She may be best remembered for her 1999 showing at the Australian Open. As an unseeded 19-year-old, Mauresmo made it to the finals of the tournament before losing to Martina Hingis. During the tournament she came out to the international media after being pestered with questions about whether she had a boyfriend and about the woman who was constantly by her side. In response she stated simply, “You can say she’s my girlfriend. You can write about her. I don’t want to hide Sylvie. I love her.” For that statement she will always have the love and respect of lesbians everywhere. - Lucy Hallowell
We totally just wrote about this Original 9 reunion last week.
Two out tennis legends, Billie Jean King and Rosie Casals, were honored last week alongside seven other women who changed tennis: Nancy Richey, Kerry Melville, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kristy Pigeon, Judy Dalton, Valerie Ziegenfuss and Julie Heldman. In 1970, two years before Title IX and three before King took on Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes,” the “Original 9” signed contracts, for one dollar, with the publisher of World Tennis magazine and agreed to start a series of women’s professional tennis tournaments. - Lucy Hallowell
