WTA: From outcasts to inspiration for women

Earlier this year, Women's Tennis Association (WTA) chief executive officer and chairman Stacey Allaster handed a young Chinese woman in Beijing her business card.

"She looked at the card, looked up at me, then told me she's never been handed a card by a woman CEO before," Allaster recalled.

Indeed, even as the WTA looks in prime shape as it celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, it continues to actively engage its players, fans and stakeholders, making them feel connected to this global community of women's tennis.

As a former collegiate player and someone who has worked in tennis throughout her career, Allaster understands that the WTA has grown into a symbol of how far women athletes have come, and plays an important role in making a statement about women's talent.

She recalls the times when, as a teenager from Welland in Ontario, she would drive two hours to watch tournaments in Toronto.

The 50-year-old told The Sunday Times: "I grew up watching great champions like Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert on the same stage as the men and I thought I could do the same.

"I never once felt, as I played as a junior, that it was tough to have the opportunity (to play)."

Yet, the WTA was formed amid outcries of rebellion and threats of suspension.

Billie Jean King, a 12-time women's singles Grand Slam champion, had formed the association with 63 other players behind locked doors at London's Gloucester Hotel in 1973.

They were unhappy that there were precious few tournaments for women players then and that prize money ratios greatly favoured the men.

When she lifted the Wimbledon trophy in 1968, for instance, King received a cheque for £750.

Rod Laver, meanwhile, took home £2,000 for winning the men's title.

In standing up to the chauvinistic treatment, the players also put their careers on the line.

They were threatened with bans from Grand Slams, shunned at tournaments and others were even suspended by their own tennis associations.

Said Allaster: "It's mind-boggling that that happened."

It was not until her 30s that the significance of what King and Co had done really hit Allaster, while she worked her way from a coordinator's position at the Ontario Tennis Association to vice-president of Tennis Canada and tournament director of the Rogers Cup.

She said: "I was about 35 when I learnt that as you mature and advance in your career, there is absolutely a glass ceiling for women. Then, I began to understand and appreciate what Billie Jean did."

In the same year that the WTA was inaugurated, King beat Bobby Riggs, a former champion known for his chauvinistic views, in a "Battle Of The Sexes" match that was hailed as a landmark victory for women in tennis.

"She really had the weight of the world on her and she had so much courage, and she knew she had to win for us," added Allaster.

No wonder that, during a dinner this April to honour the "Original Nine" - King and the pioneers who had started a breakaway tour three years before the WTA was formally started - Allaster said: "Not only did you give little girls the dream to play professional tennis, you also gave little girls the dream they could be CEOs of companies."

Today, of the world's top 10 highest-paid female athletes, seven are tennis players.

Top earner Maria Sharapova took home about US$29 million (S$36 million) in the past year.

The WTA has also grown from just over US$1 million in prize money to a total of US$118 million that was contested in 54 events across 33 countries this season.

Apart from empowering the women with the same earning power as their male counterparts, Allaster said the WTA has come to represent more than just women's tennis.

She said: "Today, our forehands and backhands on the court are (also) very powerful off the court. There's no doubt... the WTA set the course for change for women everywhere.

"(The players) are role models for women to aspire to dream to achieve anything they want to achieve."

As Serena Williams, one of the many products of the WTA, put it in typical King-style in a video celebrating the association's 40th anniversary: "We've come a long way, baby."

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