Saturday, April 14, 2012

Original 9 get back together to celebrate women's tennis

The Original 9 is a group of tennis players known as the godmothers of women's tennis. The nine female professional tennis players formed a new tennis tour, the Virginia Slims Circuit, in 1970, that was the basis for the later WTA Tour. The players rebelled against the United States Lawn Tennis Association due to an extreme inequality between the amount of prize money paid to male tennis players and to female tennis players.

For just the second time since they took their historic stand against the establishment in 1970, all nine members of the Original 9 came together in Charleston in April 2012. While a couple of reunions had taken place over the past four decades, not since 1986 had they all been in the same room, says the WTA on its Facebook page. It was a unforgettable weekend celebration with a gala dinner, a photoshoot, a Q&A panel and an on-court celebration at the Family Circle Cup! (source: WTA and Wikipedia)

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