Half a century later, Billie Jean King recalls meeting tennis players in a London hotel shortly before Wimbledon and she admits she wasn’t sure what was next.
“What I knew was that some players didn’t like what we were trying to do,” King said in an interview with The Associated Press. And I knew it had to happen one day. »
Wednesday marks the 50e anniversary of this meeting, June 21, 1973, at the Gloucester Hotel – a little south of Hyde Park, in the heart of the British capital. King and nearly 60 other players decided to form what is now known as the Women’s Tennis Association or WTA. They paved the way for their sport to grow, and women’s sport in general.
A meeting at the same hotel is scheduled for June 30 with King and a dozen other founding members of the WTA, including Rosie Casals, Betty Stove, Françoise Durr and Ingrid Lofdahl-Bentzer.
What memory does King have of this historic moment?
“I was on the podium and I said, ‘We have to do this. I’m not going to spend any more time on this if we don’t. But I know we have to. This is our moment of truth and it is probably the most important decision we will make for our sport. So let’s make the right decision,'” King said.
It was the beginning of what King called at the time a “union”, uniting all professional female players within the same association.
“It was difficult to get everyone’s support because some players were afraid of being penalized. We were looked to to steer them in the right direction and that’s what we did,” Casals said in a phone interview. Eventually, everyone joined us. »
Ahead of the winning vote that launched the project, King asked Stove – a Dutchwoman who has won 10 Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles or mixed doubles and served three terms as WTA president – to block the exit of the conference room.
“I told him not to let anyone out until we had our association,” King said. But no one came out. No one got up. It was special. We had everyone’s attention. »
King was elected president, Virginia Wade was chosen vice president, Lesley Hunt served as assistant vice president, Durr and Lofdahl-Bentzer became co-secretaries. Stove was treasurer, and Casals chaired a committee to review the filing system.
This meeting took place almost three years after the original group of 9 – including King, Casals, Peaches Bartkowicz, Judy Dalton, Julie Heldman, Kerry Melville Reid, Kristy Pigeon, Nancy Richey and Valerie Ziegenfuss – had signed contracts of 1 $ with the editor of World Tennis MagazineGladys Heldman, on September 23, 1970, to participate in the first all-women’s tennis tournament.
This set the stage for the Virginia Slims Tour and, eventually, the WTA.
“Those are probably the two best days of my life in tennis – the original Group of 9 and the WTA,” said King, who has won 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 in singles. To change people. To bring people together. For people to have a voice and power. »
A few years later, Chris Evert crossed the first million dollars in the stock market in her career, becoming the first female athlete to cross this plateau. A decade later, Martina Navratilova collected that amount in one season.
These days, the WTA holds more than 50 tournaments at its highest level, and another 20 at lower levels. The Grand Slam tournaments offer the same purses to men and women – more than 180 million in purse each season.
“The sport isn’t where we want it to be yet, but 50 years have passed,” King said, clapping his hands. I love the fact that we have also helped other sports, that we have set the stage for a place for women in sport. I know we started this. I don’t know how long we will be at the forefront of this change, but we still are. »
