Tennis still leads the way in women’s sport as WTA nears 50-year anniversary

When Aryna Sabalenka won the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup at the Australian Open in January and scooped more than £1.5million in prize money, her first words were with the woman who presented her with the silverware.

“It’s such an inspiration to receive the trophy from you,” Sabalenka told Billie Jean King. “Thank you for everything you have done for our sport.”

King had seen Sabalenka defeat Elena Rybakina from the front row of Rod Laver Arena, along with six of the women who helped her make tennis the most lucrative women’s sport in the world.

In June, half a century has passed since King gathered more than 60 women at the Gloucester Hotel in London to found the WTA.

The seed had been sown three years earlier, when nine women, angry at being treated like second-class citizens in tennis’s fledgling professional era, went into business for themselves.

King, Rosie Casals, Nancy Richey, Kerry Melville, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kristy Pigeon, Judy Dalton, Valerie Ziegenfuss and Julie Heldman – known as the Original Nine – all signed token one-dollar contracts to take part in a new tour, the Virginia Slims Series to participate.

This evolved into the WTA and later in 1973 the US Open became the first Grand Slam to offer the same prize money after King threatened a boycott.

Along with Casals, Melville, Bartkowicz, Pigeon, Dalton and Ziegenfuss in Melbourne, King looked back on the fight they fought for equality.

“When we dreamed of a tour, dreamed of equal prize money, we thought it was going to be a long time,” she said.

“There are three things we thought about with the Original Nine. (First) that every girl in this world, if she were good enough, would have a place to compete. Don’t play, compete.

“Number two, to be recognized for our accomplishments, not just our looks. And number three, really important to be able to make a living from tennis, the sport we were so passionate about.

The story goes on

“As amateurs, we used to be paid $14 a day. We really wanted that. We wanted it for future generations. We knew if we did well it would help us a little. The real events were to be bestowed on later generations.

“It was a nightmare. It was really scary. I was really scared. But I always thought about the future. It’s very clear now, if you know the story, you’re living our dream.”

It wasn’t until 2007 that all Grand Slams paid out the same prize money, and in the decade and a half since then, pay has skyrocketed.

Tennis players dominate the world’s highest-earning female athletes – four of the top 5 and seven of the top 10 in 2022 according to Forbes, led by Naomi Osaka.

King will turn 80 later this year, but she has lost none of the fire that drove her to change her sport and remains one of tennis’s most outspoken personalities.

She has kept the history of the Original Nine and WTA foundings in the spotlight, not only to ensure she and her pioneering cohort are not forgotten, but to prevent today’s players from becoming complacent.

1. Naomi Osaka – £42.1million

2. Serena Williams – £34.1million

3. Eileen Gu (skiing) – £17.4million

4. Emma Raducanu – £15.4million

5. Iga Swiatek – £12.3million

While the Grand Slams pay equally, there remains a significant and widening gap in Tour events, with the WTA suffering from reduced commercial interest compared to the ATP and uncertainty over its previously lucrative ties with China.

Australian Dalton, who was barred from playing in her home country due to her involvement in the Breakaway Tour, believes the Original Nine continue to be underrated.

“To do everything, to achieve what we have achieved, I think is fantastic,” she said. “But I just think other people don’t realize what we’ve done. I don’t think the players realize what we did. I can’t imagine it ever happening today that people would do that.”