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| Details | |
|---|---|
| Duration | 1970–1989 |
| Edition | 1-19 |
| Achievements (singles) | |
TheVirginia Slims World Championship Series[1] (its sponsored name) orWTA World Championship Series (it's tour name) was the women's top tiertennis tour administered by theWomen's Tennis Association that was first founded in 1970 as theVirginia Slims Series of events that were then part ofILTF World Circuit. It eventually became the basis for the laterWTA Tour.[2] The players, dubbed theOriginal 9, rebelled against theUnited States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) because of the wide inequality between the amount of prize money paid to male tennis players and to female tennis players.[3] In 1971 it was rebranded as theVirginia Slims Circuit until 1978 and was a rival tour to theILTF Women's International Grand Prix until 1976. In 1979 it was branded as theAvon Championship Circuit until 1981. In 1982 it was merged with theToyota International Series as a single women's tennis tour and rebranded under its last title name until 1989. In 1990 it was succeeded by theWTA World Tour.
The Open era began with theBritish Hard Court Championships inBournemouth in 1968. At the first OpenWimbledon, the prize-fund difference was 2.5:1 in favour of men.Billie Jean King won £750 for taking the title, whileRod Laver took £2,000. The total purses of the competitions were £14,800 for men and £5,680 for women.[4] By the 1970s, the pay difference which had been a 2.5:1 ratio between men and women had increased. In 1969, ratios of 5:1 in terms of pay were common at smaller tournaments; by 1970, these figures increased to 8:1 and even 12:1.[5]
The situation came to a head in 1970, when most tournaments offered four times as much prize money to men than they did to women. At the1970 Italian Open, men's singles championIlie Năstase was paid US$3,500 while women's singles champion King received just US$600.[6] On top of this, the USLTA failed to organise any tournaments for women in 1970.[7]
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King and eight other female tennis players – AmericansRosemary Casals,Nancy Richey,Peaches Bartkowicz,Kristy Pigeon,Valerie Ziegenfuss, andJulie Heldman;[8] and AustraliansKerry Melville Reid andJudy Tegart Dalton – decided to enlist World Tennis magazine publisherGladys Heldman to help negotiate for greater equality in prize money and provide valuablepublic relations assistance. All the players were putting their tennis careers at risk because the influential USLTA did not back them.
Gladys Heldman and the "Original 9" decided to target thePacific Southwest Championships held inLos Angeles on the grounds that it paid eight times more money to men than it did to women. Heldman attempted to get the tournament chairman, former professional tennis playerJack Kramer, to reduce the inequality between the prize money purses for men and women. Kramer refused, leading the "Original 9" to declare at a press conference held atForest Hills, New York that they would boycott the Pacific Southwest Championships and play at what would become the first Virginia Slims Circuit event, aUS$7,500 tournament held inHouston, Texas in September 1970.[9] Despite the USLTA's declaration that it would not sanction this event, the "Original 9" went ahead, with Casals defeating Dalton in the final 5–7, 6–1, 7–5.
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Heldman, with the assistance of Joe Cullman ofPhilip Morris, then offeredUS$5,000 out of her own pocket to allow the "Original 9" to sign token $1 contracts and set up their own tour of eight professional tournaments in 1970.[10][11] The tour was sponsored byVirginia Slims. This independent women's professional tennis circuit provided more equal[clarification needed] prize money than had been provided previously by the USLTA and other organisations.[12] Despite the USLTA's suspension of the "Original 9" from its tournaments, by the end of the year the Virginia Slims Circuit was able to boost its numbers from nine to forty members, which helped pave the way for the first full year season of the Circuit in 1971. Subsequently, in the aftermath of the creation of theWomen's Tennis Association in 1973, the Virginia Slims Circuit would eventually absorb theILTF'sWomen's Grand Prix circuit and become theWTA Tour.