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Billie Jean King - Tennis Trailblazer


1 ranking in women's tennis, King turned professional" (n.p.). As King was a frequent visitor in the winners' group, she quickly noticed the difference in winnings earned by men versus women. It was normal for men to get paid more than women, especially in sports:.
             In the 1970 Italian Open, Billie Jean King was the women's singles champion; she received $600 in prize money, but the men's singles champion Ilie Nastase received $3,500--almost six times the amount of prize money King earned. (Chan n.p.).
             King was a dominant force in tennis. She knew that with her skills she could help change the way things were. Because these women athletes were not getting paid what they deserved, it pushed them to take a risk in order to show their worth. In 1970, eight courageous women led by Billie Jean King were willing to put an end to their career and took a risk to create the group known as the "Orginal 9." Their reason for creating the group was to fight against the discrimination in tennis by standing up against the United States Tennis Law Association. They did so by forming their own tour of eight professional tournaments, sponsored by the cigarette company Virginia Slims. In order to get the tournaments started, the women signed an iconic one-dollar contract paid by World Tennis Magazine and convinced the chairman of the Philip Morris Company to help sponsor them. .
             With the help of these sponsors the women were making progress, "Thus, the Virginia Slims Tennis circuit for women was born" (Lannin 60). Shortly after, the women started to receive letters from the USLTA that they would no longer be able to participate in their Grand Slam events; however, that did not phase the women who knew men ran those tournaments anyway, thereby winning the majority of the money. And those one-dollar contracts turned into millions, "By 1971, about forty players had registered for the Virginia Slims Circuit, and the prize money totaled to $309,100.


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