1972 ILTF Women's Tennis Circuit

The 1972 ILTF Women's Tennis Circuit was the 58th season since the founding of the International Lawn Tennis Association and was the final season to be solely administered by the ILTF.

It was composed of the 2nd annual Virginia Slims Circuit with 20 events, a tour of tennis tournaments for female tennis players, sponsored by Virginia Slims cigarettes, but approved by the ILTF and the 2nd annual ILTF Commercial Union Women's Grand Prix circuit with 13 events which included Roland Garros and Wimbledon,^[1][2] and sponsored by Commercial Union insurance company and the 58th annual ILTF World Circuit with 125 events.

The following season would see the formation of the Women's Tennis Association in which the ILTF would eventually have to share responsibility for administering the worldwide tour for women something at this time it was resisting to change.^[3] In 1973 the majority of the ILTF events remain under direct administration of that organisation and continues with and independent ILTF World Circuit that offered lower prize money and ranking points of the other two circuits.

The 1972 ILTF Women's Grand Prix Circuit.was a tennis circuit administered by the International Lawn Tennis Federation which served as a forerunner to the current Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour and the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour. The circuit consisted of two of the four modern Grand Slam tournaments including Roland Garros, Wimbledon and open tournaments recognised by the ILTF.^[4] That circuit ran from 27 March to 4 September. Evonne Goolagong won most events on this circuit with 5 titles.^[5]

Prior to the establishment of this circuit there was an inequality between the prize money purses for male and female tennis players which gave rise to complaints from a number of the leading female tennis players of the time. Nine of them, including Billie Jean King, became later known as the "Original 9" after being banned from the then existing multi-gender invitational professional events run by the influential United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) due to their boycotting of the Pacific Southwest Championships. This resulted in the first Virginia Slims-sponsored event being held in September 1970 in Houston, an event which laid the groundwork for the establishment of the annual Virginia Slims Circuit the following year. The 1972 Virginia Slims Circuit consisted on 22 tournaments including the U.S. Open the circuit began on 12 January and ended on 11 October and offered $587,775 in prize money.^[5] Billie Jean King won most events on this circuit with 7 titles of her 11 titles in total she played on all three circuits and won events across all three.^[5]

The 1972 ILTF World Circuit tournaments consisted of 125 events,^[6] including the Australian Open that were not part of the sponsored Virginia Slims and Commercial Union Grand Prix circuits. It began 27 December 1971 with the Eastern Province Championships in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and ended on 25 December 1972 with Border Championships, East London, South Africa This years singles title leader Evonne Goolagong won 5 tournaments on this circuit her total 12 tournament wins were across two circuits, this one and the Grand Prix.^[5]

This is an incomplete calendar of all events that formed the majority of the ILTF Circuit and the Commercial Union Assurance Company and Virginia Slims sponsored tennis circuits in the year 1972, with player progression documented from the quarterfinals stage. The table also includes the Grand Slam tournaments, the 1972 Virginia Slims Championships and the 1972 Federation Cup.^[1]

Key

These tables present the number of singles (S), doubles (D), and mixed doubles (X) titles won by each player and each nation during the 1972 Virginia Slims Circuit. They also include data for the Grand Slam tournaments and the year-end championships. The table is sorted by:

1. total number of titles (a doubles title won by two players representing the same nation counts as only one win for the nation);
2. highest amount of highest category tournaments (for example, having a single Grand Slam gives preference over any kind of combination without a Grand Slam title);
3. a singles > doubles > mixed doubles hierarchy;
4. alphabetical order (by family names for players).

Key

• 1972 World Championship Tennis circuit
• 1972 Grand Prix tennis circuit

• Women's Tennis Association (WTA) official website
• International Tennis Federation (ITF) official website