ABSTRACT
In 1970, the collectivity of the Original 9 emerged, and nine top-ranked players joined together for a common cause of equal prize money, becoming successful in stemming the ever-increasing disparity between men’s and women’s prize money. The emergence of the Original 9 as a collective group for social activism is remarkable given the historic underpinnings of individualism in tennis. Guided by the vibrant women’s movement of the time, the focus of the Original 9 was solely on equality which would be shown through equal prize money at tournaments. With expert marketing and advertising, as well as couture fashion, the Original 9 were able to begin a women’s tennis tour that grew from those nine women in 1970 to 64 players in 1973, and create an organizing body, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), to govern the new tennis tour.
