ORIGINAL 9: WHAT I REMEMBER
by ROSIE CASALS

I was about 22 years old, the Open Era had arrived and the women were fighting for a place in professional tennis. I remember being a contract professional with George MacCall’s National Tennis League from 1968-1970 and sharing the court with Ann Jones, Frankie Durr and Billie Jean King as one of the first women contract pros. We played all over Europe, South America and the U.S. with tennis  legends Rod Laver, Pancho Gonzales, Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle and other great names in tennis. Many of the other independent professionals - including Margaret Court and Virginia Wade - did not view us kindly.  They felt we were money hungry and not playing within the lines or rules of the tennis establishment. I think our experience with turning pro early really gave us the foundation to think, do and be successful in bringing women’s tennis to the forefront. Enter the Original 9 and Gladys Heldman.

The summer of 1970 proved to be a time for the women to gather and voice their unhappiness of being relegated to second class citizens at tournaments with prize money, show courts and appearance fees still kept under the table. The battle was brewing as we moved closer to the U.S. Open, and the women's dissatisfaction reached a crescendo that erupted at the same time Gloria Steinem and the Women’s Liberation Movement. The women gathered in the locker room at the famed Forest Hills grounds to talk about our course of action and the task of convincing the tournament promoters why women should get equal prize money, rather than the 10-1 ratio we were receiving. Billie Jean King was our leader but was not playing Forest Hills due to knee surgery.  I became the voice piece and uniter who helped gather the flock to voice their opinions and position loud and clear.  “We want equal pay for equal play”. This was the rumbling message that reached the west coast and Jack Kramer, promoter of the Pacific Southwest tournament. He did not get our message and we didn’t get more prize money. Enter Gladys Heldman and Virginia Slims…

Gladys was Editor and publisher of World Tennis magazine, the largest tennis publication and the most influential magazine in the tennis world.  She was also a feminist way before it was fashionable. We thought we had a good fit and a good negotiator. We asked Gladys to talk to Jack Kramer to see if he would offer us equal prize money, which she did and which she did not get. She said, “Ladies, I’ve got a good idea.  I’m friends with Joe Cullman III, CEO of Philip Morris Companies, let me talk to him."  Enter Virginia Slims.  Gladys informed us that she had secured Virginia Slims as a sponsor and that the Houston Racquet Club would  host the first ever women’s professional tournament.  With the help of Delores Hornberger and the Houston Racquet Club Women's Association, we had our first Virginia Slims women's tennis tournament with $500 in prize money. I was the winner of the Virginia Slims Invitational, winning a total prize money of $1,600, ($100 dollars more than Jack Kramer paid out to the winner of the women’s singles at the Pacific Southwest tournament) and cementing my place in the history books. In between all this, we were presented with an opportunity to sign with Billie Jeans’ then-husband Larry King and Dennis Van der Meer, or Gladys Heldman. We chose Gladys and signed one dollar contracts with her to become pros and to be known historically as the “Original 9”.

It was very exciting, and also scary at the same time, because we didn’t know what our future held. The USLTA struck swiftly but we were young and defiant. We found out shortly after we signed with Gladys that the Americans were suspended from the U.S. national rankings, no longer eligible for the Wightman Cup or Federation Cup, and could not play in any non-open USLTA tournaments.  I remember looking around at the girls and feeling happy and confident that this group who had bonded together would ultimately succeed. Gladys got Virginia Slims to commit to 10 tournaments for $100,000 and had our first women’s circuit in 1971.  By 1973, the USLTA jumped on the bandwagon and had a competing women’s circuit with Chris Evert, Virginia Wade and Evonne Goolagong as the head-liners.

When I look back at the photo of the Original 9, we were all so different, yet we were together in one of the most important moments in the history of women’s tennis. We had gambled our future and hit the jackpot to make women's tennis what it is today ... a multimillion dollar sport and one of the most successful women's sports in the world. I know all of us who were a part of this historical moment in Houston remain very  proud of this moment in time.

I am looking forward to our reunion hosted by Family Circle Cup and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) in Charleston this April.   Little did we know that when we all gathered on that September day in Houston 1970, it would be so many years before everyone was together again!

Thank you Gladys, Virginia Slims & Joseph Cullman III.

The Original 9 at a reunion in 1986 (left to right);
Judy Tegart Dalton, Kerry Melville Reid, Rosie Casals,
Julie Heldman, Billie Jean King (seated), Kristy Pigeon,
Peaches Bartkowicz, Nancy Richey, Valerie Ziegenfuss