Women's Tennis Association
Encyclopedia
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA), founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...

, is the principal organizing body of Women's Professional Tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of Tennis Professionals
Association of Tennis Professionals
The Association of Tennis Professionals or ATP was formed in 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to protect the interests of male professional tennis players. Since 1990, the association has organized the worldwide tennis tour for men and linked the title of the tour with the...

 (ATP). Jerry Diamond of San Francisco became Executive Director of the WTA in 1974 and remained until 1985. He is considered the creator the Women's Point System for ranking players.

The Women's Tennis Association can trace its origins back to Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

 with the inaugural Virginia Slims
Virginia Slims
Virginia Slims is a brand of cigarette manufactured by Altria Group . The brand was introduced in 1968 and marketed to young professional women using the slogan "You've come a long way, baby." Some media watch groups considered this campaign to be responsible for a rapid increase in smoking among...

tournament, arranged by Gladys Heldman
Gladys Heldman
Gladys Medalie Heldman was the founder of World Tennis magazine; she supported Billie Jean King and other female tennis players who formed the Virginia Slims Tour in the early 1970s...

, and held on 23 September 1970. Rosie Casals won this first event. The WTA's corporate headquarters is in St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...

. The European headquarters is in London, and the Asia-Pacific headquarters is in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

.

History

The Open Era
Open era
Open era or Open Era may refer to:* Open Era , the period since 1968 where professionals can compete in Grand Slams* Glasnost era, the increased openness in the Soviet Union from the mid-1980s...

 began in 1968. The first open tournament was the British Hard Court Championships
British Hard Court Championships
The British Hard Court Championships is a defunct Grand Prix tennis and WTA Tour affiliated tennis tournament played from 1968 to 1983 and 1995 to 1996. It was held in Torquay before moving to the West Hants Tennis Club in Bournemouth in England in the United Kingdom from 1927 to 1983 and in 1995...

 in Bournemouth. At the first Open Wimbledon the prize fund difference was 2.5:1 in favour of men. Billie Jean King won £750 for taking the title while Rod Laver
Rod Laver
Rodney George "Rod" Laver MBE is an Australian former tennis player who holds the record for titles won in career, and was the World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970...

 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 who did not want to provide prize money eventually faded out of the calendar, including the Eastern Grass Court circuit with stops at Merion Cricket Club and Essex county club.

There were also two professional troupes in existence at the start of the Open Era: World Championship Tennis
World Championship Tennis
World Championship Tennis was a tour for professional male tennis players established in 1968 and lasted until the emergence of the ATP Tour in 1990...

 (WCT), which was men only, and the National Tennis League
National Tennis League
There are "National Tennis Leagues" in many countries but this article is about the US National Tennis League.-History:The National Tennis League was formed by George McCall in 1967, as a governing body to a US Professional tennis tour...

 (NTL). Anne Jones, Rosie Casals, Francoise Durr, and Billie Jean King joined NTL. King was paid $40,000 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
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...

(ITF) then imposed several sanctions on the Group. The women were not allowed to play in the Whiteman Cup in 1968 and 1969. The USTLA refused to include Casals and King in their rankings for these years.

By the 1970s the pay, which had been 2.5:1 ratio between men and women, increased. As King states “Promoters were making more money. 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 ballooned to 8:1 and even 12:1. Larry king quote.

In 1970 Margaret Court won the Grand Slam and only received a $15,000 bonus, whereas the men could achieve up to $1 million. The low point in the women’s pay suffering came before the US Open in 1970. The Pacific Southwest Championships directed by Jack Kramer, had announced a 12:1 ratio in the prize money difference between what males and females would win. The tournament would not take place until after the US Open. Several players contacted Gladys Heldman
Gladys Heldman
Gladys Medalie Heldman was the founder of World Tennis magazine; she supported Billie Jean King and other female tennis players who formed the Virginia Slims Tour in the early 1970s...

, publisher of World Tennis Magazine, and stated that they wanted to boycott the event. While she advised against it, she then created the 1970 Houston Women's Invitation
1970 Houston Women's Invitation
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....

 for nine women players.

The Original Nine women from the Houston event, along with Heldman, then created their own tour which would later absorb 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
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

), and prize money totalled $309,100.

Formation of the Virginia Slims Circuit resulted in part from changes that tennis was undergoing at the time and from the way prize moneys were distributed. During the first two years of the Open Era a large number of male players began playing professionally, and the tournaments in which they competed, often men's and women's combined events, attracted increased investment. The International Lawn Tennis Federation
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...

 (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 WTA was founded at a meeting organized by Billie Jean King, a week before the 1973 Wimbledon Championships
1973 Wimbledon Championships
List of the 1973 Wimbledon champions:-Men's singles: Jan Kodeš def. Alex Metreveli, 6–1, 9–8, 6–3-Women's singles: Billie Jean King def. Chris Evert, 6–0, 7–5...

. This meeting, held at Gloucester Hotel in London, united all of women's professional tennis into one tour. In 1975, the WTA increased its financial stature by signing a television broadcast contract with CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

, the first in the WTA's history. Further financial developments ensued. In 1976, Colgate
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive Company is an American diversified multinational corporation focused on the production, distribution and provision of household, health care and personal products, such as soaps, detergents, and oral hygiene products . Under its "Hill's" brand, it is also a manufacturer of...

 assumed sponsorship of the WTA Tour from April to November. In 1979, Avon
Avon Products
Avon Products, Inc. is a US cosmetics, perfume and toy seller with markets in over 140 countries across the world and sales of $9.9 billion worldwide as of 2007.-Business Model:...

 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
WTA Tour Championships
The WTA Tour Championships is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women's Tennis Association tour. The month, city and number of players has changed since the first edition in 1972...

, in the WTA Tour's history. The Colgate Series, renamed the Toyota Series in 1981, included tournaments from the across the world, whereas the Avon sponsored events took place solely in the U.S. 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.

The WTA Tour continued to expand during these years. By 1980, over 250 women were playing professionally, and the tour 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 1971, King became the first female athlete to surpass $100,000 in earnings for a single year.
  • Chris Evert
    Chris Evert
    Christine Marie "Chris" Evert is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open. She was the year-ending World No...

     became the female athlete to win over $1,000,000 in career earnings in 1976. 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
    Martina Hingis
    Martina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...

     became the first to earn over $3 million during a single year. In 2003, Kim Clijsters
    Kim Clijsters
    Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters is a Belgian professional tennis player. As of 7 November 2011, Clijsters is ranked No. 13 in singles. Clijsters is a former World No. 1 in both singles and doubles....

     surpassed $4 million in earnings for a single year. In 2006, the WTA and players such as Venus Williams
    Venus Williams
    Venus Ebony Starr Williams is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 101 as of 10 October 2011 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles as of 2011. She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate...

     pushed for equal prize money to men at both the French Open and Wimbledon
    The Championships, Wimbledon
    The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...

    . Both of these Grand Slam
    Grand Slam (tennis)
    The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...

     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 the first woman in sports to do this.
  • In 2009, Serena Williams
    Serena Williams
    Serena Jameka Williams is an American professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on five separate occasions. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002 and regained this ranking for the fifth time on...

     beat that by earning a record of over $6.5 million in a single year.

  • Larry Scott became Chairman and CEO of the WTA on April 16, 2003. While at the WTA, Scott put together the largest sponsorship in the history of women's athletics, a six-year, $88-million sponsorship deal with Sony Ericsson
    Sony Ericsson
    Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....

    . On March 24, 2009, Scott announced that he was resigning as WTA chief in order to take up a new position as the Commissioner
    Commissioner
    Commissioner is in principle the title given to a member of a commission or to an individual who has been given a commission ....

     of the Pacific-10 Conference on July 1, 2009. On July 13, 2009, WTA Tour announced the appointment of Stacey Allaster, the Tour's President since 2006, as the new Chairman and CEO of the WTA.

Tournament categories

  • The current tournament structure was introduced in 2009
    2009 WTA Tour
    The 2009 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was the 37th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 5, 2009, and concluded on November 8, 2009 after 56 events....

    . Premier Tournaments replaced the previous Tier I and Tier II events, and International Tournaments replaced Tier III and IV events.
  1. Grand Slam
    Grand Slam (tennis)
    The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...

     tournaments (4)
  2. Year-ending championships (WTA Tour Championships
    WTA Tour Championships
    The WTA Tour Championships is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women's Tennis Association tour. The month, city and number of players has changed since the first edition in 1972...

    )
  3. Premier tournaments
    WTA Premier tournaments
    Premier Tournaments is a category of tennis tournaments in the Women's Tennis Association tour.Premier events include:*Four "Premier Mandatory" events in Indian Wells, Key Biscayne, Madrid, and Beijing with prize money of $4.5 million....

    :
    1. Premier Mandatory: Four combined tournaments with male professional players, with U.S.$4.5 million in equal prize money for men and women. These tournaments are being held in Indian Wells
      Indian Wells Masters
      The Indian Wells Masters is an annual tennis tournament held in Indian Wells, California....

      , Key Biscayne, Madrid, and Beijing
      China Open (tennis)
      The China Open is an annual professional tennis tournament held in Beijing, China. The men's singles and doubles events were first held in 1993, the year in which the Qatar Open and Dubai Tennis Championships were also introduced to the men's tour, as the ATP opened a series of new tournaments in...

      .
    2. Premier Five: Five $2 million events in Dubai
      Dubai Tennis Championships
      The Dubai Tennis Championships is a professional tennis tournament owned and organized by Dubai Duty Free and held annually in Dubai, United Arab...

      , Rome, Cincinnati, Toronto / Montreal, and Tokyo
      Toray Pan Pacific Open
      The is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1984 on in Tokyo, Japan. It is classified on the WTA Tour as a Tier I tournament since 1993. The event has traditionally been played on indoor carpet at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, but the 2008 event...

    3. Premier: Ten events with prize money from U.S.$600,000 to U.S.$1 million.
  4. International tournaments
    WTA International tournaments
    The International Tournaments is the new category for tennis tournaments of Women's Tennis Association from the 2009 WTA Tour. Tournaments are replacing Tier III and Tier IV events...

     There are 31 tournaments, with a prize money for every event at U.S.$220,000, except for the year-ending Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions
    Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions
    The Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions is a tennis tournament and it debuted at the Bali International Convention Centre on November 4–8 and was a part of the 2009 WTA Tour...

     in Bali, which has prize money of U.S.$600,000.


Ranking points are also available at tournaments on the ITF Women's Circuit
ITF Women's Circuit
The ITF Women's Circuit is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players. It serves as the developmental circuit for the WTA Tour, which is run by the independent Women's Tennis Association...

 organised by the International Tennis Federation
International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation is the governing body of world tennis, made up of 205 national tennis associations.It was established as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by 12 national associations meeting at a conference in Paris, France on 1 March 1913...

, which comprises several hundred tournaments each year with prize funds ranging from U.S. $10,000 to U.S. $100,000, and at the Olympic Games.

Players’ Council

2011 Players’ Council
  • 1–20 Ranking Category
  • 21+ Ranking Category
  • 21–50 Ranking Category
  • 51–100 Ranking Category
  • 100+ Ranking Category

Ranking method

Description W F SF QF R16 R32 R64 R128 QLFR Q3 Q2 Q1
Grand Slam (S) 2000 1400 900 500 280 160 100 5 60 50 40 2
Grand Slam (D) 2000 1400 900 500 280 160 5 - 48 - - -
WTA Tour Championships (S) +450 +360 (230 for each round robin match won
70 for each round robin match lost)
- - -
WTA Tour Championships (D) 1500 1050 690 - - - - - - - - -
Premier Mandatory (96S) 1000 700 450 250 140 80 50 5 30 - 20 1
Premier Mandatory (64S) 1000 700 450 250 140 80 5 - 30 - 20 1
Premier Mandatory (28/32D) 1000 700 450 250 140 5 - - - - - -
Premier 5 (56S) 900 620 395 225 125 70 1 - 30 - 20 1
Premier 5 (28D) 900 620 395 225 125 1 - - - - - -
Premier (56S) 470 320 200 120 60 40 1 - 12 - 8 1
Premier (32S) 470 320 200 120 60 1 - - 20 12 8 1
Premier (16D) 470 320 200 120 1 - - - - - - -
375 255 180(3rd)
165(4th)
75
- - -
- - -
International (56S) 280 200 130 70 30 15 1 - 10 - 6 1
International (32S) 280 200 130 70 30 1 - - 16 10 6 1
International (16D) 280 200 130 70 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $100,000 + H(32) 150 110 80 40 20 1 - - 6 4 1 -
ITF $100,000 + H(16) 150 110 80 40 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $100,000 (32) 140 100 70 36 18 1 - - 6 4 1 -
ITF $100,000 (16) 140 100 70 36 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $75,000 + H(32) 130 90 58 32 16 1 - - 6 4 1 -
ITF $75,000 + H(16) 130 90 58 32 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $75,000 (32) 110 78 50 30 14 1 - - 6 4 1 -
ITF $75,000 (16) 110 78 50 30 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $50,000 + H(32) 90 64 40 24 12 1 - - 6 4 1 -
ITF $50,000 + H(16) 90 64 40 24 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $50,000 (32) 70 50 32 18 10 1 - - 6 4 1 -
ITF $50,000 (16) 70 50 32 18 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $25,000 (32) 50 34 24 14 8 1 - - 1 - - -
ITF $25,000 (16) 50 34 24 14 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $10,000 (32) 12 8 6 4 1 - - - - - - -
ITF $10,000 (16) 12 8 6 1 0 - - - - - - -

"+H" indicates that Hospitality is provided.

WTA Rankings

These lists are based on the WTA Rankings.



Global Advisory Council Members

  • Darcy Antonellis
    Darcy Antonellis
    Darcy Antonellis FSMPTE is an American businesswoman currently serving as President of Warner Bros. Technical Operations. The daughter of an engineer, Antonellis was born in Newark, New Jersey on April 16, 1962. She graduated from Temple University with a Bachelors in Electrical engineering in...

    , President, Technical Operations Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
  • Sir Richard Branson
    Richard Branson
    Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....

    , Chairman & Founder, Virgin Group, Ltd.
  • Karen Elliott House
    Karen Elliott House
    Karen Elliott House is a journalist and former executive at the Wall Street Journal and its parent company Dow Jones. She served as President of Dow Jones International and then publisher of the WSJ before her retirement in the spring of 2006....

    , Former Publisher, Wall Street Journal
  • Scott Mead
    Scott Mead
    Scott Mead is a photographer, financier and philanthropist. He is co-founder of Richmond Park Partners, a private merchant bank in London. He was formerly a partner and managing director of Goldman Sachs ....

    , President & Founder Partner, Richmond Park Partners
  • Bert Nordberg, President, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications
  • Kimberly A. Williams, Chief Operating Officer, NFL Network, National Football League
  • Jan Soderstrom, Chief Marketing Officer, SunPower Corporation
  • Wick Simmons, Former Chairman, International Tennis Hall of Fame
  • Arnon Milchan
    Arnon Milchan
    Arnon Milchan is a film producer, Israeli intelligence agent, and arms dealer. Milchan produced many films such as The War of the Roses, Once Upon a Time in America, Pretty Woman, Natural Born Killers, Under Siege, The Devil's Advocate, The Fountain, Unfaithful, L.A. Confidential and many others...

    , Owner & Founder, Regency Enterprises
  • Edward Meyer
    Edward Meyer
    Edward Meyer or Ed Meyer may refer to:*Edward Meyer , former New York assembly member, and Connecticut state senator*Edward C. Meyer , former U.S. Army Chief of Staff...

    , President & Founding Partner, Ocean Road Advisors
  • Jay Lorsch, Louis E. Kirstein Professor, Human Relations, Harvard Business School
  • Billie Jean King
    Billie Jean King
    Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...

    , Co-Founder, World TeamTennis, Founder, WTA Tour
  • Claude de Jouvencel, Member, Supervisory Council of Groupe Marnier-Lapostolle (Grand Marnier), Chairman, Wine & Spirits Association of France (FEVS)

See also

  • Association of Tennis Professionals
    Association of Tennis Professionals
    The Association of Tennis Professionals or ATP was formed in 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to protect the interests of male professional tennis players. Since 1990, the association has organized the worldwide tennis tour for men and linked the title of the tour with the...

    , ATP World Tour records
  • Grand Slam (tennis)
    Grand Slam (tennis)
    The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...

  • List of female tennis players
  • List of tennis tournaments
  • List of WTA number 1 ranked players
  • Tennis statistics
    Tennis statistics
    The following Wikipedia articles list tennis statistics:*ATP World Tour records*WTA Tour records*Grand Slam *List of Grand Slam related tennis records*List of non-Grand Slam tennis statistics and records...

  • Toyota Championships
    Toyota Championships
    The Colgate Series Championships and the Toyota Championships were the finales in an annual series of professional tennis tournaments for women from 1977 through 1982. The championships were discontinued when Virginia Slims became the year-round sponsor of the Women's Tennis Association Tour in...

  • WTA Awards
    WTA Awards
    This is a list with all the WTA Awards given by the Women's Tennis Association to players who have done or achieved something remarkable during the season or their career.-Player of the Year:-Doubles Team of the Year:-Most Improved Player:...

  • WTA Tour Championships
    WTA Tour Championships
    The WTA Tour Championships is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women's Tennis Association tour. The month, city and number of players has changed since the first edition in 1972...

  • WTA Tour records
    WTA Tour records
    This is a list of Women's Tennis Association records since its inception in 1973. Some tournaments from the predecessor tour, the Virginia Slims Circuit, are also included for completeness. The Virginia Tour Circuit started in September 1970 and was replaced in 1973 by the WTA...


External links

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