WTA honors Original 9 and Gladys Heldman on 55th anniversary of $1 contracts

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- On Tuesday, September 23, the WTA celebrates the game-changing group of tennis players known as the Original 9, 55 years after they seized control of their collective destiny by signing $1 contracts with promoter Gladys Heldman to compete in a groundbreaking tournament in Houston, Texas.

Hosted by the Houston Racquet Club, the unsanctioned Virginia Slims Invitational offered a purse of $7,500 in response to the dire prize money ratios on offer for female players, compared to the men, at official tournaments.

While key tennis administrators at the state and local level supported the venture, the governing body of the sport in the United States, the USLTA, threatened to curtail the careers of all involved, as did their Australian counterparts.

The Original 9: 55 Years of a defiant revolution

The nine women who were prepared to risk their careers in order to compete on their own terms were Jane ‘Peaches’ Bartkowicz, Rosie Casals, Judy Dalton, Julie Heldman, Billie Jean King, Kerry Melville Reid, Kristy Pigeon, Nancy Richey and Valerie Ziegenfuss -- seven Americans, and two Australians (Dalton and Melville Reid).

They believed in their fight for opportunities to play -- and entertain -- for fair pay.

“The Original 9’s bold collaboration with Gladys Heldman sparked a new trajectory for women’s tennis and, 55 years later, remains a defining moment in sports,” said Portia Archer, CEO of the WTA. “The courage and commitment to equality demonstrated by these trailblazers has inspired generations of WTA athletes and remains at the heart of the global game fans enjoy to this day.”

The tournament, which saw Casals defeat Dalton in the final, 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 proved such a hit that Joseph Cullman III, the tennis-mad chief executive of Philip Morris, extended Virginia Slims sponsorship for a comprehensive circuit of events starting in 1971.

While the establishment’s didn’t amount to much -- for the Americans, at least -- the sport’s politics remained fraught, and the USLTA even mounted a rival women’s tour to get a piece of the action. But Heldman and her players worked tirelessly to grow their innovative league, which brought the sport to new cities across America, often in non-traditional venues. Fashion designer Ted Tinling’s custom dresses married rhinestone-glamor with sporting prowess and helped to build the brand.

As more players joined the campaign that started in Houston, the success of the Virginia Slims Circuit paved the way for the formation of the WTA, spearheaded by King, in the summer of 1973. Finally, a talent pool of more than 60 players was united, and the stage was set for women’s professional tennis to boom.

In 2025, the Hologic WTA Tour is comprised of 51 tournaments across 25 countries and regions on six continents (not including WTA 125 events) with a global audience of more than 1 billion. Prize money, including the Grand Slams, is almost $250 million -- a figure unmatched in women’s sports.

In 2012, the Original 9 were reunited at the Charleston Open, where they recreated the iconic dollar bill photo taken at the Houston Racquet Club in 1970. Julie Heldman, who was not present for that historic moment, took her rightful place in the position that had been occupied by her late mother, Gladys.

In 2021, they became the first group of players to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

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