Tennis Channel’s year-long celebration of the WTA Tour’s 50th anniversary, brought to you by Intuit Quickbooks, continues with Chapter 9: Wide Range of Styles (Watch our feature video above.)

• For Chapter 1: Thank You, Gladys, CLICK HERE
• For Chapter 2: Red Hot Women’s Tennis, CLICK HERE
• For Chapter 3: Chrissie & Martina, CLICK HERE
• For Chapter 4: Steffi & Monica, CLICK HERE
• For Chapter 5: Venus & Serena, CLICK HERE
• For Chapter 6: Teenage Dream, CLICK HERE
• For Chapter 7, The Future is Now, CLICK HERE
• For Chapter 8, Global Reach, CLICK HERE
• For Chapter 9, Wide Range of Styles, CLICK HERE

It was late one evening in the California desert. The setting was the Ritz Carlton Hotel, site of a recently concluded charity fundraiser that combined tennis and entertainment. A Wilson Sporting Goods representative took in all that he’d seen. The event had been staged by a Hall of Fame athlete who’d long been a Madison Avenue darling. He’d corralled many others to participate, from Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Emmy nominees to tennis stars Rod Laver and Chrissie Evert.

Amid so much glitz and glamor, the man from Wilson pondered Evert. “Chris Evert?” he asked. “Chris Evert? Let me tell you something about Chris Evert. She doesn’t just sell tennis racquets. She sells volleyballs.” He went on to explain Evert’s lure and, most of all, her everlasting presence as an authentic and charismatic global icon.

Fifty years ago, just after turning pro at the age of 18, Evert signed a contract with Puritan Fashions, a clothing company, for what was then the incredible total of $50,000 annually for four years. There followed many more partnerships between Evert and corporations, including Lipton Iced Tea, Rolex watches, Converse shoes and, of course, Wilson Sporting Goods. As recently as this October, Evert participated with WTA president Micky Lawler in “Lessons in Leadership,” a webcast presented by Morgan Stanley.

““It was thrilling to watch the sport blossom and to get sponsors that were interested in seeing tennis players show off their skills to an audience that wasn’t just there for the tennis,” says Grace Lichtenstein, author of, A Long Way, Baby, a book about the 1973 women’s tennis yea—one marked not just by Evert’s first endorsement deal, but also the start of the WTA, the beginning of equal prize money at the US Open, and the infamous “Battle of the Sexes” match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King.