1971 ILTF Women's Tennis Circuit

The 1971 ILTF Women's Tennis Circuit was the 58th season since the formation of the International Lawn Tennis Federation in 1913, it consisted of a number of tennis tournaments for female tennis players.

It was composed of three circuits the first Virginia Slims Circuit with 19 events approved by the ILTF, and the first Grand Prix Circuit with 17 events under the auspices of the ILTF and the regular ILTF World Circuit, with 125 events makes up the majority of the 165 tournaments staged this year.

Grand Prix Circuit
The 1971 ILTF Pepsi-Cola Grand Prix was a tennis circuit administered by the International Lawn Tennis Federation which served as a forerunner to the current Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour. The circuit consisted of the four modern Grand Slam tournaments and open tournaments recognised by the ILTF. This article covers all tournaments that were part of that year's Women's Grand Prix.

Virginia Slims Circuit
Prior to the establishment of this circuit there was an inequality between the prize money purses for male and female tennis players which gave rise to complaints from a number of the leading female tennis players of the time. Nine of them, including Billie Jean King, became later known as the "Original 9" after being banned from the then existing multi-gender invitational professional events run by the influential United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) due to their boycotting of the Pacific Southwest Championships. This resulted in the first Virginia Slims-sponsored event being held in September 1970 in Houston, an event which laid the groundwork for the establishment of the annual Virginia Slims Circuit the following year. In 1971 the total prize money available from the Virginia Slims events was $309,100 and Billie Jean King became the first female athlete in history to earn more than $100,000 in one season.

ILTF World Circuit
This worldwide circuit consisted of 125 events that were not part of the sponsored Virginia Slims and Grand Prix circuits they made up the majority of the 165 tournaments staged this year. This years singles title leader Billie Jean King won her 17 tournaments across all three circuits.

This circuit began on 30 December 1970 with the Western Australian Open in Perth, Australia and ended on 25 December with the Border Championships, East London, South Africa.

Schedule
This is a calendar of all events sponsored by Virginia Slims in the year 1971, with player progression documented from the quarterfinals stage. The table also includes the Grand Slam tournaments and the 1971 Federation Cup.


 * Key

Grand Prix Circuit
The Grand Prix tournaments were divided into four groups. Group A consisted of the three Grand Slam events – French Open, Wimbledon Championships and US Open – while the other tournaments were divided into Groups B, C and D by prize money and draw size. Points were allocated based on these groups and the finishing position of a player in a tournament. The points allocation is listed below:

Standings and bonus pool earnings
A bonus pool of $50,000 was available for the top 13 points ranked players. To qualify for a share of the bonus pool the players had to participate in a minimum of nine tournaments.

Top 10 World Rankings
The 1971 singles rankings as per Lance Tingay.

Statistical information
These tables present the number of singles (S), doubles (D), and mixed doubles (X) titles won by each player and each nation during the 1971 Virginia Slims Circuit. They also include data for the Grand Slam tournaments.


 * 1) total number of titles (a doubles title won by two players representing the same nation counts as only one win for the nation);
 * 2) highest amount of highest category tournaments (for example, having a single Grand Slam gives preference over any kind of combination without a Grand Slam title);
 * 3) a singles > doubles > mixed doubles hierarchy;
 * 4) alphabetical order (by family names for players).