The 1983 Virginia Slims World Championship Series was the 11th season since the foundation of the Women's Tennis Association. It commenced on January 3, 1983, and concluded on March 4, 1984, after 64 events. The Virginia Slims World Championship Series was the elite tour for professional women's tennis organised by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). It was the first unified global women's circuit in the Open Era and featured tournaments that had previously been part of the Toyota Series and the Avon Series. The circuit consisted of 48 tournaments in nine countries, including the four Grand Slam tournaments, and culminated in the season-ending Virginia Slims Championships played in February 1984. ITF tournaments were not part of the tour, although they awarded points for the WTA World Ranking. Martina Navratilova was the most successful player in both singles and doubles across the season. She won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in singles, with Chris Evert-Lloyd winning the French Open. In doubles, Navratilova again won all the Grand Slams apart from the French Open, which was collected by Rosalyn Fairbank and Candy Reynolds; Pam Shriver was her partner in all the Grand Slam events. Navratilova won a total of 29 titles in the course of the year and only suffered one defeat in singles, against Kathy Horvath at the French Open. This led to her beginning and ending the year as the WTA number 1. Shriver was her closest challenger with 16 titles, including 14 in doubles events. Players from the United States won 74 of the 125 titles awarded in singles, doubles and mixed doubles; players from Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Netherlands and Switzerland each won a solitary title.

Tour changes

Avon, who had been the sponsors of the January to March U.S. winter circuit of the WTA Tour since 1978, announced in 1982 that they would be trimming back their sponsorship of the tour. Toyota, who sponsored the international tour for the remaining nine months of the season, also withdrew their support. The 1983 season saw Virginia Slims returning to sponsor a unified worldwide tour after an absence of four years. The company sponsored events between 1970 and 1978 but withdrew their support following disagreements with the organisers of the WTA Tour, the Women's Tennis Association. However the company decided to associate themselves with the women's tennis circuit again in 1983. The tour was therefore known as the Virginia Slims World Championship Series, with 18 events including the US Open held in the United States and a further 12 events in six other countries incorporated under the Virginia Slims brand in a merged season.

Season summary

Singles

World number-one singles player Martina Navratilova, who had won 90 out of 93 matches the previous year, began the 1983 season in great form, winning successive titles in Washington and Houston, defeating Sylvia Hanika in the final on both occasions. The third best player in the world, Andrea Jaeger, won the tournament at Marco Island in Florida; Chris Evert-Lloyd, the world number two, took the title at Palm Beach, also in Florida.

Schedule

The table below shows the 1983 Virginia Slims World Championship Series schedule.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

No events were held this month

January 1984

February 1984

Rankings

Singles

Below are the 1983 WTA year-end rankings (December 5, 1983) in singles competition:

Points distribution

Virginia Slims ranking points distribution.

Statistical information

Titles won by player

These tables present the number of singles (S), doubles (D), and mixed doubles (X) titles won by each player and each nation during the season, within all the tournament categories of the 1983 Virginia Slims World Championship Series: the Grand Slam tournaments, the Year-end championships and regular events. The players/nations are sorted by:

Titles won by nation

The following players won their first title in singles (S), doubles (D) or mixed doubles (X): The following players mounted a successful title defence in singles (S), doubles (D) or mixed doubles (X):

Retirements

The following are notable players who announced their retirement from women's tennis in 1983.