It's nearly 20 years since Wimbledon decided to award equal prize money. The tennis world has come a long way since a group of women players known as "The Original 9" eventually forced the creation of a Women's tour. Billie Jean King was the most famous of the Original 9, but Julie Heldman was also one of the nine, and her mother, Gladys, also played a crucial role... I've been speaking to Julie about that and what life was like as a top female tennis player back in the later 1960's. But Julie's story is made all the more remarkable when you learn about what life was really like with Gladys Heldman as your mother behind closed doors... and I should warn you, I found much of what Julie had to say very hard to listen to. Before the original tournament was held in the States in 1994, there was no professional league, but the popularity of the world Cup spawned the MLS, one of its first stars was Paul Wright. A goal scoring machine Paul was a pioneer of the game and is still very much involved in his hometown of San Diego, from where he is nurturing the next generation of talent... In the US sports like basketball and American football have free school programmes, playing to a high standard without having to pay. Not so soccer, where you have to join a club in a "Pay to play" system and that can be expensive, anywhere up to $10,000 a year! In Europe that cost tends to be heavily subsidised by professional teams of national federations. It leaves American kids at the lower end of the socio-economic ladder unable to play the game... So, Paul decided to do something about that. Tensions between the United Stated and Iran are not a new thing. Far from it, but could there be a place for football in the road to peace? The Iranian national football team left a note in its locker room at the Los Angeles Stadium after their game against Belgium earlier in the competition, thanking the people of Los Angeles for their hospitality during the World Cup. The note ended "We wish peace, respect, and friendship among all the nations of the world". Well, after the two countries met competitively at the 1998 World Cup in France, a couple of original thinkers organised a friendly match between the two nations. The US would host Iran before a proposed return fixture... This is the story of how that game at the Rose Bowl in California came to pass in the late 1990's The remarkable story of tennis star Liesl Herbst who just after the second world war competed at Wimbledon with her daughter Dorli to play in the ladies' doubles. They remain the only mother and daughter who have competed together at Wimbledon. Felice Hardy, granddaughter of Liesl and daughter of Dorli, and author of "The Tennis Champion Who Escaped The Nazis", told their story to Not by the Playbook's Megan Jones. PHOTO: Top female tennis players hold up their $1 bills which will make them contract pros and eligible to play for money instead of trophies in the Virginia Slims tournament at the Houston Racquet Club in defiance of the USLTA. The players are (standing, L-R) Valerie Ziegenfuss, Billie Jean King, Nancy Richey, Peaches Bartkowicz; (seated, L-R) Judy Tegart Dalton, Kerry Melville, Rosie Casals, manager Gladys Heldman, and Kristy Pigeon. The players breakaway from the tennis establishment eventually lead the way to the formation of the Women's Tennis Association. Not pictured: Julie Heldman. (CREDIT: Bela Ugrin/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
