Original 9 September 1, 2020

Lights, Cameras, Action: The Virginia Slims Circuit

The Original 9 started something special when they joined forces with Gladys Heldman and held aloft their symbolic dollar bills. Here’s a snapshot of life on the exciting new women’s tour.

01 /15

The moment women’s professional tennis was born. Clockwise from top left: Valerie Ziegenfuss, Billie Jean King, Nancy Richey, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kristy Pigeon, Gladys Heldman, Rosie Casals, Kerry Melville Reid & Judy Dalton

Houston Public Library

02 /15

Shortly after the Houston Invitational, Original 9 members Nancy Richey, Billie Jean King and Julie Heldman fronted a press conference to announce a new women’s tennis circuit – the World Tennis Women’s Pro Tour, sponsored primarily by Virginia Slims

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03 /15

Indoor venues were a feature of the groundbreaking circuit, shifting the game from its country club roots and heightening the sense of sport as showbusiness. Here, Rosie Casals does battle in Detroit, Michigan

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04 /15

Players who were quick to join forces with the Original 9 included Ann Haydon Jones – whose husband, Philip ‘Pip’ Jones, would drive players and tournament kit from one city stop to the next in a Kombi van

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05 /15

Frenchwoman Francoise Dürr was another popular character on the Virginia Slims Circuit – as was her pet dog, Topspin – an Airedale who didn’t shy away from the limelight

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In 1971, Billie Jean King capped the first full Slims season by becoming the first female tennis player to earn $100,000 in a calendar year. It was a big deal: President Nixon even called to congratulate her

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07 /15

Young players who made forays onto the Virginia Slims series included Jeanne and Chris Evert, who were 14 and 16 years old respectively when this photo was taken in 1972

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Sweden’s Ingrid Lofdahl Bentzer was among the European personalities who helped grow the budding women’s tour

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09 /15

Joseph F. Cullman III, chairman of Philip Morris, was an avid tennis fan who also needed to find new avenues for tobacco marketing after U.S. Congress passed a ban on the advertising of cigarettes on TV and radio in 1970

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10 /15

Virginia Slims undoubtedly professionalized the promotion of women’s tennis, but the connection with tobacco remained contentious. In 1972, Rosie Casals was prevented from wearing this dress at Wimbledon

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In 1972, tickets were distributed to armed forces veterans to attend the Virginia Slims of Denver. Not all GIs were able to make it, so Valerie Ziegenfuss and Wendy Overton made a special hospital visit – setting an example for player-community engagement

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Dutch star Betty Stove reached her first Virginia Slims final at Denver in 1973 – the first women-only tournament to attract more than 20,000 fans

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In 1972, the inaugural Virginia Slims Championships (now the WTA Finals) were staged in Boca Raton, Florida – the first women-only tournament to offer prize money of $100,000. Billie Jean King and Margaret Court are pictured promoting the 1973 event

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British fashion designer Ted Tinling brought glamor and public relations expertise to the women’s tour, with dresses tailored for stars such as Virginia Wade, Evonne Goolagong, Rosie Casals and Billie Jean King

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Although the sport’s politics didn’t favor Gladys Heldman by 1973, the trailblazing businesswoman – rightly considered a co-founder of women’s professional tennis – was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1979

International Tennis Hall of Fame

Lights, Cameras, Action: The Virginia Slims Circuit

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