Venus and Serena Williams’ Whopping $140,000,000 Earnings Traces Again to a Radical $1 Motion Pioneered by 79-12 months-Outdated Tennis Legend

There was a time when tennis wasn’t as equal as it’s in the present day. Earlier than the Seventies, it was the boys who virtually at all times walked away with extra prize cash than the ladies. Nevertheless, the whole lot modified in 1973 when the US Open introduced that its prize cash for each female and male rivals could be equal. The transfer paid dividends in the long term, particularly for the likes of Venus and Serena Williams, who walked away with hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in prize cash.

An article revealed on the official US Open web site took a take a look at a number of the most important breakthroughs that put ladies’s tennis on the identical stage as males’s tennis. The numbers make for a fascinating learn.

Billie Jean King was the one to kick-start the ladies’s tennis revolution

In 1970, 9 ladies tennis gamers (the Authentic 9) got here collectively to signal a $1 contract that ultimately led to the formation of knowledgeable tour solely for ladies. This improvement marked the origin of the WTA Tour. It was led by none aside from women’s tennis veteran Billie Jean King.

According to the article, through the Authentic 9’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations in 2018, King mirrored on the photograph from 1970, which featured the 9 gamers holding up $1 payments. King mentioned, “You’re going to assume we had been all smiling, giggly, and completely satisfied”. The legend went on so as to add, “however deep down I believe we had been all, at the least for me personally, I’m going, “This can be a actual second of reality for us as a result of we could or could not make it.“”

King concluded her assertion saying, “However I knew we had been doing the fitting factor for the longer term generations, and that’s what we actually cared about.”

How did Venus and Serena Williams revenue from the Authentic 9 contract?

The constructive results of the Authentic 9 contract had been far-reaching. Whereas underperforming ladies’s tennis gamers didn’t profit a lot from it, the Williams sisters positively did. Venus gained 7 Grand Slam singles titles, whereas Serena clinched a whopping 23 of them. In addition they gained 14 Grand Slam titles as a duo. The sisters clinched quite a few different titles on the WTA Tour as properly.

Because of their stellar achievements, the sisters collectively gained round $140 million in prize cash. Venus gained $42,406,778, whereas Serena gained $94,816,730. All in all, no participant in ladies’s tennis has earned extra in prize cash than Serena Williams. Venus is available in at No. 2. This was actually made potential by the preliminary efforts of the ‘Authentic 9’.

Other than King, have you learnt the opposite members of the ‘Authentic 9’? Tell us within the feedback.

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