#PLAYERS PICTORIAL MAGAZINE MODELS PROFESSIONAL#
#PLAYERS PICTORIAL MAGAZINE MODELS SERIES#

In 1990, she won a record ninth Wimbledon singles title and she retired as the winningest tennis player вЂ“ male or female вЂ“ since the introduction of the Open era that commenced in 1968 (LaGrave, 2014).

#PLAYERS PICTORIAL MAGAZINE MODELS PROFESSIONAL#

Martina Navratilova was the first female professional tennis player to earn more prize money in one season than the menвЂ™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 (WomenвЂ™s Tennis Association, 2017). In 2011, for the first time in WTA history ten different nations were represented in the worldвЂ™s Top 10 rankings. WomenвЂ™s professional tennis further developed with the merger between the WTA Players Association and the WomenвЂ™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 (WomenвЂ™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 WomenвЂ™s Tennis Association (WTA). The вЂњOriginal NineвЂќ was comprised of King, Rosie Casals, Nancy Richey, Kerry Melville, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kristy Pigeon, Judy Dalton, Valerie Ziegenfuss, and Julie Heldman (Bernstein, 2012).

#PLAYERS PICTORIAL MAGAZINE MODELS SERIES#

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 (вЂњKing original 9,вЂќ 2014). Keywords: gender equity, sport media, consumer behavior, tennisДЄlthough the accomplished Althea Gibson played and won major tournaments throughout the 1950s, womenвЂ™s professional tennis did not arrive until September 1970. However, enthusiasm over the progress should be tempered as female competitorsвЂ™ total exposure was less than their male counterparts and more coverage was garnered to female athletes in poses not related to tennis. The studyвЂ™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 WomenвЂ™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.

Players Pictorial Magazine Models