ABSTRACT
The Original 9, as a group, have not been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame despite the argument that could be made that there would not be women’s professional tennis as we know it today without their collective efforts. Indeed, Judy Dalton told me that, “I am proud to have been part of history but it would be nice to be treated sometimes as special, it seems that money is the top priority in the game today. No sense of what we did” (Dalton, 2015). And Billie Jean King stated:
I have been very blessed in my life and career and I have no regrets. But the other members of the Original 9 have never been truly recognized for their role in tennis history. It is time we did something about that.
(King, 2015) These reflections from the Original 9 made me determined to work for their recognition.