Valerie Bradshaw (née Ziegenfuss; June 29, 1949) is an American former female professional

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 ...

player. She started as an amateur player at the beginning of the 1970s, then turned professional. She is most famous for being one of the Original 9 with eight of her fellow players, who rebelled against the

United States Tennis Association 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, ...

in 1970. Their actions brought about the creation of the Virginia Slims Circuit, which was the basis for the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tourna ...

. During her career, she reached the fourth round at the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...

(in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

) and the US Open on two occasions ( 1969 and

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

). She reached one singles final at the

Virginia Slims of Oklahoma The U.S. National Indoor Championships was a tennis tournament that was last held at the Racquet Club of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The event was played on indoor hard courts and usually took place in February. For much of i ...

in 1972. After winning two rounds of qualifying, she defeated 5th seeded Helen Gourlay, No. 2 seed Francoise Durr, and Judy Dalton (seeded 6th) and then lost to Rosie Casals. She had far more success in doubles tournaments, with 12 doubles final appearances, including six victories. She won a bronze medal in doubles in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City with

Jane Bartkowicz Jane Bartkowicz (born April 16, 1949), known during her career as Peaches Bartkowicz, is a former top tennis player from the United States in the 1960s. Bartkowicz was a protégé of Jean and Jerry Hoxie. Among her many titles, Bartkowicz won ...

Career review

Original 9

In 1970, the top women tennis players started to become frustrated at the lack of equality within tennis in terms of prize money on offer for male and female players. The publisher

Gladys Heldman Gladys Medalie Heldman (May 13, 1922 – June 22, 2003) was an American tennis player, manager and magazine publisher. She was the founder of ''World Tennis'' magazine. As a manager, she supported and represented Billie Jean King and eight other f ...

, founder of '' World Tennis'' magazine, offered $5,000 of her own money, which enabled the players to negotiate their own contracts. Ziegenfuss and the other players, including

Billie Jean King Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States ...

and

Rosie Casals Rosemary "Rosie" Casals (born September 16, 1948) is an American former professional tennis player. Casals earned her reputation as a rebel in the tennis world when she began competing in the early 1960s. During a tennis career that spanned mor ...

, signed $1 contracts in the summer of 1970 and formed the Virginia Slims Circuit.

WTA Tour finals

Singles 1

Doubles 10 (6–4)

References

Notes

* The Original 9 featured

, Peaches Bartkowickz,

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 Austral ...

Kerry Melville Kerry Melville Reid (née Melville; born 7 August 1947) is a former professional tennis player from Australia. During her 17-year career, Reid won one Grand Slam singles title and 26 other singles titles and was the runner-up in 40 singles to ...

Judy Dalton Judy Tegart Dalton (née Tegart; born 12 December 1937) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She won nine major doubles titles, and completed the career Grand Slam in women's doubles. Five of her doubles titles were with Marga ...

Julie Heldman Julie Heldman (born December 8, 1945) is an American tennis player who won 22 singles titles. In 1969 and 1974, she was ranked as the world No. 5. In 1968 and 1969, she was ranked No. 2 in the U.S. She was Canadian National 18 and Under Singles ...

and

Kristy Pigeon Kristy Pigeon (born August 12, 1950) is an American retired tennis player who was active at the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s. Career Pigeon won the Junior Wimbledon title in July 1968, defeating Australian Lesley Hunt in two sets ...

. * The Virginia Slims Circuit was the name of the modern day circuit WTA circuit before the formation of the

Women's Tennis Association 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 tenni ...

in 1973. It became the

in 1988.

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ziegenfuss, Valerie American female tennis players Tennis players from San Diego 1949 births Living people Tennis players at the 1968 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in tennis 21st-century American women