with effect from 1985. 1989 was the last season of WCT. The ATP established its own tennis circuit from 1990. On August 28, 1990, after the Tournament of Champions event at Forest Hills, WCT announced its dissolution. WCT also built and operated tennis clubs in

1102-518: The Grand Prix for the year. There were three finals, Spring (Dallas) the most important one, Fall (Naples, Italy) and Winter (Detroit) and therefore three different points tables for each season: Spring Summer/Fall Winter There were only 9 tournaments and the WCT were back with the Grand Prix circuit. Some special events such as the Aetna World Cup (where the Australian pros and

1160-555: The ILTF's Women's Grand Prix circuit, and eventually become the WTA Tour. The circuit was composed of 19 tournaments, all based in the United States (one in Puerto Rico ), and prize money totalled $ 309,100. In 1973 the US Open tennis tournament became the first Grand Slam tournament to award the same prize money for women as men. The Australian Open would become the second Grand Slam offering equal prize money following suit in 1985 although

1218-553: The US. The two circuits merged beginning with the 1983 season , when Virginia Slims returned to take full sponsorship rights of the WTA Tour. Every tournament under the administration of the WTA now became part of the Virginia Slims World Championships Series . In all, Virginia Slims (Philip Morris) sponsored women's tennis from 1970 to 1978 and again from 1983 to 1994. The sponsored has received such criticism as

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1276-560: The United States; WCT Lakeway World of Tennis in Lakeway (metro Austin), Texas and WCT Peachtree World of Tennis in Peachtree Corners (metro Atlanta), Georgia. WCT tournaments returned to the Grand Prix stage after a three-year absence during 1982–84. There were only four events. The titles were split between Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe , winning two each. While McEnroe entered into all four, Lendl played just two and won both. McEnroe won

1334-896: The WCT Finals; the most important one in Dallas, and the others in autumn in Naples, Italy, and in winter (in January 1983) in Detroit, Michigan. One ranking was issued for the second part of 1971 and first part of 1972, and another for the second part of 1972 final standings. The first eight players in the second ranking played the 1972 autumn-winter WCT Finals held in Rome. Second part of 1971/first part of 1972 Second part of 1972 The players were separated into two groups, A & B, with each group playing certain tournaments. The top 4 from each group qualified for

1392-535: The WCT Houston title, beating Kevin Curren in the final. The WCT Finals in Dallas saw the unexpected defeat of McEnroe in the quarterfinals by Joakim Nyström in three straight sets. The title was captured by Lendl, whose success completed a triplicate of titles in three weeks: Fort Myers on hard, Monte Carlo on clay and Dallas on the carpet. Other players have won three, even four, tournaments in successive weeks in

1450-525: The WCT circuit grew to 21 tournaments around the globe. In July 1971, at its annual meeting, the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) voted to ban all WCT contract professionals from the ILTF tournaments and facilities from the beginning of 1972 onwards. At the end of the 1971 WCT season, the top eight players from the season were seeded according to their WCT rankings and played a year-end championship tournament in November. This

1508-519: The WCT era. There was no WCT tour in 1990, when the ATP established its own circuit named the ATP Tour , however there was one (final) tournament sanctioned by WCT. The Forest Hills WCT at West Side Tennis Club was moved from green clay to hardcourts and run as special non-ATP Tour event. Ivan Lendl stamped his WCT dominance winning the last title. The WCT Finals were usually held in Dallas. The 1971 quarterfinals and semifinals were played in Houston, and

1566-542: The WCT had signed other players ( Marty Riessen , Ray Moore , Tom Okker , Arthur Ashe ) and in July it acquired the player contracts of the other major professional organization, the National Tennis League (NTL), which had under contract players from the former professional group of Jack Kramer , namely Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall and Pancho Gonzáles as well as Andrés Gimeno , Roy Emerson , and Fred Stolle . In 1971,

1624-514: The WTA Players Association merged with the Women's Tennis Council to form the WTA Tour. The WTA circuit continued to expand during these years. In 1971, King became the first female athlete to surpass $ 100,000 in earnings for a single year. Chris Evert became the first female athlete to win over $ 1,000,000 in career earnings in 1976. By 1980, over 250 women were playing professionally, and

1682-419: The WTA through significant growth and under her leadership, she secured a media agreement that would maximise fan exposure to women's tennis globally. During her time with the WTA, she generated an estimated $ 1 billion in diversified contract revenues, built the brand globally, and was a strong advocate for gender equality. She announced her retirement as chief executive of the WTA on 22 September 2015 citing

1740-457: The WTA, also referred to as the Original 9, that included Julie Heldman , Valerie Ziegenfuss , Judy Dalton , Kristy Pigeon , Peaches Bartkowicz , Kerry Melville Reid , Nancy Richey , and Rosie Casals . Today, the WTA has more than 2,500 players from nearly 100 countries competing for $ 146 million in prize money. Tennis's Open Era , in which professional players were allowed to compete alongside amateurs, began in 1968. Billie Jean King

1798-598: The Westwood Golf Club was established as a public club that was active till 1935 when it was closed down. In 1939 it reopened as a private members club called the Westwood Supper Club. In the mid 1940s the venue changed its name to "The Officer's Club of Virginia". In 1955 new tennis courts were constructed at the venue. In 1967 the club changed its name to the Westwood Racquet Club. In 1968 it established

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1856-529: The best match of the tournament, and McEnroe beat Lendl for the first time in over three years. The tournament was negatively impacted by the withdrawals of Boris Becker (who did not appear at all) and Andre Agassi (walking off the court during a second set match with McEnroe). Brad Gilbert entered the event to fill the gap for Becker and surprisingly made it to the final. Later in spring, Lendl captured last two WCT titles in Scottsdale and Forest Hills to close

1914-404: The bidding of the Original 9, Heldman – who had secured backing from Philip Morris's Virginia Slims cigarette brand for her Houston Invitational – went back to her friend, Philip Morris chairman Joe Cullman III, to see if the company would support a circuit of some kind. Delighted by the publicity splash from Houston, Cullman was only too keen to give the women what they needed: financial backing, to

1972-550: The calendar, including the US Eastern Grass Court circuit with stops at Merion Cricket Club and Essex county club. There were two professional tennis circuits in existence at the start of the Open Era: World Championship Tennis (WCT), which was for men only, and the National Tennis League (NTL). Ann Jones , Rosie Casals , Françoise Dürr , and Billie Jean King joined NTL. King was paid $ 40,000

2030-417: The circuit consisted of 47 global events, offering a total of $ 7.2 million in prize money. These increased financial opportunities allowed for groundbreaking developments not only in tennis, but across women's sports. In 1982, Martina Navratilova became the first to win over $ 1,000,000 in a single year. Navratilova's single year earnings exceeded $ 2 million in 1984. In 1997, Martina Hingis became

2088-584: The circuit from April to November. In 1979, Avon replaced Virginia Slims as the sponsor of the winter circuit, and in its first year offered the largest prize fund for a single tournament, $ 100,000 for the Avon Championships , in the WTA tennis history. The Colgate Series , renamed the Toyota Series in 1981, included tournaments in all parts of the world, whereas the Avon sponsored events took place solely in

2146-497: The early seventies. After starting with the "Handsome Eight", the original eight players ( Dennis Ralston , John Newcombe , Tony Roche , Cliff Drysdale , Earl Buchholz , Niki Pilić , Roger Taylor and Pierre Barthès ), the first WCT tournament was held in January 1968 in Sydney, Australia and used the VASSS scoring system . According to sportswriter Rod Humphries , this first event was

2204-411: The event. Although Heldman advised against it, she did help them put together their own tournament in Houston which would not take place until after the US Open. The 1970 Houston Women's Invitation for nine women players was formed. Heldman was friends with Joseph Cullman, CEO and chairman of Phillip Morris, who secured the new tournament. The tournament was a success and the women found footing, "so, at

2262-489: The final at the end of the season. Group A Group B The group was divided into three groups, Red, Blue, and Green and the top 8 points winners qualified for the final (marked with*): 2 players by group plus the other two players having most points. Each group played separate tournaments except the Philadelphia tournament at the start of the season. Red group Blue group Green group The group

2320-517: The final was played at the Memorial Auditorium in Dallas. The 1972–1979 editions were played at the Moody Coliseum , and the 1980–1989 tournaments at Reunion Arena in Dallas. The first edition of the WCT Finals in 1971 was played in November, just a few days before The Masters , the equivalent of the WCT Finals for the rival Grand Prix circuit . Because of TV pressure, the second edition

2378-627: The first round. Edberg lost to Mikael Pernfors , and Becker lost to Tim Wilkison . In Dallas, Anders Järryd was the unexpected winner, having replaced the injured Ivan Lendl in the 12-player draw. 1989 was the final year of the WCT tour. Only three events were organized, all of them were incorporated into the Nabisco Grand Prix and gaining ATP ranking points. At the 19th (and last) WCT Finals in Reunion Arena , John McEnroe won his fifth Dallas title. His semifinal with Ivan Lendl produced

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2436-514: The first to earn over $ 3 million during a single year. In 2003, Kim Clijsters surpassed $ 4 million in earnings for a single year. In 2006, Venus Williams and the WTA pushed for equal prize money at both the French Open and Wimbledon . Both of these Grand Slam events relented in 2007 and awarded equal money for the first time. This enabled Justine Henin , who won the French Open in 2007, to earn over $ 5 million that year, becoming

2494-485: The first woman in sports to do this. In 2009, Serena Williams went over the six million mark by earning over $ 6.5 million in a single year. Then in 2012 both Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka became the first players to exceed $ 7 million in prize money in a single season. In 2013 Serena Williams went over the twelve million dollar mark, winning $ 12,385,572 in a single year. American sports entrepreneur Jerry Diamond (1928–1996) served as executive director of

2552-659: The following from the Stanford [University] Research into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising: "Virginia Slims cleverly sponsored the WTA Tour Championships at the time to increase connections between cigarettes and healthy female athletes." In 1977, women's tennis was the first professional sport opened to transgender women. The New York Supreme Court ruled in favour of Renée Richards , a player who underwent male-to-female sex reassignment surgery . Eligibility of transgender players

2610-582: The four events in United States at US$ 150,000 and at the other events at around US$ 125,000. Ranking points are also available at tournaments on the ITF Women's Circuit organized by the International Tennis Federation , which comprises several hundred tournaments each year with prize funds ranging from US$ 15,000 to US$ 100,000. The Players' Council is a group or sub-committee under the WTA board of directors, consisting of eight selected players on

2668-748: The suspension of operations in China as well as the COVID-19 pandemic . In March 2022, medical technology firm Hologic reached an agreement to become title sponsor and "official health partner" of the WTA Tour, marking its first title sponsorship agreement since the expiration of the previous Sony Ericsson deal. In 2024, the WTA made all WTA 1000 events mandatory. The WTA Elite Trophy did not return: WTA 125 tournaments (30) events Since 2012 (number of events varies each year; in 2018 there were ten tournaments: four in United States, two in China and one each in Croatia, France, India and Taiwan), with prize money for

2726-420: The tour that advocate player interest, handles grievances, changes in the tennis schedule and other concerns. 2023–2024 Players' Council These lists are based on the WTA rankings. [ vedit   · edit source ] [ vedit   · edit source ] World Championship Tennis The WCT had an important impact on the commercial development of tennis. It instituted

2784-500: The tournament awarded men more money from 1996 to 2000 before equal prize money returned in 2001. The French Open offered equal prize money for champions in 2006. In 2007 both Wimbledon and the French Open both offered equal prize money. The WTA Tour sold television rights of all its tournaments as a single package, reaching large audiences around the world. "The '80s energized the popularity base, taking tennis out of country clubs and landed estates into public parks and arenas. It became

2842-479: The tune of a quarter of a million dollars, and the Virginia Slims name as title sponsor for a circuit in 1971." The International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) began dropping several women's competitions from the tournaments it presided over. For example, in 1970, the ILTF sanctioned 15 men-only tournaments, all of which had previously been combined events. The Virginia Slims Circuit , which would later absorb

2900-501: The women's association from 1974 to 1985. He was instrumental in negotiating business deals with Avon, Colgate-Palmolive, and Toyota, and worked out the deal that made Virginia Slims the titular sponsor of the WTA tour. Larry Scott became chairman and CEO of the WTA on 16 April 2003. While at the WTA, Scott put together the largest sponsorship in the history of women's sports, a six-year, $ 88 million sponsorship deal with Sony Ericsson . On 24 March 2009, Scott announced that he

2958-739: Was a high ranking tennis player in the late 1960s who won several titles and was interviewed in the media. The first Open Tournament was the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth . Later that year at the first Open Wimbledon, the prize fund difference was 2.5:1 in favor of men. King won £750 for taking the title, while Rod Laver won £2,000. The total purses of both competitions were £14,800 for men and £5,680 for women. Confusion also reigned as no one knew how many Open Tournaments there were supposed to be. The tournaments that did not want to provide prize money eventually faded out of

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3016-435: Was divided into three groups again, Red, Blue, and Green and the top 8 points winners qualified for the final (marked with *). Each group played separate tournaments except the Philadelphia tournament at the start of the season. Red group Blue group Green group 1976–1983: All the players were put back together and played the same tournaments. WCT expanded from the previous year and broke away from

3074-578: Was founded in June 1973 by Billie Jean King , and traces its origins to the inaugural Virginia Slims tournament, arranged by Gladys Heldman , sponsored by Joe Cullman , CEO of Philip Morris, and held on 23 September 1970 at the Houston Racquet Club in Houston , Texas. Rosie Casals won this first event. When the Women's Tennis Association was founded, Billie Jean King was one of nine players that comprised

3132-493: Was founded in September 1967 by sports promoter David Dixon , who earlier witnessed the dreary conditions of the professional circuit before the open era when he visited a poorly promoted match between Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall . In August of that year, he had presented his idea of a pro tennis tour to Lamar Hunt and Al Hill Jr. , who agreed to invest. WCT became the major professional tennis tour of players under contract of

3190-453: Was held about two weeks before the similar championship of the rival Grand Prix circuit , called The Masters . For commercial reasons, from 1972 onward this championship, played on indoor carpet, was usually held in the spring in Dallas, Texas and became known as the WCT Finals . The tournament ran for 19 years and the last championship was held in 1989. The format for this event was adopted by

3248-454: Was held in May 1972 and most of the following editions were organized in between months of March and May. Nevertheless, in 1972 another edition, less important and with half the prize money, was held in November in Rome. The prize money offered to the winner, Arthur Ashe , was $ 25,000 compared to the $ 50,000 won by Ken Rosewall for the main edition in May. A decade later there were three editions of

3306-600: Was resigning as WTA chief to take up a new position as the commissioner of the Pac-10 Conference , on 1 July 2009. Scott pointed to Korn Ferry to headhunt his replacement but "with no decision made" on 13 July 2009, WTA Tour announced the appointment of Stacey Allaster, the Tour's president since 2006, as the new chairman and CEO of the WTA. Allaster was named as one of the "Most Powerful Women in Sports" by Forbes Magazine and led

3364-616: Was the tournaments title sponsor with Westwood Racquet Club as host venue. In 1971 the event was not held however in 1972 it was revived as the Virginia Slims of Richmond that ran til 1973. In 1959 the Westwood Country Club of St. Louis also established a Westwood Invitation tournament a combined men's and women's tournament played on outdoor clay courts, as opposed to this event that was played on clay indoors. The Westwood Invitation of St.Louis ran until 1969. Women%27s Tennis Association The Women's Tennis Association ( WTA )

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