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Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Jefferson Award
Boston — Forty-three years after its creation, the Women’s Tennis Association still bills itself as “the global leader in women’s professional sport.”
This is no puffed-up claim. With close to $130 million in prize money available in 2016, women’s tennis continues to provide big paydays like no other women’s sport. See the $3.3 million that Flavia Pennetta earned for winning the 2015 United States Open. It also has produced a steady stream of truly global stars with staying power, from Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova in the W.T.A.’s early years to Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova, who may not play much longer.
But it is just as clear that the W.T.A. is on borrowed time when it comes to global leadership. Women’s soccer, a still-drowsy giant, continues to stir. It is a team game with fewer…
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