The year 1968 is considered to be pivotal in the history of tennis, as far as it is the time when the Open Era began. As a result, amateurs got a unique opportunity to challenge top-ranked professional tennis players.

British Hard Court Championship was the first open tournament held in Bournemouth.

It is worth noting that at first, the prize fund differed significantly in favor of men (2.5:1). For example, Rod Lavern won 2,000 pounds for taking the title, while Billie Jean King got only 750 pounds.

The total cash funds of both competitions amounted to 5,680 pounds for women and 14,800 pounds for men.

By the 1970s the situation became worse, and the spread between men’s and women’s prize money only increased. It may come as a surprise, but these figures inflated to 8:1, and even 12:1 later on.

The female tennis players waxed indignant over such crying injustice.

The situation became even more heated when Margaret Court won the Grand Slam tournament and got only $15,000  as a prize, whereas any man, in this case, could get at least $1,000,000.

As a result, women decided to boycott any tennis events and soon created the 1979 Houston Women’s Invitation for nine female tennis players, which later served as a basis for the WTA tour.

The WTA itself was founded during the meeting, organized by the previously mentioned Billie Jean King.

Several years later the members of the association signed the first contract with television broadcast, and the sponsorship problem was solved once and for all.