![]() ![]() To a large extent, the success that women’s professional tennis experienced has been attributed to the decision made in 2007 to amend critical elements of the Tour by the WTA Board of Directors. In 2015, Sharapova and Williams were among the top-100 athletes featured on Forbes highest paid list that included endorsement and competition earnings (Badenhausen, 2015). ![]() Serena Williams became the first woman to eclipse the $50 million prize money mark and fourth all-time on the court earnings list for both female and male tennis players (Cork, 2015 Zaccardi, 2013). Female tennis athletes’ accomplishments have continued on the court which led to greater financial success. In 1990, she won a record ninth Wimbledon singles title and she retired as the winningest tennis player – male or female – since the introduction of the Open era that commenced in 1968 (LaGrave, 2014). Martina Navratilova was the first female professional tennis player to earn more prize money in one season than the men’s number one ranked player. While the formation of the WTA incurred many challenges, female tennis players had experienced success on the court over the years. ![]() There were more than 2300 athletes that comprised the WTA membership totaling 92 nations and over $100 million in prize money across 54 annually sponsored events and four Glam Slams (Women’s Tennis Association, 2017). In 2011, for the first time in WTA history ten different nations were represented in the world’s Top 10 rankings. Women’s professional tennis further developed with the merger between the WTA Players Association and the Women’s Tennis Council to form the WTA Tour. The creation of the WTA was immediately successful as the number of women professional tennis players increased to over 250 athletes by 1980, the number of tour events expanded to 47, and prize money that was awarded rose to $7.2 million (Women’s Tennis Association, 2017). The WTA afforded women the opportunity to play in one professional tour tournament (Gittings, 2013). In 1973, King successfully helped to create and became the president of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). The “Original Nine” was comprised of King, Rosie Casals, Nancy Richey, Kerry Melville, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kristy Pigeon, Judy Dalton, Valerie Ziegenfuss, and Julie Heldman (Bernstein, 2012). Billie Jean King and a group of revolutionary women which included Gladys Heldman, World Tennis publications publisher, signed symbolic $1 contracts to compete in the Virginia Slims Series (“King original 9,” 2014). ![]() Keywords: gender equity, sport media, consumer behavior, tennisĪlthough the accomplished Althea Gibson played and won major tournaments throughout the 1950s, women’s professional tennis did not arrive until September 1970. However, enthusiasm over the progress should be tempered as female competitors’ total exposure was less than their male counterparts and more coverage was garnered to female athletes in poses not related to tennis. The study’s results revealed that female tennis players did receive some prominent coverage and their total amount of coverage was similar to the percentage of female readers of the magazine. Given the restructured rules, the perceived femininity associated with female tennis players, and the media coverage female athletes in individual sports tended to generate, it was important to determine the amount of media attention female professional tennis players received on the pages of a tennis magazine. The examined timeframe was selected based on the updated Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rules that required both female and male athletes to compete at many of the same high profile events during the professional tennis season. This investigation measured the coverage given to female and male athletes in a single sport focused print publication Tennis magazine from 2007 to 2012. Department of Kinesiology & Sport SciencesĮ-mail: Anyone? A Content Analysis of the Written and Pictorial Coverage of Tennis Magazine ![]()
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