Fights For Rights of Professional and Women Players
Despite her victories on the courts, Casals continued to fight tennis traditions on several fronts. Amateur tennis players (those who are unpaid) had always been favored over professionals (those who were paid). Because many tennis players came from non-wealthy backgrounds, they were forced to accept money in order to continue playing. This, in turn, made them professionals and prevented them from entering major tournaments that allowed only amateurs to play, such as Wimbledon. Fighting against this discrimination, Casals worked for an arrangement that allowed both amateur and professional tennis players to compete in the same tournaments.
Casals's next challenge was to overcome the vast difference in prize monies awarded to male and female players. Even though they worked just as hard and played just as often as men, women earned much smaller prizes. In 1970 Casals and other women threatened to boycott traditional tournaments if they were not paid higher prize money and not given more media attention. The ruling body of U.S. tennis, the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA), refused to listen to their demands. In response, the women established their own tournament, the Virginia Slims Invitational. The attention generated by this successful tournament quickly brought about the formation of other women's tournaments and greater prize monies for women.
Read more about this topic: Rosemary Casals
Famous quotes containing the words fights, rights, professional, women and/or players:
“Kids win thisnthat every day. Thousands of them. One out of a hundred fights professionally. One out of a thousands worth watchin, one out of a millions worth coffee and doughnuts.”
—Abraham Polonsky (b. 1910)
“In the field of world policy I would dedicate this Nation to the policy of the Good Neighborthe neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does, respects the rights of othersthe neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (18821945)
“As a scientist Im afraid Im a professional skeptic who doubts everything, even the certainties.”
—Karl Brown (18971990)
“... it is high time that the women of Republican America should know how much the laws that govern them are like the slave laws of the South ...”
—Harriot K. Hunt (18051875)
“People stress the violence. Thats the smallest part of it. Football is brutal only from a distance. In the middle of it theres a calm, a tranquility. The players accept pain. Theres a sense of order even at the end of a running play with bodies stewn everywhere. When the systems interlock, theres a satisfaction to the game that cant be duplicated. Theres a harmony.”
—Don Delillo (b. 1926)