WTA (tennis)
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tennis. The WTA's corporate headquarters is in St. Petersburg, Florida, with its European headquarters in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Beijing. The Women's Tennis Association was founded in June 1973 by Billie Jean King, and traces its origins to the inaugural Virginia Slims tournament, arranged by Gladys Heldman, sponsored by Joe Cullman, CEO of Philip Morris, and held on 23 September 1970 at the Houston Racquet Club in Houston, Texas. Rosie Casals won this first event. When the Women's Tennis Association was founded, Billie Jean King was one of nine players that comprised the WTA, also referred to as the Original 9, that included Julie Heldman, Valerie Ziegenfuss, Judy Dalton, Kristy Pigeon, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kerry Melvill ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent's court. The object of the game is to manoeuvre the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a valid return. The player who is unable to return the ball validly will not gain a point, while the opposite player will. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society and at all ages. The sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including wheelchair users. The modern game of tennis originated in Birmingham, England, in the late 19th century as lawn tennis. It had close connections both to various field (lawn) games such as croquet and bowls as well as to the older racket sport today called real tennis. The rules of modern tennis have ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nancy Richey
Nancy Richey (born August 23, 1942) is an American former tennis player. Richey won two major singles titles (the 1967 Australian Championships and 1968 French Open) and four major women's doubles titles (the 1965 US Championships, 1966 Australian Championships, 1966 Wimbledon Championships, and 1966 US Championships). She was ranked world No. 2 in singles at year-end in 1969. Richey won 69 singles titles during her career and helped the US win the Federation Cup in 1969. She won the singles title at the U.S. Women's Clay Court Championships a record six consecutive years, from 1963 through 1968. Richey married Kenneth S. Gunter on December 15, 1970. They were divorced on December 28, 1976, and Richey reverted to her maiden name. She is the sister of American tennis player Cliff Richey. They were the first brother-sister combination to both be concurrently ranked in the USA Top Ten. They were ranked in the Top Three concurrently in 1965, 1967, 1969 and 1970. Nancy Richey was in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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USTA
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, from the grass-roots to the professional levels. The association was created to standardize rules and regulations and to promote and develop the growth of tennis in the United States. The USTA runs the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center which hosts the US Open every year. The USTA has leagues in most places for adults skill levels between beginner and pro. The USTA also hosts tournaments across the country every weekend for club players or professionals. History The USTA was previously known as the United States National Lawn Tennis Association (USNLTA) and was established in 1881 by a small group of tennis club members in New York City and northeastern clubs, where most lawn tennis was played. In 1920 the word 'National' was ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wightman Cup
The Wightman Cup was an annual team tennis competition for women contested from 1923 through 1989 (except during World War II) between teams from the United States and Great Britain. History U.S. player Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman wanted to generate international interest in women's tennis the way Davis Cup did for men's. In 1920, she donated a sterling silver vase to the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) as a prize for an international team competition. Initial efforts to involve teams from all over the world, and in particular France with Suzanne Lenglen, proved unsuccessful due to financial constraints. The USLTA decided to invite Great Britain to challenge for the prize. Each match consisted of seven 'rubbers': five singles rubbers and two doubles. The top two players from each team would face each other in singles, with the matches then reversed. A third singles player from each team would play each other once. Two doubles teams would compete, but no player could pl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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International Tennis Federation
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. As of 2016, there are 211 national and six regional associations that make up ITF's membership. The ITF's governance responsibilities include maintaining and enforcing the rules of tennis, regulating international team competitions, promoting the game, and preserving the sport's integrity via anti-doping and anti-corruption programs. The ITF partners with the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) to govern professional tennis. The ITF organizes the Grand Slam events, annual team competitions for men ( Davis Cup), women (Billie Jean King Cup), and mixed teams (Hopman Cup), as well as tennis and wheelchair tennis events at the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games on behalf of the International Olympic Committee. T ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Françoise Dürr
Françoise Dürr (born 25 December 1942; sometimes referred to by English writers as Frankie Durr) is a retired French tennis player. She won 50 singles titles and over 60 doubles titles. According to Lance Tingay, Bud Collins, and the Women's Tennis Association, Dürr was ranked in the world top ten from 1965 through 1967, from 1970 through 1972, and from 1974 through 1976, reaching a career high of world No. 3 in those rankings in 1967. She finished second to Billie Jean King in prize money earnings in 1971. Dürr reached a total of 27 Grand Slam finals – one in singles, 18 in women's doubles, and eight in mixed doubles. She won twelve of them. Biography Dürr is best known for winning the singles title at the 1967 French Championships. She defeated Maria Bueno in a quarterfinal and Lesley Turner in the final. In addition to her singles championship, Dürr won seven Grand Slam women's doubles titles and four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. She was the runner-up in 11 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ann Haydon-Jones
Ann Shirley Jones, (née Adrianne Haydon on 17 October 1938, also known as Ann Haydon-Jones) is a British former table tennis and lawn tennis champion. She won eight Grand Slam tennis championships in her career: three in singles, three in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles. As of 2017, she serves as a vice president of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Career Table tennis Jones was born in Kings Heath, Birmingham, England. Her parents were prominent table tennis players, her father, Adrian Haydon, having been English number 1 and a competitor at world championships between 1928 and 1953. Ann, as a young girl, also took up the game, participating in five world championships in the 1950s, the best result being losing finalist in singles, doubles and mixed doubles all in Stockholm 1957. Soon after this she wrote the book ''Tackle Table Tennis This Way''. Jones also won two English Open titles in women's doubles as Haydon. Tennis She was also a powerful lawn ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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National Tennis League
National Tennis Leagues (NTL) was a tour for professional male tennis players established in 1967 by George MacCall. In 1970 it was sold to the World Championship Tennis (WCT), a competing professional tennis league run by Lamar Hunt. History The National Tennis League (NTL) was formed by former U.S. Davis Cup captain George MacCall in 1967, as a governing body to an American professional tennis tour. MacCall signed several players to contracts, including Arthur Ashe, Rod Laver, Roy Emerson and Stan Smith. The NTL followed in the wake of MacCall's departure from the existing International Professional Tennis Association (IPTA), which had been created by promoter Wallace Dill in 1966, and preceded the creation of World Championship Tennis (WCT), formed by Lamar Hunt and David Dixon The NTL differed from the IPTA and from WCT in being the first to sign women to professional contracts in addition to men. In 1968 Billie Jean King became the first woman of the Open Era to sign a pro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World Championship Tennis
World Championship Tennis (WCT) was a tour for professional male tennis players established in 1968 (the first players signed a contract at the end of 1967) and lasted until the emergence of the ATP Tour in 1990. A number of tennis tournaments around the world were affiliated with WCT and players were ranked in a special WCT ranking according to their results in those tournaments. The WCT had an important impact on the commercial development of tennis. It instituted a tie-breaker system and outfitted players with colored clothing, a radical idea at that time. WCT also strongly encouraged the audience to cheer for players, rather than politely applaud, as the more staid tennis audiences had done before. They publicly emphasized their prize money structure and special bonus pool as an incentive to attract top players. History World Championship Tennis was founded in September 1967 by New Orleans sports promoter David Dixon, who had earlier witnessed the dreary conditions of the prof ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Merion Cricket Club
Merion Cricket Club is a private club in Haverford, Pennsylvania, founded in 1865. The current clubhouse is its sixth, the last four having been designed by Philadelphia architect Frank Furness and his partner, Allen Evans, who was also a founder of the club. The club was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987 for its leading role in the promotion, development and continued support of cricket, golf, squash, and tennis in the United States. History The club was founded in October 1865 by William Woodrow Montgomery and Marshall Ewing. Its first meeting was held at Glenays, the home of William Woodrow Montgomery, on December 16, 1865. While there was some thought of converting into a baseball club due to a lack of a permanent facility, its first cricket match was held in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, May 19, 1866. From 1873 to 1892, the club occupied grounds in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, before moving to its present grounds in Haverford. The first tennis match was held in 1881; the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rod Laver
Rodney George Laver (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player. Laver was the world number 1 ranked professional in some sources in 1964, in all sources from 1965 to 1969 and in some sources in 1970, spanning four years before and three years after the start of the Open Era in 1968. He was also ranked the world number 1 amateur in 1961 by Lance Tingay and 1962 by Tingay and Ned Potter. Laver's 200 singles titles are the most in tennis history. This included his all-time men's record of 10 or more titles per year for seven consecutive years (1964–1970). He excelled on all of the court surfaces of his time: grass, clay, hard, carpet, and wood. Laver won 11 Grand Slam singles titles, though he was banned from playing those tournaments for the five years prior to the Open Era. Laver is the only player, male or female, to win a Grand Slam (winning all four major titles in the same calendar year) twice in singles, in 1962 and 1969; the latter remains the only tim ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bournemouth
Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern England, English south coast, equidistant () from Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and Southampton. Bournemouth is part of the South East Dorset conurbation, which has a population of 465,000. Before it was founded in 1810 by Lewis Tregonwell, the area was a deserted heathland occasionally visited by fishermen and smugglers. Initially marketed as a health resort, the town received a boost when it appeared in Augustus Granville's 1841 book, ''The Spas of England''. Bournemouth's growth accelerated with the arrival of the railway, and it became a town in 1870. Part of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Hampshire, Bournemouth joined Dorset for administrative purposes following the Local Government Act 1972, reorganisation of l ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |