User:Gaon.g/Women's Tennis Association

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In September 1970, the birth of women's professional tennis was launched when nine players signed $1 contracts with World Tennis publisher Gladys Heldman to compete in a new women's tour, the Virginia Slims Series. The Original 9, as they were called, included Billie Jean King, Julie Heldman, Valerie Ziegenfuss, Judy Dalton, Kristy Pigeon, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kerry Melville Reid, Nancy Richey, and Rosie Casals.

The 2021 season saw four different Grand Slam champions crowned – Naomi Osaka (Australian Open), Barbora Krejcikova (Roland Garros), Ashleigh Barty (Wimbledon) and Emma Raducanu (US Open). Barty would hold the WTA World No.1 ranking for the entire year as she added a pair of WTA 1000 titles by winning at Miami and Cincinnati, while also adding titles at Melbourne 500 [Yarra Valley] and Stuttgart. With five titles to her credit, Barty earned Player of the Year honors. The WTA Finals relocated to Guadalajara and Garbiñe Muguruza became the first Spanish woman to win the title at the year-end event. The WTA also established tennis as a more united sport by formally integrating marketing departments with the ATP. As a result, 2021 saw a first-ever joint commercial deal with e-learning platform TopCourt, a joint partnership with mobile game Tennis Clash and a second season of the digital series entitled Tennis United: CrossCourt. Continuing to innovate the game, the WTA also welcomed a new global technology partnership with wearables company, WHOOP and its first authorized gaming operator, FanDuel.