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Women’s Tennis Association

Billie jean king fulfilled her lifelong dream to give women’s tennis the prominence it deserved by forming the women’s tennis association (wta)  in 1973. she became its first president..

The WTA is the global leader in women’s professional sport. It is the principal organizing body of women’s professional tennis, and governs the WTA Tour, the worldwide professional tennis tour for women.

Born from Protest

Gaining recognition and equality.

Born from the “Original 9,” the group of eight brave women, plus Billie Jean, who signed a $1 contract to join the Virginia Slims Circuit in protest against the inequity in prize money awarded in the men’s and women’s games, the WTA was created at a gathering of more than 60 players in a room at the Gloucester Hotel in London, one week before Wimbledon. The WTA immediately began helping women tennis players gain recognition and equality.

A Global Effort

In 1976, Chris Evert became the first female athlete to win over $1,000,000 in career earnings. Over 250 women were playing professionally by 1980, when the WTA Tour consisted of 47 global events, offering women tennis players a total of $7.2 million in prize money. In 1986, Martina Navratilova passed $10 million in career earnings.

Pay Equality

The increase in prize money offered to women tennis players produced a ripple effect across all women’s sports, with female athletes gaining well-deserved and long-overdue recognition, endorsement deals, and pay equity with their male counterparts. Men and women now compete for equal prize money at all four Grand Slam tournaments.

Today, the WTA has more than 2,500 players representing nearly 100 nations. Its players are competing for a record $139 million in prize money.

Visit the WTA website

WTA : Role, chairman, structure, all you need to know about the governing body of women’s tennis

The WTA is the governing body for women’s tennis. Here are all the informations you need to know about WTA to fully understand his history and his organisation.

You can follow WTA on Twitter , Instagram and Facebook .

What does WTA stand for ?

WTA is an acronym for Women’s Tennis Association.

What is WTA’s role ?

The WTA runs the women’s tennis circuit, the WTA Tour. It determines the calendar, tournaments included and attributes a category to each tournament (Premier Mandatory, Premier Five, Premier, International, WTA 125k Series). This structure has been in place since 2009. The WTA rankings points and the prize-money are linked to the tournament’s category. The WTA also organizes the WTA Finals by the end of each season. The Grand Slams are off the WTA ground. They have reserved spots in the schedule and players earn WTA points during them, but they are under the ITF control, with national organisers.

The WTA computerized rankings were created in 1974. Chris Evert was the first world no.1, in November 1975. The WTA states being the biggest women sports Federation, avec over 1 650 players from 84 different countries. The prize money on the season is estimated around 180 million dollars, on 55 WTA tournaments and four Grand Slams, and the global audience is about 700 million viewers.

Since when does the WTA exist ?

The WTA was founded in 1973, by Billie Jean King, with the purpose to unite all professional players in a tour. It was created in a hotel in London the week before Wimbledon . The WTA replaced the Virgin Slim Series, which debuted in 1971 with the Original 9, nickname given to the nine players who originated the break-up with the governing bodies of the circuit.

All started with the Open Era beginning, in 1968. The male and female professional players were finally authorized to participate in Open tournaments. There were then two different tours for pros : the World Championship Tennis, only for men, and the National Tennis League. King was among women under contract with the NTL, for 40 000 dollars a season. The American was the most paid on the circuit. For example, French player François Dürr, singles’ and doubles’ winner in the 1967 French Open, had “only” a 20 000 a year paycheck.

Prize money differences between them and men convicted female players to create their own tour. The ratio was up to 8 for 1, as announced for the eventual 1970 Pacific West Championships, scheduled after the US Open and organized by Jack Kramer… eventual founding father of the ATP ! Top female players reached out to Gladys Heldman, World Tennis Magazine publisher, to prepare a US Open boycott. Heldman advised against this option, but decided to create an event on the same dates as the Pacific West Championships. The Houston Women’s Invitation was born.

Nine female players responded to Heldman’s call, nine who will later form the Original 9 (King, Rosie Casals, Nancy Richey, Kerry Melville, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kristy Pigeon, Judy Dalton, Valerie Ziegenfuss et Julie Heldman), despite threats of sanctions by the USTA. This group gave birth to the Virgin Slims Series, first women-only tour, sponsored by a cigarette brand from Philip Morris. Each player engaged herself for a symbolic dollar. This was a 19 tournament-tour, including 18 in the United States. The WTA took the reins in 1973, immediately after its creation.

Who is the WTA chairman ?

Steve Simon is WTA chairman and CEO. He was named in October 2015, two months after Stacey Allaster’s resignation, and entered in office two months later. Simon is a former Indian Wells tournament director, a post he had occupied from 2004 to 2015. His nomination was backed by Billie Jean King and WTA stars, such as Serena Williams or Maria Sharapova.

Before leaving for personal reasons, Allaster ran the WTA during a six year-period. She was named by Forbes among “the most powerful women in sports”. She helped the WTA diversify its revenues up to 1 billion dollars and had a prominent role in the fight for gender equity in tennis. Allaster succeeded Larry Scott, who also spent six years in office.

What is the WTA structure ?

The WTA is run by a Board of Directors. There eight members, as follows :

• The chairman and CEO (Steve Simon) ;
• An International Tennis Federation representative (David Haggerty) ;
• 3 players representatives (Iva Majoli, Michael Segal, Vanessa Webb) ;
• 3 tournaments representatives (Adam Barrett for Americas, Peter-Michael Reichel for Europe, Alastair Garland for Asia).

Three alternates have been named : Gavin Ziv for tournaments, Dianne Hayes for players and Kris Dent for the ITF.

The players representatives are chosen by the Players’ Council. There are eight players elected according to ATP rankings criterias :

• 4 from the Top 20 (Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Johanna Konta) ;
• 1 from the 21-50 range (Donna Vekic) ;
• 1 from the 51-100 range (Aleksandra Krunic) ;
• 1 beyond the 20th place (Gabriela Dabrowski) ;
• 1 beyond the 100th place (Kristie Ahn).

The tournaments representatives on the Board of Directiors, one by major region (Europe, Americas, Asia-Pacific), are elected by the Tournaments’ Council. Its nine members are divided as follows :

• 3 for Asia-Pacific (Charles Hsiung, Cameron Pearson, Victor Ruiz) ;
• 3 for Europe (Stephen Farrow, Markus Guenthardt, Gerard Tsobanian) ;
• 3 for Americas (Eugene Lapierre, Bob Moran, Gavin Ziv).

How does the WTA deal with the Covid-19 crisis ?

The WTA was quicker to react than the ATP by issuing a statement as soon as March 16, just one week after Indian Wells’ postponement. First, the WTA suspended its tour until May 2. She then published two joint statements with the ATP to extend suspension to June 7, and to July 13, after Wimbledon’s cancellation. The WTA was not consulted in French Open’s postponement from May-June to September-October. WTA CEO Steve Simon has been relatively quiet since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.

• Read also :   ATP: Role, chairman, structure, all you need to know about the governing body of men’s tennis

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Women's Tennis Association

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The WTA logo

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 can trace its origins back to Houston with the inaugural Virginia Slims tournament, arranged by Gladys Heldman , and held on 23 September 1970. Rosie Casals won this first event. The WTA's corporate headquarters is in St. Petersburg. The European headquarters is in London, and the Asia-Pacific headquarters is in Beijing.

• 2 Growth milestones
• 3 Management
• 4 Tournament categories
• 5 Players’ Council
• 6 Ranking method
• 7 WTA Rankings
• 8 Global Advisory Council members
• 10 External links

History [ ]

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 who 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.

There were also two professional circuits in existence at the start of the Open Era: World Championship Tennis (WCT), which was men only, and the National Tennis League (NTL). Ann Jones , Rosie Casals , Francoise Durr , and Billie Jean King joined NTL. King was paid $40,000 a year, Jones was paid $25,000, and Casals and Durr were paid $20,000 each. The group played established tournaments such as the US Open and Wimbledon. But the group also organised their own tournaments playing in the south of France for two months. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) then imposed several sanctions on the Group. The women were not allowed to play in the Wightman Cup in 1968 and 1969. The USTLA refused to include Casals and King in their rankings for these years.

By the 1970s the pay, which had been 2.5:1 ratio between men and women, increased. As King states “Promoters were making more money. Male tennis players were making more money. Everybody was making more money except the women.” In 1969, ratios of 5:1 in terms of pay between men and women were common at smaller tournaments. By 1970 these figures ballooned to 8:1 and even 12:1.

In 1970 Margaret Court won the Grand Slam and received only a $15,000 bonus, whereas the men could achieve up to $1 million. The low point in the women’s pay suffering came before the US Open in 1970. The Pacific Southwest Championships directed by Jack Kramer , had announced a 12:1 ratio in the prize money difference between what males and females would win. The tournament would not take place until after the US Open. Several female players contacted Gladys Heldman , publisher of World Tennis Magazine , and stated that they wanted to boycott the event. While she advised against it, she then created the 1970 Houston Women's Invitation for nine women players.

The Original Nine women from the Houston event, along with Heldman, then created their own tour, the Virginia Slims Circuit , which would later absorb the ILTF's Women's Grand Prix circuit, and eventually become the WTA Tour. The circuit was composed of 19 tournaments, all based in the United States (one in Puerto Rico).

Formation of the Virginia Slims Circuit resulted in part from changes that tennis was undergoing at the time and from the way prize moneys were distributed. During the first two years of the Open Era a large number of male players began playing professionally, and the tournaments in which they competed, often men's and women's combined events, attracted increased investment. The International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) began dropping several women's competitions from the tournaments it presided over. For example, in 1970, the ILTF sanctioned 15 men-only tournaments, all of which had previously been combined events.

The WTA was founded at a meeting organized by Billie Jean King, a week before the 1973 Wimbledon Championships . This meeting, held at Gloucester Hotel in London. In 1975, the WTA increased its financial stature by signing a television broadcast contract with CBS , the first in the WTA's history. Further financial developments ensued. In 1976, Colgate assumed sponsorship of the circuit from April to November. In 1979, Avon replaced Virginia Slims as the sponsor of the winter circuit, and in its first year offered the largest prize fund for a single tournament, $100,000 for the Avon Championships , in the WTA tennis history.

Growth milestones [ ]

The WTA circuit continued to expand during these years. In 1971, King became the first female athlete to surpass $100,000 in earnings for a single year. Chris Evert became the female athlete to win over $1,000,000 in career earnings in 1976. By 1980, over 250 women were playing professionally, and the circuit consisted of 47 global events, offering a total of $7.2 million in prize money. These increased financial opportunities allowed for groundbreaking developments not only in tennis, but across women's sports.

In 1982, Martina Navratilova became the first to win over $1,000,000 in a single year. Navratilova's single year earnings exceeded $2 million in 1984. In 1997, Martina Hingis became the first to earn over $3 million during a single year. In 2003, Kim Clijsters surpassed $4 million in earnings for a single year. In 2006, Venus Williams and the WTA pushed for equal prize money at both the French Open and Wimbledon . Both of these Grand Slam events relented in 2007 and awarded equal money for the first time. This enabled Justine Henin , who won the French Open in 2007, to earn over $5 million that year, becoming the first woman in sports to do this. In 2009, Serena Williams went over the six million mark by earning a over $6.5 million in a single year. Then in 2012 both Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka became first players to exceed $7 million in prize money in a single season.

Management [ ]

Larry Scott became Chairman and CEO of the WTA on April 16, 2003. While at the WTA, Scott put together the largest sponsorship in the history of women's sports, a six-year, $88-million sponsorship deal with Sony Ericsson . On March 24, 2009, Scott announced that he was resigning as WTA chief in order to take up a new position as the Commissioner of the Pacific-10 Conference, now the Pacific-12 Conference , on July 1, 2009. On July 13, 2009, WTA Tour announced the appointment of Stacey Allaster, the Tour's President since 2006, as the new Chairman and CEO of the WTA.

Tournament categories [ ]

• The current tournament structure was introduced in 2009 . Premier Tournaments replaced the previous Tier I and Tier II events, and International Tournaments replaced Tier III and IV events.
• Grand Slam tournaments (4)
• Year-ending championships ( WTA Tour Championships )
• Premier Mandatory: Four combined tournaments with male professional players, with U.S.$4.5 million in equal prize money for men and women. These tournaments are being held in Indian Wells , Miami , Madrid , and Beijing .
• Premier Five: Five $2 million events in Dubai , Rome , Cincinnati , Toronto / Montreal , and Tokyo
• Premier: Ten events with prize money from U.S.$600,000 to U.S.$1 million.
• International tournaments : There are 31 tournaments, with a prize money for every event at U.S.$220,000, except for the year-ending Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions , originally held in Bali but now in Sofia, which has prize money of U.S.$600,000.
• Challenger tournaments (since 2012): There are 3 tournaments, with prize money for every event at U.S. $125,000.

Ranking points are also available at tournaments on the ITF Women's Circuit organised by the International Tennis Federation , which comprises several hundred tournaments each year with prize funds ranging from U.S. $10,000 to U.S. $100,000, and at the Olympic Games .

Players’ Council [ ]

2011 Players’ Council

• Francesca Schiavone
• Serena Williams
• Venus Williams
• Caroline Wozniacki
• Lucie Šafářová
• Akgul Amanmuradova
• Bethanie Mattek-Sands

Ranking method [ ]

"+H" indicates that Hospitality is provided.

WTA Rankings [ ]

These lists are based on the WTA Rankings.

Global Advisory Council members [ ]

The Global Advisory Council of international business leaders has sixteen members Template:As of .

• Darcy Antonellis , President, Technical Operations Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
• Sir Richard Branson , Chairman & Founder, Virgin Group, Ltd.
• Karen Elliott House , Former Publisher, Wall Street Journal
• Scott Mead , President & Founder Partner, Richmond Park Partners
• Kimberly A. Williams, Chief Operating Officer, NFL Network, National Football League
• Jan Soderstrom, Chief Marketing Officer, SunPower Corporation
• Wick Simmons, Former Chairman, International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Arnon Milchan , Owner & Founder, Regency Enterprises
• Edward H. Meyer, President & Founding Partner, Ocean Road Advisors
• Jay Lorsch, Louis E. Kirstein Professor, Human Relations, Harvard Business School
• Billie Jean King , Co-Founder, World TeamTennis, Founder, WTA Tour
• Claude de Jouvencel, Member, Supervisory Council of Groupe Marnier-Lapostolle (Grand Marnier), Chairman, Wine & Spirits Association of France (FEVS)
• Bessie Lee, Chief Executive Officer, GroupM China
• Winston Lord , Chairman Emeritus, International Rescue Committee, Former US Ambassador to China
• William Pfeiffer , CEO & Founder, Dragongate Entertainment
• Bruce Rockowitz, Group President & CEO, Li & Fung Limited

See also [ ]

• Virginia Slims Circuit
• WTA Challenger Series
• Association of Tennis Professionals
• ATP World Tour records
• Tennis statistics
• Toyota Championships
• WTA Tour Championships
• WTA Tour records

External links [ ]

• The official WTA Tour web site
• WTA tour schedule
• The official WTA Tour Twitter page
• The official WTA Tour Facebook page
• The official WTA Tour YouTube page

Template:WTA Premier tournaments Template:WTA International tournaments Template:WTA Challenger tournaments Template:Navboxes

Template:Top ten tennis players Template:Tennis box

• ↑ Template:Citation/core
• 1 Maria Sharapova
• 2 Grips (grasp)
• 3 Grand Slam

WTA Rebrands

By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, December 2, 2020

The WTA launched a rebranding campaign including a new logo and revamped tournament categories that mirror the ATP as it aims to rise from a rocky 2020. Photo credit: WTA Tour

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WTA Unveils New Brand Identity and Logo

The move also includes a new naming convention for the tour’s tournaments.

The Women’s Tennis Association has announced a new corporate identity, rebrand and logo, along with new naming conventions for its events to provide more unity with the ATP Tour. As part of the launch, the WTA also revealed a new “WTA For the Game” campaign aimed at creating a deeper fan connection.

The move marks the tour’s first logo redesign in 10 years. The new brand identity and logo were developed for the WTA by design agency Landor Australia and will be integrated into all the tour’s assets, including television graphics, print materials, tournament branding, advertising, promotion and digital and social media.

The new logo includes a rework of the letters W, T and A – with a tennis ball functioning as the crossbar of the A – and marks a return to a silhouette of a female tennis player. The serve action pictured in the logo was given prominence for its literal and figurative significance as the only shot in tennis where the player has absolute control and where the point begins. It also represents the initiative taken by the WTA’s early founders who took control of their destiny when Billie Jean King rallied like-minded players in 1973 to form their own association.

“The WTA is built on the grit, passion and determination of generations of athletes and tournament promoters,” said Micky Lawler , president of the WTA and head of marketing initiatives. “Our new logo embraces the visual language of tennis ad celebrates heroic women who come together ‘For The Game.’ We will wear it as a badge of pride and a reminder of the power of unity among strong individuals – by joining forces, we build something bigger than ourselves.”

As part of the rebrand, the WTA also worked with the ATP to create consistency and alignment across professional tennis by forming a new nomenclature for events. Starting in 2021, both tours will share the same tournament tier and naming system at events. WTA events will be categorized as WTA 1000 (incorporating the former Premier Mandatory and Premier 5 tournaments); WTA 500 (formerly Premier 700); WTA 250 (International); and WTA 125 (125K Series).

“Fans really respond to the unified approach which tennis is uniquely able to provide,” said Lawler. “We see it with ticket sales at combined women’s and men’s tournaments, viewership on shared broadcast platforms and the popularity of the ‘Tennis United’ digital content series co-created by the WTA and ATP amidst the challenges of 2020. Adopting this streamlined tournament naming system is 100 percent about making it easier for WTA fans, corporate partners and the media to engage and follow our sport.”

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Former U.S. Open Champion Sloane Stephens Wins First WTA Title Since 2022

• Author: Madison Williams

American tennis star Sloane Stephens won her first WTA title since the 2022 season on Sunday at the Open de Rouen in France.

Stephens, whose stardom rose when she won the 2017 U.S. Open title, beat Poland's Magda Linette in three sets, 6–1, 2–6, 6–2, in just two hours and 10 minutes during the final on Sunday.

The last tournament Stephens brought home a winner's trophy from was Mexico's Abierto Akron Zapopan in Feb. 2022. The Open de Rouen win is her fifth WTA 250 title, but the eighth professional tennis title in her career. At 31 years old, Stephens made her mark back in the winner's circle. Sunday's win also was her first title victory on clay since 2016's Volvo Car Open in Charleston, S.C.

Back in the winner’s circle 💫⁰⁰ @SloaneStephens wins her first WTA title since 2022, defeating Linette 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 in Rouen! #OpenRouen pic.twitter.com/nn6velaU0S — Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) April 21, 2024

Stephens showed off a huge smile after shaking hands with her opponent. It was clear to see how happy she was to add another title to her list of tennis achievements.

Stephens will likely play in a couple tournaments before competing in the 2024 French Open, which begins May 20 in Paris.

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Iga Swiatek makes stunning prize money breakthrough as she closes in on two legends

Iga Swiatek sealed the year-end world No 1 ranking as she claimed the WTA Finals title in Cancun on Monday, with the huge pay cheque that came with her triumph allowing her to make a big leap on the all-time prize money chart.

Swiatek’s victory sealed a sixth WTA title of the year for Swiatek, who also won her third French Open, while Pegula will end a year that saw her reach two grand slam quarter-finals ranked fifth.

It concluded a troubled tournament which drew criticism from the eight leading women players for its problematic build-up, with the temporary venue only completed with one day to spare.

The $3,078,000 prize cheque handed to the Polish star was the biggest payday of her career so far and it has propelled Swiatek into the top 20 of the all-time prize money winners in women’s tennis.

The list is led by 23-time Grand Slam title-winning legend Serena Williams, who won a eye-watering $94,816,730 during her record-breaking career.

Her sister Venus Williams is next on the all-time list with $42,595,397, with the list dominated by players from the modern era, as prized money has multiplied substantially in recent years.

Simona Halep, who is currently appealing a four-year doping ban, is third in the all-time prize money list with $40,203,437 and Maria Sharapova is fourth with $38,777,962.

Swiatek is still some way off those numbers, but she will not take long to leap up the ladder if she continues to win consistently over the next few years.

READ MORE:   2023 WTA Tour: Every singles title winner as Iga Swiatek finishes as the leader with Coco Gauff second

Her win in Mexico has seen her break into the top 20 of the all-time prize money list, moving ahead of Naomi Osaka ahead of the Japanese player’s return to action in 2024.

Just ahead of those two modern greats are Martina Navratilova on $21,626,089 and German legend Steffi Graf, who won $21,895,277 during her decorated career.

Those figures would be dramatically inflated if Navratilova and Graf were competing for the prize money that is available now, as they both enjoyed periods of dominance that have rarely been seen in any sport.

Swiatek has always insisted money is not her chief driving force, as she admitted at the end of 2022 that titles on the court mean more.

“Money isn’t my motivation but the tricky thing is I earned it really on court and other players earned it mostly from endorsements so there’s a difference,” she said.

“I’m pretty happy that my life changed so much that I can compete at the highest level and earn so much money from it because this is also something that is really helping us appreciate the sport we have.”

Prize money in the women’s game has been a big talking point over the course of this year, but the final tally for the season confirms the game’s top players have reaped the rewards of their success:

WTA PRIZE MONEY LEADERS IN 2023

• Aryna Sabalenka ($ 7,554,653)
• Iga Swiatek ($ 6,779,686)
• Coco Gauff ($ 5,976,622)
• Elena Rybakina ($ 5,097,437)
• Jesica Pegula ($ 4,320,890)
• Marteka Vondusova ($ 4,275,278)
• Karolina Muchova ($ 2,804,438)
• Ons Jabuer ($ 2,798,564)
• Petra Kvitova ($ 2,488,381)
• Maria Sakkari ($ 2,407,413)

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Puzzling out Moscow for visitors under 30

Navigation games on the streets and conversation clubs in hostels are all part of the fun of figuring out Moscow when you’re young at heart. Source: Press Photo.

Hugging strangers, reciting poetry and looking for bird-shaped graffiti is not usually part of a city tour—but Moscow Game Tour is no ordinary company.

Nikita Bogdanov, 25, founder of the company, says: “It’s not a regular tour, it’s a quest. You interact with Russian people, and you gain more experience.”

Moscow Game Tour is one of a new breed of innovative tours run by and for young people. They are either low-cost or free, and prioritise interacting with locals over traditional sightseeing.

Mr Bogdanov started Moscow Game Tour in 2009 to encourage visitors to explore areas outside the city centre. In the tour, which costs 700 roubles (about $22), participants are “players” and complete challenges that lead them to clues in the shape of a matryoshka doll.

Discovering fairy-tale Moscow

Strolling around the Kremlin

Discovering a glorious corner of paradise

Many tasks involve asking passers-by for directions or trying a Russian phrase. Along the way, players discover interesting features such as a monastery canteen, or a Socialist Realist statue.

Some clues are easier to locate than others. “There was one spot that we absolutely could not find,” says Vera Baranova, 25, who took part in a quest at Tsaritsyno Park in south-east Moscow. “When we asked someone, it turned out that we were actually right on top of it.”

Mr Bogdanov also operates the Moscow Free Tour, which provides an overview of major sites between Kitai Gorod and the Kremlin free of charge. In peak season, this more traditional outing attracts between a dozen and 40 people every day; the Game Tour runs only once or twice a week and usually attracts between five and 10 participants. Convincing visitors to sign up for an unconventional tour can be a challenge. “The Free Tour is more popular because it’s more easily understandable,” Mr Bogdanov says. “For the Game Tour, you need to explain to people what it is.”

Business has picked up as Mr Bogdanov has formed relationships with hotels, major tour agencies including TUI and companies such as Google. This year, he also began receiving support from Moscow’s Committee for Tourism and the Hotel Industry, which has launched a programme called “Moscow Fresh” to support creative tourism.

Moscow Game Tour is one of a new breed of innovative tours run by and for young people. Source: Press Photo.

In addition to the Free Tour and Game Tour, Mr Bogdanov’s company offers daily paid-for tours with a variety of themes. The retro Communist Tour visits central Soviet landmarks, including the Lubyanka (former headquarters of the KGB); the Gulag Museum; a Soviet-style canteen and Eliseevsky, a regal shop on Tverskaya Street considered the grandest store in the Soviet Union (which these days sells imported French yoghurt and other modern luxuries).

Visitors can also venture below ground on the Metro Tour.  The latter stops at some of the most ornate stations in Moscow’s beloved Stalinist metro system, such as the mosaic-adorned Komsomolskaya. In an attempt to supply visitors with information beyond the average pocket guide, the tour recounts little-known facts about the metro, such as how many babies have been born on it.

Alexei Sotskov, 30, was inspired to start Moscow Greeter , a local franchise of the international Greeter network, after giving informal tours to friends. “I have a lot of friends in foreign countries, and when they come to Moscow I show them interesting places. So I thought it would be a great idea to start running a tourist service,” he says.

The greeters are mostly students learning English who take visitors to lesser-known sights, such as the former royal estate Kolomenskoye, as well as exhibitions and sporting events. The greeters not only show the tourists around but they also chat to them. “Greeters talk about their lives, their parents, where they’re from in Moscow, and where they study,” says Mr Sotskov. 

“Traditional guides just give people information they read in a book.”

Valentina Lebedeva, a second-year linguistics student, has been a greeter for two months. “When most people come to Moscow, they visit the Kremlin and everything, but they go back and they still don’t really get how people really live here,” she says.

“Greeters offers tourists a good way to get a real impression of Russia, so that you don’t just visit the usual tourist sights.”

Another unconventional tour company, Lovely Russia , also strives to provide a more engaging experience for tourists. “A lot of the tours I saw being run by tour providers were really boring, just buses with large crowds of 60 year-olds,” says the company’s co-founder Anna Shegurova, 25. “There was not a lot for a younger crowd, a more off-the-beaten-path kind of thing.” Lovely Russia offers a variety of $22 tours in English. Locations include metro stations, Constructivist landmarks and a “Moscow as it is” outing that winds through the city’s side streets. At the end of the tour, guides suggest places where participants can enjoy a beer.

Ms Shegurova says the guides try to show visitors “a different side of Russia”.

“It’s a great city with a really long and interesting history… but you wouldn’t really know unless you have someone with you who’s able to share this history and make it interesting,” she says.

For visitors without a guide, getting around Moscow can still be a challenge. Over the past year,  some English-language signs indicating the locations of historical sights have been put up, but metro and street signs remain in Cyrillic.

Mila, volunteer for 'wow local'

“Coming here, it’s very hard to get orientated,” says Irina Tripapina, 25, the organiser of WowLocal . “We decided to compensate for the lack of information in English by establishing a community of volunteers who are willing to help visitors find their way.” After passing language and navigation tests, WowLocal volunteers are given T-shirts and badges emblazoned with the phrase “Ask Me, I’m Local.” 

“Tourists can meet WowLocal at any part of the city and at any time – even at night in Butovo,” says Ms Tripapina, referring to the suburb south of Moscow.

Since the project started in July, Ms Tripapina says it has recruited about 400 volunteers. She wears her badge every day on her way to work, and says she’s frequently stopped by foreigners asking for directions (as well as Russians looking for the metro).

Occasionally, she fields some more unusual requests: “Once, a guy from Britain asked me where to get a bowl of pelmeni,” she says.

WowLocal also brings together local people and tourists through city navigation games and conversation clubs at hostels. “We bring volunteers together with the travellers, so that they can share with each other,” explains Ms Tripapina.

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Tennis’ Grand Slams premium tour plan: More money, equal pay, fewer tournaments

After months of playing shots off the back foot, the four Grand Slam tournaments have gone on the offensive in the battle for the future of tennis . 

In meetings with representatives of the men’s ATP and women’s WTA tours last week in London, and with players and agents this week in Madrid, leaders of the Grand Slams have presented their strongest plan yet to reform the current structure of professional tennis . It consists of a premium tour anchored in the four Grand Slams and more top-level combined events, featuring the best players from the ATP and WTA circuits.

According to a person briefed on the proposal from the Grand Slams and the ensuing meetings, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect relationships, the details include the following:

• Doubling the prize money for the top 300 men.
• ⁠Almost quadrupling the prize money for the top 300 women.
• Using a portion of their own media rights to finance these changes.
• Equal pay , from inception, for men and women at all the events on the premium tour, instead of making women wait until 2027 to receive the same pay as men at some of the biggest tournaments.
• A schedule that includes the four Grand Slams, plus 10 other mixed top-level tournaments, with locations and dates to be determined, and a team event.
• The tour would end in time to allow for an off-season of six to eight weeks.

The plan would capitalize on the lucrative media rights of the Australian, French and U.S. Opens, alongside Wimbledon, and those of the other top Masters tournaments, to create a premium tour — various versions of which have been at the core of their previous proposals, but with little meat on the bones beyond that. ESPN’s 11-year-deal for the U.S. Open is worth almost $800 million (£647.7m), and it is estimated that media rights account for over half of the annual revenue for the All England Tennis Club, which stages Wimbledon, year in, year out.

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The Slams say the plans will vastly increase pay for men and women more quickly than the ATP and WTA can achieve, focus the season around 15 events in a premium tour and extend an off-season that has shrunk to just a few weeks for the top players.

Leaders of the Grand Slams and the tours were not immediately available for comment. 

How to fix tennis

Leaders of the ATP and the WTA, who have long viewed the collective plan from Wimbledon and the U.S., French and Australian Opens as a threat to their relevance and perhaps their existence, are not enthusiastic about this latest idea, according to the person briefed on the plan and the meetings.

Discussions between the tours and the Grand Slams have become less fraught in recent weeks, according to reporting from the BBC . While one official recently described “productive discussions” among the parties of late, this latest move could jeopardize any hint of detente that may have started to develop in the past few months.

It shows that even as the tours moved to firm up their control of the sport, the Grand Slams continued to work toward wresting it from them, something they have been pushing for since last summer.

The leaders of the two tours have long sought guarantees that they will have significant roles in governing the sport, and this iteration of a premium tour would relegate most of their tournaments to a lesser status which top players would have much less incentive to participate in. 

Now, the tours’ lack of enthusiasm might be moot, because by bringing the players into the discussion for the first time, the Grand Slams are playing a significant card.

It is their strongest move yet to curry favor with the people who have proven time and again to hold the most power in tennis — the stars of the sport, who attract the fans to buy tickets and to watch the matches at home.

They are now promising to give those players many of the things they have been seeking for years, including accelerating the closing of the gap in prize money that endures at several mixed 1000-level events and, overall, including greater financial rewards for a less demanding schedule than the current 11-month slog that incentivizes players to risk their health and wellbeing by playing in as many tournaments as possible.

The Grand Slams’ leaders have pushed for months to use existing 250 and 500-level tournaments to create a qualifying tour for players outside roughly the top 100. Top players could potentially participate in those events but not earn rankings points from them.

Most importantly, to help finance this premium tour, the Grand Slams have committed for the first time to include a portion of their media and sponsorship rights, which are the most expensive in the sport and that they have long kept largely for themselves.

For months, the Grand Slams had held back on such a commitment as they negotiated among themselves about how much of their resources they wanted to invest in an effort that would make them major financial partners in the future of the professional level of tennis, rather than independent entities that hold annual competitions — even if they are the sport’s biggest annual competitions of all.

However, during the past year, the tours have made a series of moves that the Grand Slams have viewed as a threat to their primacy, including potentially disrupting a schedule that climaxes four times a year with the Grand Slams.

Leaders of the organizations that control the Grand Slams have decided that the only way to ensure that they maintain their strength is through further investment in the overall management of the sport.

In meetings, and in a presentation at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, in March, top tennis leaders were still waiting for a premium tour plan that the Grand Slams had purportedly been fleshing out for months — to the extent that the proposed presentation had slipped from last November, at the ATP Finals in the Italian city of Turin. Four months later, no framework for the integration of media rights and other commercial partnerships was in place.

Now, another month on, the Slams have made their move.

The latest move comes after Andrea Gaudenzi, the leader of the ATP, pushed for the tours to invest in a plan that would bring in roughly $1billion of investment in tennis from Saudi Arabia . Most of that money would come from the sale of a new tournament, a 10th Masters 1000 event. 

A bid process for the event is ongoing, also involving Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, fellow Gulf state Qatar’s capital Doha and Australia, with most people involved in the process expecting the Saudis to prevail, adding the tournament to its three-year deals for the season-ending WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, in November, and for the Next Gen Finals the following month.

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While a portion of the infusion of cash from Saudi Arabia would eventually filter down to the players, it comes with costs to the schedule that players already say is far too long, including adding another top-level, mandatory tournament, possibly at the very start of the calendar after the already-shrunken off-season. It’s also not yet clear what opportunities for additional growth would be available after the money from the additional tournament is spent.

The Grand Slams are operating on the principle that, in contrast, a premium tour that can pool its media rights and sell them as a singular, elite, exclusive package to sponsors and media companies — in the fashion of Formula 1 — could bring to the market the kind of focused tennis product that the fractured sport has been trying in vain to come up with for decades. 

The battle moves on.

(Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP)

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Matthew Futterman is an award-winning veteran sports journalist and the author of two books, “Running to the Edge: A Band of Misfits and the Guru Who Unlocked the Secrets of Speed” and “Players: How Sports Became a Business.”Before coming to The Athletic in 2023, he worked for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Star-Ledger of New Jersey and The Philadelphia Inquirer. He is currently writing a book about tennis, "The Cruelest Game: Agony, Ecstasy and Near Death Experiences on the Pro Tennis Tour," to be published by Doubleday in 2026. Follow Matthew on Twitter @ mattfutterman

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Dickey Betts, Allman Brothers Band co-founder and legendary guitarist, dies at 80

Updated on: April 18, 2024 / 8:38 PM EDT / AP

Guitar legend Dickey Betts, who co-founded the Allman Brothers Band and wrote their biggest hit, "Ramblin' Man," has died. He was 80.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer died at his home in Osprey, Florida, David Spero, Betts' manager of 20 years, confirmed. Betts had been battling cancer for more than a year and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Spero said.

"He was surrounded by his whole family and he passed peacefully. They didn't think he was in any pain," Spero said by phone.

Betts shared lead guitar duties with Duane Allman in the original Allman Brothers Band to help give the group its distinctive sound and create a new genre — Southern rock. Acts ranging from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Kid Rock were influenced by the Allmans' music, which combined the blues, country, R&B and jazz with '60s rock.

Founded in 1969, the Allmans were a pioneering jam band, trampling the traditional notion of three-minute pop songs by performing lengthy compositions in concert and on record. The band was also notable as a biracial group from the Deep South.

Duane Allman died in a motorcycle accident in 1971, and founding member Berry Oakley was killed in a motorcycle crash a year later. That left Betts and Allman's younger brother Gregg as the band's leaders, but they frequently clashed, and substance abuse caused further dysfunction. The band broke up at least twice before reforming, and has had more than a dozen lineups.

The Allman Brothers Band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and earned a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 2012. Betts left the group for good in 2000, and also played solo and with his own band Great Southern, which included his son, guitarist Duane Betts.

Forrest Richard Betts was born Dec. 12, 1943, and was raised in the Bradenton, Florida, area, near the highway 41 he sang about in "Ramblin' Man." His family had lived in area since the mid-19th century.

Betts grew up listening to country, bluegrass and Western swing, and played the ukulele and banjo before focusing on the electric guitar because it impressed girls. At 16 he left home for his first road trip, joining the circus to play in a band.

He returned home, and with bassist Oakley joined a group that became the Jacksonville, Florida-based band Second Coming. One night in 1969 Betts and Oakley jammed with Duane Allman, already a successful session musician, and his younger brother, and together they formed the Allman Brothers Band.

The group moved to Macon, Georgia, and released a self-titled debut album in 1969. A year later came the album "Idlewild South," highlighted by Betts' instrumental composition "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed," which soon became a concert staple.

The 1971 double album "At Fillmore East," now considered among the greatest live albums of the classic rock era, was the Allmans' commercial breakthrough and cemented their performing reputation by showcasing the unique guitar interplay between Allman and Betts. Their styles contrasted, with Allman playing bluesy slide guitar, while Betts' solos and singing tugged the band toward country. When layered in harmony, their playing was especially distinctive.

The group also had two drummers — "Jaimoe" Johanson, who is Black, and Butch Trucks.

Duane Allman died four days after "Fillmore" was certified as a gold record, but the band carried on and crowds continued to grow. The 1973 album "Brothers and Sisters" rose to No. 1 on the charts and featured "Ramblin' Man," with Betts singing the lead and bringing twang to the Top 40. The song reached No. 2 on the singles charts and was kept out of the No. 1 spot by "Half Breed" by Cher, who later married Gregg Allman.

The soaring sound of Betts' guitar on "Ramblin' Man" reverberated in neighborhood bars around the country for decades, and the song underscored his knack for melodic hooks. "Ramblin' Man" was the Allmans' only Top Ten hit, but Betts' catchy 7½-minute instrumental composition "Jessica," recorded in 1972, became an FM radio staple.

Betts also wrote or co-wrote some of the band's other best-loved songs, including "Blue Sky" and "Southbound." In later years the group remained a successful touring act with Betts and Warren Haynes on guitar. Gregg Allman and Butch Trucks died in 2017.

After leaving the Allmans for good, Betts continued to play with his own group and lived in the Bradenton area with his wife, Donna.

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By the numbers: Gauff wins 6-0, 6-0 in Madrid second round

2024 Madrid

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American Coco Gauff needed just 51 minutes to win her opening match at the Mutua Madrid Open on Thursday, as she didn't lose a game in a 6-0, 6-0 victory against Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands. 

The win marks the first Hologic WTA Tour-level main-draw victory of Gauff's career in which she did not lose a game. She previously lost just one game in a tour-level main-draw match four times in her career, and last year, she did that twice -- against Ons Jabeur at the WTA Finals and Yulia Putintseva in Rome.

"I played really well today. She's a great, tough opponent, especially on clay, but it was just one of those days for me," Gauff said afterwards. "Oh-and-oh, I've never done that before, I'll probably never do it again.

"I knew how she was going to play. I know she grinds, puts a lot of balls in court, and likes to play heavy -- but I just felt like those are things that I can do well too. I felt like I could step in more, and having that match against Brenda [Fruhvirtova, Rus' first-round opponent] to scout her kind of helped."

Read on for more notable numbers from Gauff's milestone victory. 

18 : Gauff lost just 18 points in the 12 games of the match: eight in the first set, and 10 in the second set. But Gauff only won three of the 12 games at love, including the match's final game. 

3 : The 20-year-old is the third player to score a 6-0, 6-0 main-draw win at the Mutua Madrid Open: Victoria Azarenka beat Vera Dushevina by such a score in 2011, and Simona Halep won against Viktoria Hruncakova in 2019. 

She's also the third player to win a 6-0, 6-0 match in any tour-level main-draw match in 2024. Aryna Sabalenka recorded the scoreline against Lesia Tsurenko in the third round of the Australian Open, and Renata Zarazua defeated wild card Mariana Isabel Higuita Barraza in the opening round in Bogota.

Moving 🔛 @CocoGauff | #MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/3kt79u4aQ3 — wta (@WTA) April 25, 2024

4 : The American saved all four break points she faced in the match, all of which came in the second game of the second set. That game went to deuce three times before Gauff won it. 

6 : Conversely, Gauff converted six of the seven break point chances she created for herself.

72 : Even though Rus landed 72% of her first serves in the match, Gauff won 75% of the points played in Rus' service games. 

10 : Rus, 33, has now lost her last 10 matches against Top 10 opponents. She owns a career-record of 2-13 against such players, with her last win against that caliber of opposition coming against Samantha Stosur at Wimbledon in 2012.

14 : In the 12 games, Gauff hit 14 winners to 10 unforced errors. On the other side, Rus hit just two winners to go along with 15 unforced errors. 

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In Conversation: Paula Badosa goes deep on the uncertainty of her career

Paula Badosa reveals the tough news she received from doctors after she was forced to withdraw from Indian Wells due to her ongoing back issue. Despite the strain and pain, both physical and mental, the former World No.2 isn't ready to give up just yet.

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