Madison lifts Cup

Warragul North Primary School student Madison Ashley formed part of the winning Central Gippsland team at the Judy Dalton Tennis Cup held in Mornington recently.

Madison, 12, formed part of a team of four girls to compete against regions including Barwon, Mornington Peninsula, Central Highlands, Goulburn Valley.

After eight rounds of singles and doubles, the Central Gippsland team won overall to take out the regional state championship.

Judy Dalton spoke to all teams about the difficulties of being a women’s tennis player. She was one of the nine female players who fought for equality for women competitors.

Fed up with the lack of prizemoney and support they received in comparison to their male counterparts, the group of nine broke away from the tennis establishment to form their own tour.

They signed symbolic $1 contracts with World Tennis Magazine founder Gladys Heldman to compete on the newly-created Virginia Slims Circuit, which debuted with a tournament in Houston and became known as the Original Nine.

It paved the way for women’s professional tennis, and later the founding of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in 1973.

The Original Nine’s vision was one in which women and girls could make a living playing competitive sport. That dream is now a reality for hundreds of women playing on the WTA Tour.

Dalton reached a career-high singles ranking of seven in 1968, where she finished runner up at Wimbledon, and excelled in the tandem game, winning major doubles titles.

She was inducted into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame in 2013.

Rubies defeat Opals

Rubies maintained second spot on the Warragul Thursday women’s tennis ladder with victory over Opals in round five.

Emeralds defeated Pearls in the other match to move closer to second position.

Diamonds, who have established a runaway lead at the top of the table, had the bye. Results: Emeralds 6/38 d Pearls 0/20, Rubies 4/32 d Opals 2/19, Diamonds bye.

Ladder: Diamonds 33, Rubies 22, Emeralds 19, Opals 14, Pearls 12.