How Serena Williams’ $10 Million Season Reflects Her Legacy on and off the Court

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at Internationaled.org

Published: October 24, 2013

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Serena Williams recently became the first women's tennis player to break the $10 million single-season earnings mark.

More than a milestone, Williams' $10 million season says as much about her influence off the court as it does about her dominance in the game. 

Williams defeated Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-2, 6-4, on Wednesday at the WTA Championships in Istanbul. She is 2-0 in the tournament. If she goes undefeated she will eclipse the $12 million mark. She has already earned more than $51 million in prize money in her career, more than any woman in the history of sports. 

Although Williams often gets credit for changing the way the game is played, she is seldom recognized for changing how women get paid. 

Along with her sister Venus, Williams ushered in the era of equal price money. Of course Billie Jean King and the establishment of the WTA got the ball rolling. But Williams knocked it out of the park.  



Stacey Allaster, Chairman and CEO of the WTA, told the Telegraph that Williams was among leaders who fought for players, male and female, getting a larger share of the revenue at Grand Slams: "They started the debate that the players deserved fair compensation in the context of the revenues of the grand slams. Privately, the grand slams also engaged directly with us, and Serena was the leader in the room that day.”

In 2009, Williams reached $23 million in career prize money. That broke golfer Annika Sorenstam's record of most prize money earned by a female athlete. When Williams learned of the record, she remembered her first professional earnings, a paltry $240 for an event in Canada. She told ESPN "It's amazing how much women's tennis has grown since I joined the tour 14 years ago...I am very proud to have reached this milestone for me, my family and all women athletes out there."

The average ATP player still earns more ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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