The Women's Tennis Association (WTA), founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).
The Women's Tennis Association was founded in the month of June 1973, but traces its origins to the inaugural Virginia Slims tournament, arranged by Gladys Heldman, and held on 23 September 1970 at the Houston Racquet Club in Houston, Texas. Rosie Casals won this first event. The WTA's corporate headquarters is in St. Petersburg, Florida, with its European headquarters in London and its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Beijing.
The Open Era, allowing professional players to compete alongside amateurs, began in 1968. The first open tournament was the British Hard Court Championships in Bournemouth. At the first Open Wimbledon the prize fund difference was 2.5:1 in favour of men. Billie Jean King won £750 for taking the title while Rod Laver won £2,000. The total purses of both competitions were £14,800 for men and £5,680 for women. Confusion also reigned as no one knew how many open tournaments there were supposed to be. The tournaments that did not want to provide prize money eventually faded out of the calendar, including the U.S. Eastern Grass Court circuit with stops at Merion Cricket Club and Essex county club.
The WTA Tour is the elite tour for professional women's tennis organised by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). The WTA Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the WTA Tour Championships and the WTA Tier I, Tier II, Tier III and Tier IV events. ITF tournaments are not part of the WTA Tour, although they award points for the WTA World Ranking.
Below are the 1991 WTA year-end rankings (November 25, 1991) in both singles and doubles competition:
The 2006 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour was the 34th season since the founding of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 2, 2006, and concluded on November 12, 2006 after 61 events.
Justine Henin-Hardenne came out as the winner in a historic three-way battle for the No. 1 ranking at the season-ending WTA Tour Championships, beating out Sharapova and Mauresmo. The Belgian successfully defended her French Open title for her fifth Grand Slam title, and became the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1993 to reach the finals of all four Grand Slams and the WTA Tour Championships. Maria Sharapova won her second Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open, to add to her Wimbledon trophy from 2004. Amélie Mauresmo won her maiden Grand Slam at the Australian Open after a controversial retirement from Henin-Hardenne in the final. However, she later backed it up by winning a rematch with Henin-Hardenne in the Wimbledon final. She was the number one player in the world from March until the final event of the season.
Doesn't come down when she calls, "It's time for breakfast"
Momma can't get down those halls fast enough to see
Glass is sprayed across the floor from the broken window
She can't breathe anymore, can't deny what we know
They're gonna find you, just believe
You're not a person, you're a disease
All these lives that you've been taking
Deep inside, my heart is breaking
Broken homes from separation
Don't you know it's violation?
It's so wrong, but you'll see
Never gonna let you take my world from me
The world outside these walls may know you're breathing
But you ain't coming in, but you ain't coming in
Posters hung on building walls
Of missing faces
Months go by without the cause
The clues or traces
They're gonna find you, just believe
You're not a person, you're a disease
All these lives that you've been taking
Deep inside, my heart is breaking
Broken homes from separation
Don't you know it's violation?
It's so wrong, but you'll see
Never gonna let you take my world from me
The world outside these walls may know you're breathing
But you ain't coming in
Shed the light on all the ones
Who never thought they would become
A father, mother asking
Why this world can be so cold?
Doesn't come down when she calls
"It's time for breakfast"
The memories begin to fall
She asks, "When will I be free?"
All these lives that you've been taking
Deep inside, my heart is breaking
Broken homes from separation
Don't you know it's violation?
It's so wrong, but you'll see
Never gonna let you take my world from me
The world outside these walls may know you're breathing
But you ain't coming in
All these lives that you've been taking
Deep inside, my heart is breaking
All these lives that you've been taking
Deep inside, my heart is breaking
All these lives that you've been taking
Deep inside, my heart is breaking
The world outside these walls may know you're breathing
The world outside these walls may know you're breathing