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Billie Jean King

November 25, 2023

Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943) also known as BJK, is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States team in seven Federation Cups and nine Wightman Cups. For three years, she was the U.S. captain in the Federation Cup.

Billie Jean King
King in September 2011
Born
Billie Jean Moffitt

(1943-11-22) November 22, 1943 (age 80)
Long Beach, California, U.S.
Height5 ft 4+1⁄2 in (1.64 m)
Tennis career
Country (sports) United States
Turned pro1968
Retired1990
PlaysRight-handed (one-handed backhand)
CollegeCalifornia State University, Los Angeles
Prize money$1,966,487[1]
Int. Tennis HoF1987 (member page)
Official websitewww.billiejeanking.com
Singles
Career record695–155 (81.76%)
Career titles129 (67 during open era)
Highest rankingNo. 1 (1966, Lance Tingay)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian OpenW (1968)
French OpenW (1972)
WimbledonW (1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973, 1975)
US OpenW (1967, 1971, 1972, 1974)
Doubles
Career record87–37 (as shown on WTA website)[1]
Highest rankingNo. 1 (1967)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian OpenF (1965, 1969)
French OpenW (1972)
WimbledonW (1961, 1962, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1979)
US OpenW (1964, 1967, 1974, 1978, 1980)
Other doubles tournaments
Tour FinalsW (1974, 1976, 1978, 1980)
Mixed doubles
Career titles11
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
Australian OpenW (1968)
French OpenW (1967, 1970)
WimbledonW (1967, 1971, 1973, 1974)
US OpenW (1967, 1971, 1973, 1976)
Team competitions
Fed CupW (1963, 1966, 1967, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979) (as player)
W (1976, 1996, 1999, 2000) (as captain)
Coaching career
Tim Mayotte
Martina Navratilova

King is an advocate of gender equality and has long been a pioneer for equality and social justice.[2] In 1973, at the age of 29, she famously won the "Battle of the Sexes" tennis match against the 55-year-old Bobby Riggs.[3] King was also the founder of the Women's Tennis Association and the Women's Sports Foundation. She was instrumental in persuading cigarette brand Virginia Slims to sponsor women's tennis in the 1970s and went on to serve on the board of their parent company Philip Morris in the 2000s.

Regarded by many as one of the greatest tennis players of all time,[4][5][6][7] King was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. The Fed Cup Award of Excellence was bestowed on her in 2010. In 1972, she was the joint winner, with John Wooden, of the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award and was one of the Time Persons of the Year in 1975. She has also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year lifetime achievement award. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1990, and in 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center in New York City was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. In 2018, she won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020, the Federation Cup was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup in her honor. In 2022, she was awarded the French Legion of Honour.

Early life edit

Billie Jean Moffitt was born in Long Beach, California, into a conservative Methodist family, the daughter of Betty (née Jerman), a housewife, and Bill Moffitt, a firefighter.[8][9] Her family was athletic; her mother excelled at swimming, and her father played basketball and baseball, and ran track.[10] Her younger brother, Randy Moffitt, became a Major League Baseball pitcher, pitching for 12 years in the major leagues for the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and Toronto Blue Jays.[11] She also excelled at baseball and softball as a child, playing shortstop at 10 years old on a team with girls 4–5 years older than she.[10] The team went on to win the Long Beach softball championship.[10]

She switched from softball to tennis at the age of 11,[12] because her parents suggested she should find a more 'ladylike' sport.[10] She saved her own money, $8 ($88.54 in 2022 terms), to buy her first racket.[10] She went with a school friend to take her first tennis lesson on the many free public courts in Long Beach, taking advantage of the free lessons offered by professional Clyde Walker, who worked for the City of Long Beach.[10] One of the city's tennis facilities has subsequently been named the Billie Jean Moffitt King Tennis Center.[13] As a kid playing in her first tennis tournaments, she was often hindered by her aggressive playing style.[10] Bob Martin, sportswriter for the Long Beach, Press-Telegram wrote about her success in a weekly tennis column.[citation needed] One of King's first conflicts with the tennis establishments and status-quo came in her youth, when she was forbidden from being in a group picture at a tournament because she was wearing tennis shorts (sewn by her mother) instead of the usual white tennis dress.[14]

King's family in Long Beach attended the Church of the Brethren, where the minister was former athlete and two-time Olympic pole-vaulting champion Bob Richards. One day, when King was 13 or 14, Richards asked her, "What are you going to do with your life?" She said: "Reverend, I'm going to be the best tennis player in the world."[15][16][17]

King attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School.[18] After graduating in 1961, she attended Los Angeles State College, now California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA).[12] She did not graduate, leaving school in 1964 to focus on tennis.[19] While attending Cal State, she met Larry King in a library in 1963.[10] The pair became engaged while still in school when Billie Jean was 20 and Larry 19 years old and married on September 17, 1965, in Long Beach.[20]

Career edit

 
Billie Jean Moffitt (later King) in the 1960s at the Irish Open at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club, Dublin, where she won her first international title

King's French Open win in 1972 made her only the fifth woman in tennis history to win the singles titles at all four Grand Slam events, a "career Grand Slam".[a] She also won a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles. In women's doubles, only the Australian Open eluded her.

King won a record 20 career titles at Wimbledon – six in singles, 10 in women's doubles, and four in mixed doubles.[b]

King played 51 Grand Slam singles events from 1959 through 1983, reaching at least the semi-finals in 27 and at least the quarterfinals in 40 of her attempts. King was the runner-up in six Grand Slam singles events. An indicator of her mental toughness in Grand Slam singles tournaments was her 11–2 career record in deuce third sets, i.e., third sets that were tied 5–5 before being resolved.[citation needed]

King won 129 singles titles,[21] 78 of which were WTA titles, and her career prize money totaled US$1,966,487.[22]

In Federation Cup finals, she was on the winning United States team seven times, in 1963, 1966, 1967, and 1976 through 1979. Her career win–loss record was 52–4.[c] She won the last 30 matches she played,[d] including 15 straight wins in both singles and doubles.[23] In Wightman Cup competition, her career win–loss record was 22–4,[e] winning her last nine matches (six in singles and three in doubles). The United States won the cup in ten of the 11 years in which she participated. In singles, King was 6–1 against Ann Haydon-Jones, 4–0 against Virginia Wade, and 1–1 against Christine Truman Janes.[24]

The early years: 1959–1963 edit

As Billie Jean King began competing in 1959, she began working with new coaches including Frank Brennan[10] and Alice Marble, who had won 18 Grand Slam titles as a player herself.[25] She made her Grand Slam debut at the 1959 U.S. Championships when she was 15.[26] She lost in the first round.[27] She began playing at local, regional, and international tennis championships.[28]: 164  Sports Illustrated already claimed her as "one of the most promising youngsters on the West Coast."[29] She won her first tournament the next year in Philadelphia at the 1960 Philadelphia and District Grass Court Championships.[26][30] At her second attempt at the U.S. Championships, King made it to the third round, losing to Bernice Carr Vukovich of South Africa.[citation needed] Also in 1960, she reached the final of the National Girls' 18 and Under Championships, losing to Karen Hantze Susman.[10] Her national tennis ranking improved from number 19 in 1959 to number 4 in 1960.[31]: 23  Despite the success, Marble terminated her professional relationship with King, for reasons stemming from King's ambition.[31]: 23 

King first gained international recognition in 1961 when the Long Beach Tennis Patrons, the Century Club, and Harold Guiver raised $2,000 to send her to Wimbledon.[32] There, she won the women's doubles title in her first attempt while partnering Karen Hantze.[8] King was 17 and Hantze was 18, making them the youngest team to win the Wimbledon Doubles Title.[10] King had less luck that year in the 1961 Wimbledon women's singles, losing to fifth-seeded Yola Ramírez in a two-day match on Centre Court.[33] Despite these performances. she could not get a sports scholarship when later that year she attended Los Angeles State (now California State).{"Billie Jean King", The Wall Street Journal, August 14, 2021}. For the 1962 singles tournament at Wimbledon, King upset Margaret Court, the World No. 1 and top seed, in a second round match by attacking Court's forehand[34][35] This was the first time in Wimbledon history that the women's top seed had lost her first match.[36] That same year, King and Hantze repeated their doubles victory at Wimbledon.[31]: 24  In 1963, King again faced Margaret Court at Wimbledon.[31]: 24  This time they met in the final, and Court prevailed.[31]: 24 

1964 edit

In 1964, King won four relatively minor titles[citation needed] but lost to Margaret Court in the Wimbledon semi-finals.[37] She defeated Ann Haydon-Jones at both the Wightman Cup and Fed Cup but lost to Court in the final of the Federation Cup. At the U.S. Championships, fifth-seeded Nancy Richey upset third-seeded King in the quarterfinals. Late in the year, King decided to make a full-time commitment to tennis. While a history major at Los Angeles State College, King made the decision to play full-time when businessman Robert Mitchell offered to pay her way to Australia so that she could train under the great Australian coach Mervyn Rose.[38] While in Australia, King played three tournaments that year and lost in the quarterfinals of the Queensland Grass Court Championships, the final of the New South Wales Championships (to Court), and the third round of the Victorian Championships.

1965 edit

In early 1965, King continued her three-month tour of Australia. She lost in the final of the South Australian Championships and the first round of the Western Australia Championships. At the Fed Cup in Melbourne, she defeated Ann Haydon-Jones to help the United States defeat the United Kingdom in the second round. However, Margaret Court again defeated her in the final. At the Australian Championships two weeks later, she lost to Court in the semi-finals in two sets. At Wimbledon, she again lost in the semi-finals, this time in three sets to Maria Bueno.[10] Her last tournament of the year was the U.S. Championships, where she defeated Jones in the quarterfinals and Bueno in the semi-finals. In the final, King led 5–3 in both sets, was two points from winning the first set, and had two set points in the second set[39] before losing to Court in straight sets. She said that losing while being so close to winning was devastating, but the match proved to her that she was "good enough to be the best in the world. I'm going to win Wimbledon next year."[40] She won six tournaments during the year. For the first time in 81 years, the annual convention of the United States Lawn Tennis Association overruled its ranking committee's recommendation to award her the sole U.S. No. 1 position and voted 59,810 to 40,966 to rank Nancy Richey Gunter and King as co-U.S. No. 1.[41]

Prime competitive years: 1966–1975 edit

Overview edit

Six of King's Grand Slam singles titles were at Wimbledon, four were at the U.S. Championships/Open, one was at the French Open, and one was at the Australian Championships. King reached the final of a Grand Slam singles tournament in 16 out of 25 attempts and had a 12–4 win–loss record in those finals. In the nine tournaments that she failed to reach the final, she was a losing semi-finalist twice and a losing quarter finalist five times. From 1971 through 1975, she won seven of the ten Grand Slam singles tournaments she played. She won the last seven Grand Slam singles finals she contested, six of them in straight sets and four of them against Evonne Goolagong. All but one of her Grand Slam singles titles were on grass.

King's Grand Slam record from 1966 through 1975 was comparable to that of Margaret Court, her primary rival during these years. One or both of these women played 35 of the 40 Grand Slam singles tournaments held during this period, and together they won 24 of them. During this period, Court won 31 of her career 64 Grand Slam titles, including 12 of her 24 Grand Slam singles titles, 11 of her 19 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and eight of her 21 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Court reached the final of a Grand Slam singles tournament in 14 out of 25 attempts and had a 12–2 win–loss record in those finals. Court won seven of the 12 Grand Slam finals she played against King during these years, including 2–1 in singles finals, 4–1 in women's doubles finals, and 1–3 in mixed doubles finals.

King was the year-ending World No. 1 in six of the ten years from 1966 through 1975. She was the year-ending World No. 2 in three of those years and the World No. 3 in the other year.

King won 97 of her career 129 singles titles during this period and was the runner-up in 36 other tournaments.

1966 edit

 
From left to right: the United States national team tenniswomen Carole Caldwell Graebner, Julie Heldman and Billie Jean King in Turin, Italy, holding the Federations Cup 1966 won against West Germany women's national tennis team

In 1966, King defeated Dorothy "Dodo" Cheney (then 49 years old) for the first time in five career matches, winning their semi-final at the Southern California Championships 6–0, 6–3. King also ended her nine-match losing streak to Margaret Court by defeating her in the final of the South African Tennis Championships. She also won the women's singles in the Ojai Tennis Tournament.[42] At the Wightman Cup just before Wimbledon, King defeated Virginia Wade and Ann Haydon-Jones. After thirteen unsuccessful attempts to win a Grand Slam singles title from 1959 through 1965, King at the age of 22 finally won the first of her six singles titles at Wimbledon and the first of twelve Grand Slam singles titles overall, defeating Court in the semi-finals 6–3, 6–3 and Maria Bueno in the final. King credited her semi-final victory to her forehand down the line, a new shot in her repertoire.[40] She also said that the strategy for playing Court is, "Simple. Just chip the ball back at her feet."[43] At the U.S. Championships, an ill King was upset by Kerry Melville in the second round.[44]

1967 edit

King successfully defended her title at the South African Tennis Championships in 1967, defeating Maria Bueno in the final. She played the French Championships for the first time in her career,[45] falling in the quarterfinals to Annette Van Zyl of South Africa. At the Federation Cup one week later in West Germany on clay, King won all four of her matches, including victories over DuPlooy, Ann Haydon-Jones, and Helga Niessen. King then successfully switched surfaces and won her second consecutive Wimbledon singles title, defeating Virginia Wade in the quarterfinals 7–5, 6–2 and Jones. At the Wightman Cup, King again defeated Wade and Jones. King won her second Grand Slam singles title of the year when she won the U.S. Championships for the first time and without losing a set, defeating Wade, Van Zyl, Françoise Dürr, and Jones in consecutive matches. Jones pulled her left hamstring muscle early in the final and saved four match points in the second set before King prevailed.[46] King won the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles titles at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships, the first woman to do that since Alice Marble in 1939.[47] King then returned to the Australian summer tour in December for the first time since 1965, playing seven events there and Judy Tegart in six of those events (winning four of their matches). King lost in the quarterfinals of the New South Wales Championships in Sydney to Tegart after King injured her left knee in the second game of the third set of that match.[48] However, King won the Victorian Championships in Melbourne the following week, defeating Dalton, Reid, and Lesley Turner in the last three rounds. At a team event in Adelaide, King won all three of her singles and doubles matches to help the U.S. defeat Australia 5–1. To finish the year, King lost to Tegart in the final of the South Australian Championships in Adelaide.

1968 edit

In early 1968, King won three consecutive tournaments to end her Australian tour. In Perth, King won the Western Australia Championships, defeating Margaret Court in the final. In Hobart, King won the Tasmanian Championships by defeating Judy Tegart-Dalton in the final. King then won the Australian Championships for the first time, defeating Dalton in the semi-finals and Court in the final. King continued to win tournaments upon her return to the United States, winning three indoor tournaments before Nancy Richey Gunter defeated King in the semi-finals of the Madison Square Garden Challenge Trophy amateur tournament in New York City before 10,233 spectators.[49] The match started with Gunter taking a 4–2 lead in the first set, before King won 9 of the next 10 games. King served for the match at 5–1 and had a match point at 5–3 in the second set; however, she lost the final 12 games and the match 4–6, 7–5, 6–0.[50] King then won three consecutive tournaments in Europe before losing to Ann Haydon-Jones in the final of a professional tournament at Madison Square Garden. Playing the French Open for only the second time in her career and attempting to win four consecutive Grand Slam singles titles (a "non-calendar year Grand Slam"), King defeated Maria Bueno in a quarterfinal before losing to Gunter in a semi-final 2–6, 6–3, 6–4. King rebounded to win her third consecutive Wimbledon singles title, defeating Jones in the semi-finals and Dalton in the final. At the US Open, King defeated Bueno in a semi-final before being upset in the final by Virginia Wade. On September 24, she had surgery to repair cartilage in her left knee[51] and did not play in tournaments the remainder of the year. King said that it took eight months (May 1969) for her knee to recover completely from the surgery.[52] In 1977, King said that her doctors predicted in 1968 that her left knee would allow her to play competitive tennis for only two more years.[53]

1969 edit

King participated in the 1969 Australian summer tour for the second consecutive year. Unlike the previous year, King did not win a tournament. She lost in the quarterfinals of the Tasmanian Championships and the semi-finals of the New South Wales Championships. At the Australian Open, King defeated 17-year-old Evonne Goolagong in the second round 6–3, 6–1 and Ann Haydon-Jones in a three-set semi-final before losing to Margaret Court in a straight-sets final. The following week, King lost in the semi-finals of the New Zealand Championships. Upon her return to the United States, King won the Pacific Coast Pro and the Los Angeles Pro. King then won two tournaments in South Africa, including the South African Open. During the European summer clay court season, King lost in the quarterfinals of both the Italian Open and the French Open. On grass at the Wills Open in Bristol, United Kingdom, King defeated Virginia Wade in the semi-finals (6–8, 11–9, 6–2) before losing to Court. At Wimbledon, King lost only 13 points while defeating Rosemary Casals in the semi-finals 6–1, 6–0;[54] however, Jones upset King in the final and prevented King from winning her fourth consecutive singles title there. The week after, King again defeated Wade to win the Irish Open for the second time in her career. In the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, King lost in the quarterfinals of the US Open to Nancy Richey Gunter 6–4, 8–6. This was the first year since 1965 that King did not win at least one Grand Slam singles title. King finished the year with titles at the Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles, the Stockholm Indoors, and the Midland (Texas) Pro. She said during the Pacific Southwest Open, "It has been a bad year for me. My left knee has been OK, but I have been bothered by a severe tennis elbow for seven months. I expect to have a real big year in 1970, though, because I really have the motivation now. I feel like a kid again."[55]

1970 edit

 
Billie Jean King in 1970

In 1970, Margaret Court won all four Grand Slam singles tournaments and was clearly the World No. 1. King lost to Court three times in the first four months of the year, in Philadelphia, Dallas, and Johannesburg (at the South African Open). Court, however, was not totally dominant during this period as King defeated her in Sydney and Durban, South Africa. Where Court dominated was at the Grand Slam tournaments. King did not play the Australian Open. King had leg cramps and lost to Helga Niessen Masthoff of West Germany in the quarterfinals of the French Open 2–6, 8–6, 6–1.[56] At Wimbledon, Court needed seven match points[57] to defeat King in the final 14–12, 11–9 in one of the greatest women's finals in the history of the tournament.[58] On July 22,[59] King had right knee surgery, which forced her to miss the US Open. King returned to the tour in September, where she had a first round loss at the Virginia Slims Invitational in Houston and a semi-final loss at the Pacific Coast Championships in Berkeley, California. To close out the year, King in November won the Virginia Slims Invitational in Richmond, Virginia and the Embassy Indoor Tennis Championships in London. During the European clay court season, King warmed-up for the French Open by playing in Monte Carlo (losing in the semi-finals), winning the Italian Open (saving three match points against Virginia Wade in the semi-finals),[60] playing in Bournemouth (losing to Wade in the quarterfinals), and playing in Berlin (losing to Masthoff in the semi-finals). The Italian Open victory was the first important clay court title of King's career. Along the way, she defeated Masthoff in a three-set quarterfinal and Wade in a three-set semi-final, saving two match points at 4–5 in the second set. The twelfth game of that set (with King leading 6–5) had 21 deuces and lasted 22 minutes,[61] with Wade saving seven set points and holding sixteen game points before King won. In Wightman Cup competition two weeks before Wimbledon but played at the All England Club, King defeated both Wade and Ann Haydon-Jones in straight sets. Many things bothered King concerning her advocacy for women's rights in sports. Among these concerns, she sought better pay for female tennis players, given the substantial differences in budgets between male and female players. In September 1970, there was the Pacific Southwest Open which was a tennis tournament. The prize money for men and women varied significantly, with the top prize for men being $12,500 and for women, a mere $1,500. Women's expenses were not covered unless they made the quarterfinals. This had bothered King and was the final straw for her. King and other 8 women did not play because of the budgets which they were willing to take the risk of expulsion from the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association. King and the other women organized a women- Houston Virginia Slims invitational and this helped launch the series of women only tournaments.[62]

1971 edit

Although King won only one Grand Slam singles title in 1971, this was the best year of her career in terms of tournaments won (17). According to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, she played in 31 singles tournaments and compiled a 112–13 win–loss record.[32]

She started the year by winning eight of the first thirteen tournaments she played, defeating Rosemary Casals in seven finals. King's five losses during this period were to Françoise Dürr (twice), Casals (once), Ann Haydon-Jones (once), and Chris Evert (in St. Petersburg). At the time, King said that retiring from the match with Evert after splitting the first two sets was necessary because of leg cramps. But in early 1972, King admitted that cramps associated with an abortion caused the retirement.[63]

At the tournament in early May at Hurlingham, United Kingdom, King lost a second round match to an old rival, Christine Truman Janes (now 30 years old), 6–4, 6–2; but King recovered the next week to win the German Open in Hamburg on clay. Four weeks later at the Queen's Club tournament in London, King played Margaret Court for the first time in 1971, losing their final. At Wimbledon, King defeated Janes in the fourth round (6–2, 7–5) and Durr in the quarterfinals before losing unexpectedly to Evonne Goolagong in the semi-finals 6–4, 6–4. Two weeks after Wimbledon, King won the Rothmans North of England Championships on grass in Hoylake, United Kingdom, beating Virginia Wade, Court, and Casals in the last three rounds. She then played two clay court tournaments in Europe, winning neither, before resuming play in the United States.

In August, King won the indoor Houston tournament and the U.S. Women's Clay Court Championships in Indianapolis. King then switched back to grass and won the US Open without losing a set, defeating Evert in the semi-finals (6–3, 6–2) and Casals in the final. King then won the tournaments in Louisville, Phoenix, and London (Wembley Pro). King and Casals both defaulted at 6–6 in the final of the Pepsi Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles in September when their request to remove a lineswoman was denied, eventually resulting in the United States Lawn Tennis Association fining both players US$2,500.[64] To end the year, King played two tournaments in New Zealand but did not win either. She lost in Christchurch to Durr and in Auckland to Kerry Melville Reid. In 1971, King was the first female tennis player to earn $100,000 a year. Being one of her greatest accomplishments, this earned her congratulatory phone call from President Richard M. Nixon.[62]

1972 edit

King won three Grand Slam singles titles in 1972, electing not to play the Australian Open despite being nearby when she played in New Zealand in late 1971. King said, "I was twenty-eight years old, and I was at the height of my powers. I'm quite sure I could have won the Grand Slam [in] ... 1972, but the Australian was such a minor-league tournament at that time.... More important, I did not want to miss any Virginia Slims winter tournaments. I was playing enough as it was."[65] Her dominance was aided by rival Margaret Court's absence from the tour due to childbirth during most of the 1972 season.

At the beginning of the year, King failed to win eight of the first ten tournaments she played. She won the title in San Francisco in mid-January. But then King lost in Long Beach to Françoise Dürr (although King claimed in her 1982 autobiography that she intentionally lost the match because of an argument with her husband[66]) and in Fort Lauderdale on clay to Chris Evert 6–1, 6–0. The inconsistent results continued through mid-April, in Oklahoma City (losing in the quarterfinals); Washington, D.C. (losing in the second round); and Dallas (losing to Nancy Richey Gunter after defeating Evert in the quarterfinals 6–7(4–5), 6–3, 7–5 and Evonne Goolagong in the semi-finals 1–6, 6–4, 6–1).[67] King won the title in Richmond; however, one week later, King lost in the semi-finals of the tournament in San Juan. This was followed in successive weeks by a loss in the Jacksonville final to Marie Neumannová Pinterová and in a St. Petersburg semi-final to Evert (6–2, 6–3).

King did not lose again until mid-August, winning six consecutive tournaments. She won the tournaments in Tucson and Indianapolis. King then won the French Open without losing a set and completed a career Grand Slam. She defeated Virginia Wade in the quarterfinals, Helga Niessen Masthoff in the semi-finals, and Goolagong in the final.[68] On grass, King then won the Wimbledon warm-up tournaments in Nottingham and Bristol and won Wimbledon itself for the fourth time. She lost only one set during the tournament, to Wade in the quarterfinals. That was followed by straight set wins over Rosemary Casals and Goolagong. When the tour returned to the United States, King did not win any of the three tournaments she played before the US Open, including a straight sets loss to Margaret Court in Newport. At the US Open, however, King won the tournament without losing a set, including a quarterfinal win over Wade, a semi-final defeat of Court, and a final win over Kerry Melville Reid. King finished the year by winning the tournaments in Charlotte and Phoenix (defeating Court in the final of both), a runner-up finish in Oakland (losing to Court), and a semifinal finish at the year-end championships in Boca Raton (losing to Evert).

1973 edit

 
The dress worn by King in 1973 during the Battle of the Sexes match. The National Museum of American History

1973 was Margaret Court's turn to win three Grand Slam singles titles, failing to win only Wimbledon, and was the clear world No. 1 for the year; this was her first full season since winning the Grand Slam in 1970, as she had missed significant portions of 1971 and 1972 due to childbirth. As during the previous year, King started 1973 inconsistently. She missed the first three Virginia Slims tournaments in January because of a wrist injury.[69] She then lost in the third round at the Virginia Slims of Miami tournament but won the Virginia Slims of Indianapolis tournament, defeating Court in the semi-finals 6–7, 7–6, 6–3 and Rosemary Casals in the final. The semi-final victory ended Court's 12-tournament and 59-match winning streaks,[70] with King saving at least three match points when down 5–4 (40–0) in the second set. Indianapolis was followed by five tournaments that King failed to win (Detroit, Boston, Chicago, Jacksonville, and the inaugural Family Circle Cup in Hilton Head, South Carolina). King lost to Court in two of those tournaments. After deciding not to defend her French Open singles title, King won four consecutive tournaments, including her fifth Wimbledon singles title when she defeated Kerry Melville Reid in the quarterfinals, Evonne Goolagong in the semi-finals on her eighth match point,[71] and Chris Evert in the final. King lost only nine points in the 6–0 bageling of Evert in the first set of their final.[72]

King also completed the Triple Crown at Wimbledon (winning the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles titles in the same year), thus becoming the first, and only, player to do so at Wimbledon in the Open Era. In none of the preceding tournaments, however, did King play Court. Their rivalry resumed in the final of the Virginia Slims of Nashville tournament, where Court won for the third time in four matches against King in 1973. (This was the last ever singles match between those players, with Court winning 21 and King 13 of their 34 matches.) Three weeks later at the US Open, King retired from her fourth-round match with Julie Heldman while ill[73] and suffering from the oppressive heat and humidity. When Heldman complained to the match umpire that King was taking too long between games, King reportedly told Heldman, "If you want the match that badly, you can have it!"[74] The Battle of the Sexes match against Bobby Riggs was held in the middle of the Virginia Slims of Houston tournament. King won her first and second round matches three days before playing Riggs, defeated Riggs, won her quarterfinal match the day after the Riggs match, and then lost the following day to Casals in the semifinals 7–6, 6–1. According to King, "I had nothing left to give."[75] To end the year, King won tournaments in Phoenix, Hawaii, and Tokyo and was the runner-up in Baltimore.

Battle of the Sexes edit
Main article: Battle of the Sexes (tennis)
 
Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973

In 1973, King defeated Bobby Riggs in an exhibition match, winning $100,000 ($670,520 in 2022 terms).

Riggs had been a top men's player in the 1930s and 1940s in both the amateur and professional ranks. He won the Wimbledon men's singles title in 1939, and was considered the World No. 1 male tennis player for 1941, 1946, and 1947. He then became a self-described tennis "hustler" who played in promotional challenge matches. Claiming that the women's game was so inferior to the men's game that even a 55-year-old like himself could beat the current top female players, he challenged and defeated Margaret Court 6–2, 6–1. King, who previously had rejected challenges from Riggs, then accepted a lucrative financial offer to play him for $100,000 in a winner-takes-all match.

Dubbed "the Battle of the Sexes", the Riggs–King match took place at the Houston Astrodome in Texas on September 20, 1973. The match garnered huge publicity. In front of 30,492 spectators and a television audience estimated at 50 million people (U.S.), and 90 million in 37 countries, 29-year-old King beat the 55-year-old Riggs 6–4, 6–3, 6–3. The match is considered a significant event in developing greater recognition and respect for women's tennis. King said, "I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn't win that match. It would ruin the women's tour and affect all women's self-esteem,"[76] and that "to beat a 55-year-old guy was no thrill for me. The thrill was exposing a lot of new people to tennis."[77]

1974 edit

King won five of the first seven tournaments she contested in 1974. She won the Virginia Slims of San Francisco, defeating Nancy Richey Gunter in the semi-finals and Chris Evert in the final. The following week in Indian Wells, California, King again defeated Gunter in the semi-finals but lost to Evert in the final. King then won tournaments in Fairfax, Virginia and Detroit before losing a semi-final match to Virginia Wade in Chicago. King won both tournaments she played in March, defeating Gunter in the Akron, Ohio final and Evert at the U.S. Indoor Championships final. Olga Morozova then upset King in her next two tournaments, at Philadelphia in the final and at Wimbledon in a quarterfinal 7–5, 6–2. Afterward, King did not play a tour match until the US Open, where she won her fourth singles title and third in the last four years. She defeated Rosemary Casals in a straight sets quarterfinal, avenged in the semi-finals her previous year's loss to Julie Heldman, and narrowly defeated Evonne Goolagong in the final. King did not reach a tournament final during the remainder of the year, losing to Heldman in an Orlando semi-final, Wade in a Phoenix semi-final, and Goolagong in a semi-final of the tour-ending Virginia Slims Championships in Los Angeles.

1975 edit

In 1975, King played singles only half the year, as she retired (temporarily, as it turned out) from tournament singles competition immediately after winning her sixth Wimbledon singles title.

She began the year in San Francisco, defeating Françoise Dürr and Virginia Wade before losing to Chris Evert in the final. The following week, King won the Sarasota, Florida tournament, defeating Evert in the final 6–3, 6–2. Evert said immediately after the final, which was her thirteenth career match with King, "I think that's the best that Billie Jean has ever played. I hit some great shots but they just kept coming back at me."[78] Looking back at that match, King said, "I probably played so well because I had to, for the money. Out of frustration comes creativity. Right?"[79] Two months later, Wade defeated King in the semi-finals of the Philadelphia tournament. At the Austin, Texas, tournament in April, King defeated Evonne Goolagong 6–1, 6–3 before losing to Evert in the final. As King was serving for the match at 6–5 in the third set, a disputed line call went in Evert's favor. King said after the match that she was cheated out of the match and that she had never been angrier about a match.[80]

King played only one of the Wimbledon warm-up tournaments, defeating Olga Morozova in the Eastbourne semi-finals before losing to Wade in the final. Seeded third at Wimbledon, King defeated seventh seeded Morozova in the quarterfinals (6–3, 6–3) and then top seeded Evert in the semi-finals (2–6, 6–2, 6–3) after being down 3–0 (40–15) in the final set.[81] Evert blamed her semifinal defeat on a loss of concentration when she saw Jimmy Connors, her former fiancé, escorting Susan George into Centre Court. King, however, believes that the match turned around because King planned for and totally prepared for Wimbledon that year and told herself when she was on the verge of defeat, "Hey, Billie Jean, this is ridiculous. You paid the price. For once, you looked ahead. You're supposed to win. Get your bahoola in gear."[81] King then defeated fourth seeded Goolagong Cawley in the second most lopsided women's final ever at Wimbledon (6–0, 6–1). King called her performance a "near perfect match" and said to the news media, "I'm never coming back."[82]

The later years: 1976–1990 edit

1976 edit

Except for five Federation Cup singles matches that she won in straight sets in August, King played only in doubles and mixed doubles events from January through September. She partnered Phil Dent to the mixed doubles title at the US Open. She lost to Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat in both of the singles tournaments she played the remainder of the year. Looking back, King said, "I wasted 1976. After watching Chris Evert and Evonne [Goolagong] Cawley play the final at Wimbledon I asked myself what I was doing. So, despite my age and the operations, the Old Lady came back...."[83] King had knee surgery for the third time on November 9,[84] this time on her right knee,[85] and did not play the remainder of the year.

1977 edit

King spent the first three months of the year rehabilitating her right knee after surgery in November 1976.[86]

In March 1977, King requested that the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) exercise its right to grant a wild card entry to King for the eight-player Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Margaret Court, who finished in sixth place on the Virginia Slims points list, had left the tour due to her fourth pregnancy and thus failed to qualify for the tournament because she did not play enough Virginia Slims tournaments leading up to the championships. This left a spot open in the draw, which the WTA filled with Mima Jaušovec. King then decided to play the Lionel Cup tournament in San Antonio, Texas, which the WTA harshly criticized because tournament officials there had allowed Renée Richards, a transgender athlete, to enter.[87] Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and Betty Stöve (president of the WTA) criticized King's decision because of Richards's unresolved and highly controversial status on the women's tennis tour. Evert said she was disappointed with King and that until Richards's status was resolved, "all of the women should stick together." Navratilova said, "Billie Jean is a bad girl pouting. She made a bad decision. She's mad because she could not get what she wanted." Stöve said that if King had wanted the competition, "[T]here are plenty of men around here she could've played with. She didn't have to choose a 'disputed' tournament."[88] The draw in San Antonio called for King to play Richards in the semi-finals had form held; however, Richards lost in the quarterfinals. King eventually won the tournament.

At the clay court Family Circle Cup in late March, King played for the last time her long-time rival Nancy Richey Gunter in the first round. King won 0–6, 7–6, 6–2. She defeated another clay court specialist, Virginia Ruzici, in the second round before winning only one game from Evert in the final.

At Wimbledon in the third round, King played Maria Bueno for the last time, with King winning 6–2, 7–5. In the quarterfinals, Evert defeated King for the first time at a Grand Slam singles tournament and for the first time on grass 6–1, 6–2 in just 46 minutes. Evert said it was the best match she had ever played on grass up to that point in her career,[89] and King said, "No excuses. Let's forget knees, ankles, toes, everything else. She just played beautiful tennis. I don't think many players would've beaten her today."[90] King also said after the match, "Maybe I can be happy being number eight instead of number one. At this stage, just playing, that's winning enough for me."[91] But when asked about retirement, King said, "Retire? Quit tournament tennis? You gotta be kidding. It just means I've got a lot more work. I've got to make myself match tough ... mentally as well as physically. I gotta go out and kill myself for the next six months. It's a long, arduous process. I will suffer. But I will be back."[92] There was a small historic note at Wimbledon 1977 in that it was the first time ever that King competed at the championships that she did not reach a final. From her debut in 1961 until 1976, she had played in the final of one of the three championship events for women every year. Perhaps there was irony in this in that as the Wimbledon champion with the most titles in its history, the event was celebrating its centenary in the year King failed to make a final for the first time. The only other years she competed at the championship and did not feature in a final were 1980 and 1982. In her entire Wimbledon career of 22 competitions, King never failed to be a semi-finalist in at least one event every year.[93]

Evert repeated her Wimbledon quarterfinal victory over King at the clay court US Open, winning 6–2, 6–0. This loss prompted King to say, "I better get it together by October or November or that's it. I'll have to make some big decisions. I'm not 20-years-old and I can't just go out and change my game. It's only the last four weeks I haven't been in [knee] pain. [But if] I keep using that as a copout, I shouldn't play."[94]

The remainder of the year, King's win–loss record was 31–3, losing only to Evert, Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat, and Michelle Tyler. King won five of the eight tournaments she entered plus both of her Wightman Cup matches. She defeated Navratilova all four times they played, including three times in three consecutive weeks, and beat Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade twice. Beginning September 26, King played seven consecutive weeks. She lost to Tyler in the second round in Palm Harbor, Florida and Fromholtz Balestrat in the semi-finals in Atlanta. She then won three hard court tournaments in three consecutive weeks. She defeated Navratilova and Wendy Turnbull to win in Phoenix, losing only four points to Turnbull in the third set of the final.[95] The next week, she defeated Navratilova, Fromholtz Balestrat, and Wimbledon runner-up Stöve to win in São Paulo. The third week, she defeated Ruzici, Stöve, and Janet Newberry Wright to win in San Juan. In November, Evert snapped King's 18-match winning streak in the final of the Colgate Series Championships in Mission Hills, California. King then won her Wightman Cup matches, defeated Navratilova to win the tournament in Japan, and beat Wade to win the Bremar Cup in London. King said, "I have never had a run like this, even in the years when I was Wimbledon champion. At 34, I feel fitter than when I was 24."[96]

1978 edit

 
King in 1978 photographed by Lynn Gilbert (1978)

King played ten singles tournaments during the first half of 1978, limiting herself to doubles after Wimbledon.

To start the year, King was the runner-up in Houston and Kansas City (losing to Martina Navratilova in both) and in Philadelphia (losing to Chris Evert). At the Virginia Slims Championships, King lost her first round robin match to Virginia Wade and defaulted her two remaining round robin matches because of a leg injury sustained during the first match.

At Wimbledon, King played with a painful heel spur in her left foot and lost to Evert in the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year 6–3, 3–6, 6–2. The match was on-serve in the third set with King serving at 2–3 (40–0) before Evert won five consecutive points to break serve. King won a total of only two points during the last two games. King said after the match, "I don't think my mobility is very good and that's what I need to beat her. Physically, she [Evert] tears your guts apart unless you can stay with her. I'm really disappointed. I really wanted to play well. I just couldn't cut it because of my heel."[97] King and her partner Ray Ruffels lost in the final of mixed doubles in straight sets.

King teamed with Navratilova to win the women's doubles title at the US Open, King's fourth women's doubles title at that tournament and fourteenth Grand Slam women's doubles title overall. To end the year, King was undefeated in five doubles matches (four with Evert and one with Rosemary Casals) as the U.S. won the Federation Cup in Melbourne, Australia. She also teamed with Tracy Austin in the 1978 Wightman Cup against Great Britain, beating Anne Hobbs & Sue Mappin in the best of seven rubbers, despite the US losing the Cup 3–4. During the Federation Cup competition, King hinted at retirement from future major singles competitions and said that she was "sick and tired of continued surgery" in trying to get fit enough for those events.[98] Nevertheless, King had foot surgery on December 22 in an attempt to regain mobility for a return to the tennis tour.[99]

1979 edit

During the first half of 1979, King played only one event – doubles in the Federation Cup tie against Spain – because of major surgery to her left foot during December 1978.

King returned to singles competition at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Chichester. She defeated the reigning Wimbledon champion, Martina Navratilova, in a 48-minute quarterfinal 6–1, 6–2[100] before losing to Evonne Goolagong Cawley in the semi-finals 1–6, 6–4, 10–8. Seeded seventh at Wimbledon, King defeated Hana Mandlíková in the fourth round before losing the last six games[101] of the quarterfinal match with fourth-seeded Tracy Austin 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–2. King partnered with Navratilova at Wimbledon to win King's 20th and final Wimbledon title, breaking Elizabeth Ryan's longstanding record of 19 Wimbledon titles just one day after Ryan collapsed and died at Wimbledon.[102]

At the US Open, the ninth-seeded King reached the quarterfinals without dropping a set, where she upset the fourth-seeded Virginia Wade 6–3, 7–6(4). Next up was a semi-final match with the four-time defending champion and top-seeded Chris Evert; however, with King hampered by a neck injury sustained during a bear hug with a friend the day before the match, Evert won 6–1, 6–0, including the last eleven games and 48 of the last 63 points.[103] This was Evert's eighth consecutive win over King, with Evert during those matches losing only one set and 31 games and winning four 6–0 sets.[103] Evert said after the match, "Psychologically, I feel very confident when I ... play her."[103]

The following week in Tokyo, King won her first singles title in almost two years, defeating Goolagong Cawley in the final. In November in Stockholm, King defeated Betty Stöve in the final after Stöve lost her concentration while serving for the match at 5–4 in the third set.[104] Three weeks later in Brighton, King lost a semi-final match with Navratilova 7–5, 0–6, 7–6(3) after King led 6–5 in the third set.[105] She ended the year with a quarterfinal loss in Melbourne (not the Australian Open), a second round loss in Sydney, and a three-set semi-final loss to Austin in Tokyo.

1980–1981 edit

King won the tournament in Houston that began in February, snapping Martina Navratilova's 28-match winning streak in the straight-sets final.[106]

At the winter series-ending Avon Championships in March, King defeated Virginia Wade in her first round robin match 6–1, 6–3. After Wade held serve at love to open the match, King won nine consecutive games and lost only nine points during those games.[106] King then lost her second round robin match to Navratilova and defeated Wendy Turnbull in an elimination round match, before losing to Tracy Austin in the semi-finals

King played the 1980 French Open, her first time since she won the event in 1972 and completed a career singles Grand Slam.[citation needed] She was seeded second but lost in the quarterfinals to fifth-seeded Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat of Australia.[107]

At Wimbledon, King defeated Pam Shriver in a two-hour, forty minute fourth round match after King saved a match point in the second set and recovered from a 4–2 (40–0) deficit in the third set with Shriver serving.[108] In a quarterfinal that took two days to complete, King lost to two-time defending champion and top-seeded Navratilova 7–6, 1–6, 10–8. The beginning of the match was delayed until late afternoon because of rain. Because she wore glasses, King agreed to start the match then on condition that tournament officials immediately suspend the match if the rain resumed. During the first set, drizzle began to fall; however, the chair umpire refused to suspend the match. King led in the tiebreaker 5–1 before Navratilova came back to win the set, whereupon the umpire then agreed to the suspension. When the match resumed the next day, King won 20 of the first 23 points to take a 5–0 lead in the second set and lost a total of seven points while winning the set in just 17 minutes. In the third set, Navratilova broke serve to take a 2–0 lead before King broke back twice and eventually served for the match at 6–5. King then hit four volley errors, enabling Navratilova to break serve at love and even the match. King saved three match points while serving at 6–7 and three more match points while serving at 7–8. During the change-over between games at 8–9, King's glasses broke for the first time in her career. She had a spare pair, but they did not feel the same. King saved two match points before Navratilova broke serve to win the match. King said, "I think that may be the single match in my career that I could have won if I hadn't had bad eyes."[109][110][111]

King teamed with Navratilova to win King's 39th and final Grand Slam title at the US Open. Navratilova then decided she wanted a new doubles partner and started playing with Shriver but refused to discuss the change directly with King. She finally confronted Navratilova during the spring of 1981, reportedly saying to her, "Tell me I'm too old ... but tell me something." Navratilova refused to talk about it.[112]

King had minor knee surgery on November 14 in San Francisco to remove adhesions and cartilage.[113]

1982–1983 edit

In 1982, King began a comeback, winning the Wimbledon warm-up tournament the 1982 Edgbaston Cup in Birmingham, her first singles title in more than two years. King was 38 years old and the twelfth-seed at Wimbledon. In her third round match with Tanya Harford of South Africa, King was down 7–5, 5–4 (40–0) before Harford's apparent winner was deemed 'not up' by the umpire, something the South African protested vehemently. King then saved the next two match points[114] to win the second set 7–6(2) and then the third set 6–3. King said in her post-match press conference, "I can't recall the previous time I have been so close to defeat and won. When I was down 4–5 and love–40, I told myself, 'You have been here 21 years, so use that experience and hang on.'"[115] In the fourth round, King upset sixth-seeded Australian Wendy Turnbull in straight sets. King then upset third-seeded Tracy Austin in the quarterfinals 3–6, 6–4, 6–2 to become the oldest female semi-finalist at Wimbledon since Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers in 1920. This was King's first career victory over Austin after five defeats and reversed the result of their 1979 Wimbledon quarterfinal. King said in her post-match press conference, "Today, I looked at the scoreboard when I was 2–0 in the third set and the '2' seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. In 1979, when I was up 2–0 at the same stage, I was tired and didn't have anything left. But today I felt so much better and was great mentally."[116] Two days later in the semi-finals, which was King's 250th career match at Wimbledon in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles,[117] the second-seeded Chris Evert defeated King on her fifth match point 7–6(4), 2–6, 6–3. King was down a set and 2–1 in the second set before winning five consecutive games to even the match.[118] King explained that she actually lost the match in the first set by failing to convert break points at 15–40 in the second and fourth games.[119][120] Having started the year in retirement, King finished 1982 ranked 14 in the world.

In 1983, she reached the semi-finals in her final appearance at Wimbledon, losing to Andrea Jaeger 6–1, 6–1 after beating Kathy Jordan in the quarterfinals, seventh-seeded Wendy Turnbull in the fourth round, and Rosemary Casals, her longtime doubles partner, in the third round. Jaeger claims that she was highly motivated to defeat King because King had defeated Turnbull, a favorite of Jaeger's, and because King refused a towel from an attendant just before her match with Jaeger, explaining, "I'm not going to sweat in this match."

King became the oldest WTA player to win a singles tournament when she won the Edgbaston Cup grass court tournament in Birmingham at 39 years, 7 months and 23 days after a straight-sets victory in the final against Alycia Moulton.[121] Her tally of 20 Wimbledon titles remained when partnered with Steve Denton and the no.1 seeds in the mixed doubles, they lost 6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–5), 7–5 to John Lloyd & Wendy Turnbull in the final, King being the only player to drop her service in the final game. At her final appearance at the US Open later in 1983, King didn't play singles, but partnered Sharon Walsh in the women's doubles, reaching the semi-finals and Trey Waltke in the mixed doubles, losing in the second round. The final official singles match of King's career was a second round loss to Catherine Tanvier at the 1983 Australian Open.

1984 to present edit

King played doubles sporadically from 1984 through 1990. She and Vijay Amritraj were seeded sixth for the Wimbledon mixed doubles 1984, but they withdrew before the tournament began. She retired from competitive play in doubles in March 1990. In her last competitive doubles match, King and her partner, Jennifer Capriati, lost a second round match to Brenda Schultz-McCarthy and Andrea Temesvári 6–3, 6–2 at the Virginia Slims of Florida tournament.

King became the captain of the United States Fed Cup team and coach of its women's Olympic tennis squad. She guided the U.S. to the Fed Cup championship in 1996 and helped Lindsay Davenport, Gigi Fernández, and Mary Joe Fernández capture Olympic gold medals.

In 2002, King dismissed Capriati from the Fed Cup team, saying Capriati had violated rules that forbade bringing along and practicing with personal coaches.[122] Opinion was sharply divided, with many supporting King's decision but many feeling the punishment was too harsh, especially in hindsight when Monica Seles and Lisa Raymond were defeated by lower-ranked Austrians Barbara Schett and Barbara Schwartz. The following year, Zina Garrison succeeded King as Fed Cup captain.

Activism within the tennis profession edit

Player compensation edit

Before the start of the open era in 1968, King earned US$100 a week as a playground instructor and student at California State University, Los Angeles when not playing in major tennis tournaments.[76]

In 1967, King criticized the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) in a series of press conferences, denouncing what she called the USLTA's practice of "shamateurism", where top players were paid under the table to guarantee their entry into tournaments. King argued that this was corrupt and kept the game highly elitist. King quickly became a significant force in the opening of tennis to professionalism. King said this about the amateur game:

In America, tennis players are not people. If you are in tennis, you are a cross between a panhandler and a visiting in-law. You're not respected, you're tolerated. In England, you're respected as an artist. In Europe, you're a person of importance. Manuel Santana gets decorated by Franco. The Queen leads the applause. How many times have I been presented at the White House? You work all your life to win Wimbledon and Forest Hills and all the people say is, "That's nice. Now what are you going to do with your life?" They don't ask Mickey Mantle that. Stop 12 people on the street and ask them who Roy Emerson is and they're stuck for an answer, but they know the third-string right guard for the Rams. I'd like to see tennis get out of its "sissy" image and see some guy yell, "Hit it, ya bum" and see it be a game you don't have to have a lorgnette or a sash across your tuxedo to get in to watch.[123]

Push for female equality edit

When the open era began, King campaigned for equal prize money in the men's and women's games. In 1971, her husband, Larry King created the idea to form a nine player women's group with the financial backing of World Tennis magazine founder Gladys Heldman and the sponsorship of Virginia Slims chairman Joe Cullman. King became the first woman athlete to earn over US$100,000 in prize money;[124] however, inequalities continued. King won the US Open in 1972 but received US$15,000 less than the men's champion Ilie Năstase. She stated that she would not play the next year if the prize money was not equal. In 1973, the US Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money for men and women.

King led player efforts to support the first professional women's tennis tour in the 1970s called the Virginia Slims, founded by Gladys Heldman and funded by Joseph Cullman of Philip Morris.[125] Once the tour took flight, King worked tirelessly to promote it even though many of the other top players were not supportive. "For three years we had two tours and because of their governments [Martina] Navratilova and Olga Morozova had to play the other tour. Chris [Evert], Margaret [Court], Virginia [Wade], they let us do the pioneering work and they weren't very nice to us. If you go back and look at the old quotes; they played for the love of the game, we played for the money. When we got backing and money, we were all playing together – I wonder why? I tried not to get upset with them. Forgiveness is important. Our job was to have one voice and win them over."[126]

In 1973, King became the first president of the women's players union – the Women's Tennis Association. In 1974, she, with husband Larry King and Jim Jorgensen, founded womenSports magazine and started the Women's Sports Foundation.[127] Also in 1974, World TeamTennis began, founded by Larry King, Dennis Murphy, Frank Barman and Jordan Kaiser.[128] She became league commissioner in 1982 and major owner in 1984.

King is a member of the Board of Honorary Trustees for the Sports Museum of America,[129] which opened in 2008. The museum is the home of the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center, a comprehensive women's sports hall of fame and exhibit.[130]

Billie Jean King through her various efforts has been said to have started the second wave of feminism. Not just for women in sports, but for women everywhere, Kings triumphs have led to greater opportunities . For example, it is said that “In a single tennis match, Billie Jean King was able to do more for the cause of women than most feminists can achieve in a lifetime” (Paule-Koba). Kings win against Bobby Riggs, one of the greatest male tennis players of their time, was not just a win for herself, but a win for women everywhere. After Riggs sexist comments leading up to the match, King realized she had a lot more to win the match for then a trophy. “Billie Jean King was the rare athlete who brought together sport and feminism, and, in doing so, she put a human face on the ideals of liberal feminism” (Paule-Koba). Since her win against Riggs, King has started her own tour for women to create equal pay for them, influenced and aided the title IX legislation, and helped create the Women's sports foundation known as womenSports and World Team Tennis.[131]

Other activities edit

King's husband Larry co-founded World Team Tennis in 1973 with Dennis Murphy, Jordan Kaiser, and Fred Barman and WTT began in 1974.[132] The couple used their savings to put on a team tennis event at the Oakland Coliseum.[132] King remained involved with World Team Tennis for decades, eventually sharing ownership with her ex-husband, her life partner Ilana Kloss and USTA.[132] In 2017, King sold her majority ownership stake of the league to Mark Ein and Fred Luddy. WTT was based on her philosophy for gender equality and it had been running continuously for over 40 years.[133]

In 1999, King was elected to serve on the board of directors of Philip Morris Incorporated, garnering some criticism from anti-tobacco groups.[134] She no longer serves in that capacity.

As of 2012 King was involved in the Women's Sports Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.[135] She also served on the President's Council for Fitness, Sports and Nutrition as a way to encourage young people to stay active.[135]

In 2008, King published the book Pressure is a Privilege: Lessons I've Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes.[136]

In December 2013, US President Barack Obama appointed King and openly gay ice hockey player Caitlin Cahow to represent the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. This has been interpreted as a signal on gay rights, in the context of concerns and controversies at the 2014 Winter Olympics regarding LGBT rights in Russia.[137] King was forced to drop out of the delegation due to her mother's ill health. Betty Moffitt, King's mother, died on February 7, 2014, the day of the 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony.[138]

Billie Jean was selected to deliver the Northwestern University commencement address on June 16, 2017, in Evanston, Illinois.[139]

She attended the 75th Golden Globe Awards in 2018 as a guest of Emma Stone.[140]

King and Kloss became minority owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team in September 2018, and the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks basketball team.[141][142] In October 2020, they became part of the ownership group of Angel City FC, a Los Angeles–based team set to start play in the National Women's Soccer League in 2022.[143]

King is also an investor in Just Women's Sports, an American media platform dedicated to women's sports.[144]

On June 29, 2023, the Mark Walter Group and BJK Enterprises purchased the intellectual property and other key elements of the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), a professional women's hockey league in the United States and Canada.[145] Headed by Mark Walter and King, respectively, both businesses had entered a partnership with the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) in May 2022, with the intent to create a new professional women's ice hockey league in North America.[146] The buyout changed the landscape in North American women's professional hockey, as it resulted in a single league with stakeholders from both the PHF and PWHPA. As of June 30, 2023, the new league is expected to start in January 2024.[147][148]

Also in 2023, King competed in season ten of The Masked Singer as "Royal Hen". She was the first of Group B to be eliminated on "A Celebration of Elton John".[149]

Awards, honors, and tributes edit

Tributes from other players edit

 
Billie Jean King speaking at an event in Des Moines, Iowa

Margaret Court, who won more Grand Slam titles than anyone, has said that King was "the greatest competitor I've ever known".[150]

Chris Evert, winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles, has said, "She's the wisest human being that I've ever met and has vision people can only dream about. Billie Jean King is my mentor and has given me advice about my tennis and my boyfriends. On dealing with my parents and even how to raise children. And she doesn't have any."[151]

In 1979, several top players were asked who they would pick to help them recover from a hypothetical deficit of 1–5 (15–40) in the third set of a match on Wimbledon's Centre Court. Martina Navratilova, Rosemary Casals, and Françoise Dürr all picked King. Navratilova said, "I would have to pick Billie Jean at her best. Consistently, Chris [Evert] is hardest to beat but for one big occasion, one big match, one crucial point, yes, it would have to be Billie Jean." Casals said, "No matter how far down you got her, you never could be sure of beating her."[152]

Awards and honors edit

 
The USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was rededicated as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center

Playing style and personality edit

 
Billie Jean King in 2016

King learned to play tennis on the public courts of Long Beach, California, and was coached by tennis teacher Clyde Walker.[10] She furthered her tennis career at the Los Angeles Tennis Club.

She was an aggressive, hard-hitting net-rusher with excellent speed;[76] Chris Evert, however, said about King, "Her weakness is her impatience."[175]

Concerning her motivations in life and tennis, King said,

I'm a perfectionist much more than I'm a super competitor, and there's a big difference there.... I've been painted as a person who only competes. ... But most of all, I get off on hitting a shot correctly. ... Any woman who wants to achieve anything has to be aggressive and tough, but the press never sees us as multidimensional. They don't see the emotions, the downs....[176]

In a 1984 interview, just after she had turned 40, King said,

Sometimes when I'm watching someone like Martina [Navratilova], I remember how nice it was to be No. 1. Believe me, it's the best time in your life. Don't let anyone ever tell you different. ... My only regret is that I had to do too much off the court. Deep down, I wonder how good I really could have been if I [had] concentrated just on tennis.[177]

Julie Heldman, who frequently played King but never felt close to her, said about King's personality,

One of the reasons I've never gotten close to Billie Jean is that I've never felt strong enough to survive against that overwhelming personality of hers. She talks about me being the smart one. Let me tell you, Billie Jean's the smartest one, the cleverest one you'll ever see. She was the one who was able to channel everything into winning, into being the most consummate tennis player.[79]

Kristien Shaw, another frequent opponent of King, said,

For a time, I think I was as close to Billie Jean as anyone ever was. But as soon as I got to the point where I could read her too well, she tried to dissociate the relationship. She doesn't want to risk appearing weak in front of anybody. She told me once that if you want to be the best, you must never let anyone, anyone, know what you really feel. You see, she told me, they can't hurt you if they don't know.[79]

Concerning the qualities of a champion tennis player, King said,

The difference between me at my peak and me in the last few years of my career is that when I was the champion I had the ultimate in confidence. When I decided, under pressure ... that I had to go with my very weakest shot – forehand down the line – I was positive that I could pull it off ... when it mattered the most. Even more than that; going into a match, I knew it was my weakest shot, and I knew in a tight spot my opponent was going to dare me to hit it, and I knew I could hit it those two or three or four times in a match when I absolutely had to. ... The cliché is to say that ... champions play the big points better. Yes, but that's only the half of it. The champions play their weaknesses better....[178]

In popular culture edit

Personal life edit

Billie Jean and Larry King were engaged in fall of 1964 and married in Long Beach, California, on September 17, 1965.[10][189] Billie Jean credited Larry with introducing her to feminism and for pushing her to pursue tennis as a career.[20] Billie Jean later said she "was totally in love with Larry" when they married.[126]

By 1968, King realized that she was attracted to women.[190] In 1971, she began an affair with her secretary, Marilyn Barnett (born Marilyn Kathryn McRae on January 28, 1948). Barnett had been living rent-free in the Kings' Malibu house. In 1979, the Kings asked Barnett to leave their house, but she did not want to. Refusing to leave the house, Barnett threatened to leak records and receipts that she had kept over the years. These receipts included letters from Billie Jean to Marilyn, credit card receipts, and paid bills. After a suicide attempt where she jumped off the balcony of the house leaving her a paraplegic, Barnett sued the Kings in a May 1981 palimony lawsuit for half their income and the Malibu house where she had been staying. Billie Jean acknowledged the relationship between her and Marilyn shortly afterward, making Billie Jean the first prominent female professional athlete to come out.[191] Feeling she could not admit to the extent of the relationship, Billie Jean publicly called it a fling and a mistake. The lawsuit caused Billie Jean to lose an estimated $2 million in endorsements and forced her to prolong her tennis career to pay attorneys.[151] In December 1981, a court order stipulated that Barnett leave the house and that her threats to publish private correspondence between her and King in exchange for money came close to extortion. Barnett's palimony suit was thrown out of court in November 1982.[192] But in a bizarre twist of fate, a few months later in March 1983, the house that had been contested was destroyed during a series of freak storms that lashed the southern California coastline.[193]

Also in 1971, King had an abortion that was made public in a Ms. magazine article.[190] Larry had revealed Billie Jean's abortion without consulting her.[190]

Concerning the personal cost of concealing her sexuality for so many years, Billie Jean said:

I wanted to tell the truth but my parents were homophobic and I was in the closet. As well as that, I had people tell me that if I talked about what I was going through, it would be the end of the women's tour. I couldn't get a closet deep enough. One of my big goals was always to be honest with my parents and I couldn't be for a long time. I tried to bring up the subject but felt I couldn't. My mother would say, "We're not talking about things like that", and I was pretty easily stopped because I was reluctant anyway. I ended up with an eating disorder that came from trying to numb myself from my feelings. I needed to surrender far sooner than I did. At the age of 51, I was finally able to talk about it properly with my parents and no longer did I have to measure my words with them. That was a turning point for me as it meant I didn't have regrets anymore.[126]

Billie Jean and Larry remained married through the palimony suit fallout.[20] Their marriage ended in 1987 after Billie Jean fell in love with her doubles partner, Ilana Kloss.[20] Billie Jean and Larry nevertheless remained close, and she is the godmother of Larry's son from his subsequent marriage.[20]

On October 18, 2018, King and Kloss were married by former New York City Mayor David Dinkins in a secret ceremony.[194] King and her wife Kloss have residences in New York City and Chicago.[195][196] King is a vegetarian.[197]

It was announced in March 2021 that King will be an advisor to First Women's Bank in Chicago.[198]

Grand Slam statistics edit

Main article: Billie Jean King career statistics

Grand Slam single finals edit

18 finals (12 titles, 6 runners-up)

Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 1963 Wimbledon Grass   Margaret Court 3–6, 4–6
Loss 1965 U.S. Championships Grass   Margaret Court 6–8, 5–7
Win 1966 Wimbledon Grass   Maria Bueno 6–3, 3–6, 6–1
Win 1967 Wimbledon (2) Grass   Ann Haydon-Jones 6–3, 6–4
Win 1967 U.S. Championships Grass   Ann Haydon-Jones 11–9, 6–4
Win 1968 Australian Championships Grass   Margaret Court 6–1, 6–2
↓ Open Era ↓
Win 1968 Wimbledon (3) Grass   Judy Tegart-Dalton 9–7, 7–5
Loss 1968 US Open Grass   Virginia Wade 4–6, 2–6
Loss 1969 Australian Open Grass   Margaret Court 4–6, 1–6
Loss 1969 Wimbledon Grass   Ann Haydon-Jones 6–3, 3–6, 2–6
Loss 1970 Wimbledon Grass   Margaret Court 12–14, 9–11
Win 1971 US Open (2) Grass   Rosemary Casals 6–4, 7–6(5–2)
Win 1972 French Open Clay   Evonne Goolagong 6–3, 6–3
Win 1972 Wimbledon (4) Grass   Evonne Goolagong 6–3, 6–3
Win 1972 US Open (3) Grass   Kerry Melville Reid 6–3, 7–5
Win 1973 Wimbledon (5) Grass   Chris Evert 6–0, 7–5
Win 1974 US Open (4) Grass   Evonne Goolagong 3–6, 6–3, 7–5
Win 1975 Wimbledon (6) Grass   Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6–0, 6–1

Grand Slam tournament timeline edit

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A NH
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
Tournament '59 '60 '61 '62 '63 '64 '65 '66 '67 '68 '69 '70 '71 '72 '73 '74 '75 '76 '77 '78 '79 '80 '81 '82 '83 '84 SR W–L
Australian Open A A A A A A SF A A W F A A A A A A A A/A A A A A QF 2R A 1 / 5 16–4
French Open A A A A A A A A QF SF QF QF A W A A A A A A A QF A 3R A A 1 / 7 21–6
Wimbledon A A 2R QF F SF SF W W W F F SF W W QF W A QF QF QF QF A SF SF A 6 / 21 95–15
US Open 1R 3R 2R 1R 4R QF F 2R W F QF A W W 3R W A A QF A SF A A 1R A A 4 / 18 58–14
SR 0 / 1 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 3 1 / 2 2 / 3 2 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 2 1 / 2 3 / 3 1 / 2 1 / 2 1 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 2 0 / 1 0 / 2 0 / 2 0 / 0 0 / 4 0 / 2 0 / 0 12 / 51 190–39
  • Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.

Records edit

  • Most singles matches played in a season (1971): 125.
  • Most singles matches won in a season (1971): 112.
  • Most doubles titles won in a season (1971): 21.
  • Most singles and doubles titles won in a season (1971): 38.
  • Most singles and doubles matches won in a season (1971): 192.
  • Most doubles matches won in a season (1971): 80.
  • Oldest singles title winner on the WTA Tour (Birmingham 1983): 39 years, 7 months.

Books edit

  • King, Billie Jean; Brennan, Christine (2008). Pressure Is a Privilege: Lessons I've Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes. New York: LifeTime Media. ISBN 978-0-9816368-0-1. OCLC 1036819775.
  • ——; Howard, Johnette; Vollers, Maryanne (2021). All In: An Autobiography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-1-101-94733-3.

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Five additional women have completed a career Grand Slam since King.
  2. ^ Martina Navratilova also has 20 career titles at Wimbledon.
  3. ^ 26–3 in singles and 26–1 in doubles
  4. ^ excluding two unfinished matches
  5. ^ 14–2 in singles and 8–2 in women's doubles

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Further reading edit

  • Fein, Paul (2005). You Can Quote Me On That: Greatest Tennis Quips, Insights And Zingers. Washington: Potomac Books. ISBN 1-57488-925-7.
  • Jones, Ann, A Game of Love, 1971
  • Overman, Steven J. and K. B. Sagert, Icons of Women's Sport. Greenwood Press, 2012, Vol. 1.
  • Roberts, Selena (2005). A Necessary Spectacle: Billie Jean King, Bobby Riggs, and the Tennis Match That Leveled the Game. New York: Crown. ISBN 1-4000-5146-0.
  • Ware, Susan (2011). Game, Set, Match: Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women's Sports. University of North Carolina Press. Combines biography and history in a study of the tennis player, liberal feminism, and Title IX.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Billie Jean King.

November 25, 2023
billie, jean, king, née, moffitt, born, november, 1943, also, known, american, former, world, tennis, player, king, grand, slam, titles, singles, women, doubles, mixed, doubles, king, member, victorious, united, states, team, seven, federation, cups, nine, wig. Billie Jean King nee Moffitt born November 22 1943 also known as BJK is an American former world No 1 tennis player King won 39 Grand Slam titles 12 in singles 16 in women s doubles and 11 in mixed doubles King was a member of the victorious United States team in seven Federation Cups and nine Wightman Cups For three years she was the U S captain in the Federation Cup Billie Jean KingKing in September 2011BornBillie Jean Moffitt 1943 11 22 November 22 1943 age 80 Long Beach California U S Height5 ft 4 1 2 in 1 64 m Tennis careerCountry sports United StatesTurned pro1968Retired1990PlaysRight handed one handed backhand CollegeCalifornia State University Los AngelesPrize money 1 966 487 1 Int Tennis HoF1987 member page Official websitewww billiejeanking comSinglesCareer record695 155 81 76 Career titles129 67 during open era Highest rankingNo 1 1966 Lance Tingay Grand Slam singles resultsAustralian OpenW 1968 French OpenW 1972 WimbledonW 1966 1967 1968 1972 1973 1975 US OpenW 1967 1971 1972 1974 DoublesCareer record87 37 as shown on WTA website 1 Highest rankingNo 1 1967 Grand Slam doubles resultsAustralian OpenF 1965 1969 French OpenW 1972 WimbledonW 1961 1962 1965 1967 1968 1970 1971 1972 1973 1979 US OpenW 1964 1967 1974 1978 1980 Other doubles tournamentsTour FinalsW 1974 1976 1978 1980 Mixed doublesCareer titles11Grand Slam mixed doubles resultsAustralian OpenW 1968 French OpenW 1967 1970 WimbledonW 1967 1971 1973 1974 US OpenW 1967 1971 1973 1976 Team competitionsFed CupW 1963 1966 1967 1976 1977 1978 1979 as player W 1976 1996 1999 2000 as captain Coaching careerTim Mayotte Martina NavratilovaKing is an advocate of gender equality and has long been a pioneer for equality and social justice 2 In 1973 at the age of 29 she famously won the Battle of the Sexes tennis match against the 55 year old Bobby Riggs 3 King was also the founder of the Women s Tennis Association and the Women s Sports Foundation She was instrumental in persuading cigarette brand Virginia Slims to sponsor women s tennis in the 1970s and went on to serve on the board of their parent company Philip Morris in the 2000s Regarded by many as one of the greatest tennis players of all time 4 5 6 7 King was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987 The Fed Cup Award of Excellence was bestowed on her in 2010 In 1972 she was the joint winner with John Wooden of the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award and was one of the Time Persons of the Year in 1975 She has also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year lifetime achievement award She was inducted into the National Women s Hall of Fame in 1990 and in 2006 the USTA National Tennis Center in New York City was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center In 2018 she won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award In 2020 the Federation Cup was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup in her honor In 2022 she was awarded the French Legion of Honour Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2 1 The early years 1959 1963 2 2 1964 2 3 1965 2 4 Prime competitive years 1966 1975 2 4 1 Overview 2 4 2 1966 2 4 3 1967 2 4 4 1968 2 4 5 1969 2 4 6 1970 2 4 7 1971 2 4 8 1972 2 4 9 1973 2 4 9 1 Battle of the Sexes 2 4 10 1974 2 4 11 1975 2 5 The later years 1976 1990 2 5 1 1976 2 5 2 1977 2 5 3 1978 2 5 4 1979 2 5 5 1980 1981 2 5 6 1982 1983 2 5 7 1984 to present 2 6 Activism within the tennis profession 2 6 1 Player compensation 2 6 2 Push for female equality 2 7 Other activities 3 Awards honors and tributes 3 1 Tributes from other players 3 2 Awards and honors 4 Playing style and personality 5 In popular culture 6 Personal life 7 Grand Slam statistics 7 1 Grand Slam single finals 7 2 Grand Slam tournament timeline 8 Records 9 Books 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External linksEarly life editBillie Jean Moffitt was born in Long Beach California into a conservative Methodist family the daughter of Betty nee Jerman a housewife and Bill Moffitt a firefighter 8 9 Her family was athletic her mother excelled at swimming and her father played basketball and baseball and ran track 10 Her younger brother Randy Moffitt became a Major League Baseball pitcher pitching for 12 years in the major leagues for the San Francisco Giants Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays 11 She also excelled at baseball and softball as a child playing shortstop at 10 years old on a team with girls 4 5 years older than she 10 The team went on to win the Long Beach softball championship 10 She switched from softball to tennis at the age of 11 12 because her parents suggested she should find a more ladylike sport 10 She saved her own money 8 88 54 in 2022 terms to buy her first racket 10 She went with a school friend to take her first tennis lesson on the many free public courts in Long Beach taking advantage of the free lessons offered by professional Clyde Walker who worked for the City of Long Beach 10 One of the city s tennis facilities has subsequently been named the Billie Jean Moffitt King Tennis Center 13 As a kid playing in her first tennis tournaments she was often hindered by her aggressive playing style 10 Bob Martin sportswriter for the Long Beach Press Telegram wrote about her success in a weekly tennis column citation needed One of King s first conflicts with the tennis establishments and status quo came in her youth when she was forbidden from being in a group picture at a tournament because she was wearing tennis shorts sewn by her mother instead of the usual white tennis dress 14 King s family in Long Beach attended the Church of the Brethren where the minister was former athlete and two time Olympic pole vaulting champion Bob Richards One day when King was 13 or 14 Richards asked her What are you going to do with your life She said Reverend I m going to be the best tennis player in the world 15 16 17 King attended Long Beach Polytechnic High School 18 After graduating in 1961 she attended Los Angeles State College now California State University Los Angeles Cal State LA 12 She did not graduate leaving school in 1964 to focus on tennis 19 While attending Cal State she met Larry King in a library in 1963 10 The pair became engaged while still in school when Billie Jean was 20 and Larry 19 years old and married on September 17 1965 in Long Beach 20 Career edit nbsp Billie Jean Moffitt later King in the 1960s at the Irish Open at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club Dublin where she won her first international titleKing s French Open win in 1972 made her only the fifth woman in tennis history to win the singles titles at all four Grand Slam events a career Grand Slam a She also won a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles In women s doubles only the Australian Open eluded her King won a record 20 career titles at Wimbledon six in singles 10 in women s doubles and four in mixed doubles b King played 51 Grand Slam singles events from 1959 through 1983 reaching at least the semi finals in 27 and at least the quarterfinals in 40 of her attempts King was the runner up in six Grand Slam singles events An indicator of her mental toughness in Grand Slam singles tournaments was her 11 2 career record in deuce third sets i e third sets that were tied 5 5 before being resolved citation needed King won 129 singles titles 21 78 of which were WTA titles and her career prize money totaled US 1 966 487 22 In Federation Cup finals she was on the winning United States team seven times in 1963 1966 1967 and 1976 through 1979 Her career win loss record was 52 4 c She won the last 30 matches she played d including 15 straight wins in both singles and doubles 23 In Wightman Cup competition her career win loss record was 22 4 e winning her last nine matches six in singles and three in doubles The United States won the cup in ten of the 11 years in which she participated In singles King was 6 1 against Ann Haydon Jones 4 0 against Virginia Wade and 1 1 against Christine Truman Janes 24 The early years 1959 1963 edit As Billie Jean King began competing in 1959 she began working with new coaches including Frank Brennan 10 and Alice Marble who had won 18 Grand Slam titles as a player herself 25 She made her Grand Slam debut at the 1959 U S Championships when she was 15 26 She lost in the first round 27 She began playing at local regional and international tennis championships 28 164 Sports Illustrated already claimed her as one of the most promising youngsters on the West Coast 29 She won her first tournament the next year in Philadelphia at the 1960 Philadelphia and District Grass Court Championships 26 30 At her second attempt at the U S Championships King made it to the third round losing to Bernice Carr Vukovich of South Africa citation needed Also in 1960 she reached the final of the National Girls 18 and Under Championships losing to Karen Hantze Susman 10 Her national tennis ranking improved from number 19 in 1959 to number 4 in 1960 31 23 Despite the success Marble terminated her professional relationship with King for reasons stemming from King s ambition 31 23 King first gained international recognition in 1961 when the Long Beach Tennis Patrons the Century Club and Harold Guiver raised 2 000 to send her to Wimbledon 32 There she won the women s doubles title in her first attempt while partnering Karen Hantze 8 King was 17 and Hantze was 18 making them the youngest team to win the Wimbledon Doubles Title 10 King had less luck that year in the 1961 Wimbledon women s singles losing to fifth seeded Yola Ramirez in a two day match on Centre Court 33 Despite these performances she could not get a sports scholarship when later that year she attended Los Angeles State now California State Billie Jean King The Wall Street Journal August 14 2021 For the 1962 singles tournament at Wimbledon King upset Margaret Court the World No 1 and top seed in a second round match by attacking Court s forehand 34 35 This was the first time in Wimbledon history that the women s top seed had lost her first match 36 That same year King and Hantze repeated their doubles victory at Wimbledon 31 24 In 1963 King again faced Margaret Court at Wimbledon 31 24 This time they met in the final and Court prevailed 31 24 1964 edit In 1964 King won four relatively minor titles citation needed but lost to Margaret Court in the Wimbledon semi finals 37 She defeated Ann Haydon Jones at both the Wightman Cup and Fed Cup but lost to Court in the final of the Federation Cup At the U S Championships fifth seeded Nancy Richey upset third seeded King in the quarterfinals Late in the year King decided to make a full time commitment to tennis While a history major at Los Angeles State College King made the decision to play full time when businessman Robert Mitchell offered to pay her way to Australia so that she could train under the great Australian coach Mervyn Rose 38 While in Australia King played three tournaments that year and lost in the quarterfinals of the Queensland Grass Court Championships the final of the New South Wales Championships to Court and the third round of the Victorian Championships 1965 edit In early 1965 King continued her three month tour of Australia She lost in the final of the South Australian Championships and the first round of the Western Australia Championships At the Fed Cup in Melbourne she defeated Ann Haydon Jones to help the United States defeat the United Kingdom in the second round However Margaret Court again defeated her in the final At the Australian Championships two weeks later she lost to Court in the semi finals in two sets At Wimbledon she again lost in the semi finals this time in three sets to Maria Bueno 10 Her last tournament of the year was the U S Championships where she defeated Jones in the quarterfinals and Bueno in the semi finals In the final King led 5 3 in both sets was two points from winning the first set and had two set points in the second set 39 before losing to Court in straight sets She said that losing while being so close to winning was devastating but the match proved to her that she was good enough to be the best in the world I m going to win Wimbledon next year 40 She won six tournaments during the year For the first time in 81 years the annual convention of the United States Lawn Tennis Association overruled its ranking committee s recommendation to award her the sole U S No 1 position and voted 59 810 to 40 966 to rank Nancy Richey Gunter and King as co U S No 1 41 Prime competitive years 1966 1975 edit Overview edit Six of King s Grand Slam singles titles were at Wimbledon four were at the U S Championships Open one was at the French Open and one was at the Australian Championships King reached the final of a Grand Slam singles tournament in 16 out of 25 attempts and had a 12 4 win loss record in those finals In the nine tournaments that she failed to reach the final she was a losing semi finalist twice and a losing quarter finalist five times From 1971 through 1975 she won seven of the ten Grand Slam singles tournaments she played She won the last seven Grand Slam singles finals she contested six of them in straight sets and four of them against Evonne Goolagong All but one of her Grand Slam singles titles were on grass King s Grand Slam record from 1966 through 1975 was comparable to that of Margaret Court her primary rival during these years One or both of these women played 35 of the 40 Grand Slam singles tournaments held during this period and together they won 24 of them During this period Court won 31 of her career 64 Grand Slam titles including 12 of her 24 Grand Slam singles titles 11 of her 19 Grand Slam women s doubles titles and eight of her 21 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles Court reached the final of a Grand Slam singles tournament in 14 out of 25 attempts and had a 12 2 win loss record in those finals Court won seven of the 12 Grand Slam finals she played against King during these years including 2 1 in singles finals 4 1 in women s doubles finals and 1 3 in mixed doubles finals King was the year ending World No 1 in six of the ten years from 1966 through 1975 She was the year ending World No 2 in three of those years and the World No 3 in the other year King won 97 of her career 129 singles titles during this period and was the runner up in 36 other tournaments 1966 edit nbsp From left to right the United States national team tenniswomen Carole Caldwell Graebner Julie Heldman and Billie Jean King in Turin Italy holding the Federations Cup 1966 won against West Germany women s national tennis teamIn 1966 King defeated Dorothy Dodo Cheney then 49 years old for the first time in five career matches winning their semi final at the Southern California Championships 6 0 6 3 King also ended her nine match losing streak to Margaret Court by defeating her in the final of the South African Tennis Championships She also won the women s singles in the Ojai Tennis Tournament 42 At the Wightman Cup just before Wimbledon King defeated Virginia Wade and Ann Haydon Jones After thirteen unsuccessful attempts to win a Grand Slam singles title from 1959 through 1965 King at the age of 22 finally won the first of her six singles titles at Wimbledon and the first of twelve Grand Slam singles titles overall defeating Court in the semi finals 6 3 6 3 and Maria Bueno in the final King credited her semi final victory to her forehand down the line a new shot in her repertoire 40 She also said that the strategy for playing Court is Simple Just chip the ball back at her feet 43 At the U S Championships an ill King was upset by Kerry Melville in the second round 44 1967 edit King successfully defended her title at the South African Tennis Championships in 1967 defeating Maria Bueno in the final She played the French Championships for the first time in her career 45 falling in the quarterfinals to Annette Van Zyl of South Africa At the Federation Cup one week later in West Germany on clay King won all four of her matches including victories over DuPlooy Ann Haydon Jones and Helga Niessen King then successfully switched surfaces and won her second consecutive Wimbledon singles title defeating Virginia Wade in the quarterfinals 7 5 6 2 and Jones At the Wightman Cup King again defeated Wade and Jones King won her second Grand Slam singles title of the year when she won the U S Championships for the first time and without losing a set defeating Wade Van Zyl Francoise Durr and Jones in consecutive matches Jones pulled her left hamstring muscle early in the final and saved four match points in the second set before King prevailed 46 King won the singles women s doubles and mixed doubles titles at both Wimbledon and the U S Championships the first woman to do that since Alice Marble in 1939 47 King then returned to the Australian summer tour in December for the first time since 1965 playing seven events there and Judy Tegart in six of those events winning four of their matches King lost in the quarterfinals of the New South Wales Championships in Sydney to Tegart after King injured her left knee in the second game of the third set of that match 48 However King won the Victorian Championships in Melbourne the following week defeating Dalton Reid and Lesley Turner in the last three rounds At a team event in Adelaide King won all three of her singles and doubles matches to help the U S defeat Australia 5 1 To finish the year King lost to Tegart in the final of the South Australian Championships in Adelaide 1968 edit In early 1968 King won three consecutive tournaments to end her Australian tour In Perth King won the Western Australia Championships defeating Margaret Court in the final In Hobart King won the Tasmanian Championships by defeating Judy Tegart Dalton in the final King then won the Australian Championships for the first time defeating Dalton in the semi finals and Court in the final King continued to win tournaments upon her return to the United States winning three indoor tournaments before Nancy Richey Gunter defeated King in the semi finals of the Madison Square Garden Challenge Trophy amateur tournament in New York City before 10 233 spectators 49 The match started with Gunter taking a 4 2 lead in the first set before King won 9 of the next 10 games King served for the match at 5 1 and had a match point at 5 3 in the second set however she lost the final 12 games and the match 4 6 7 5 6 0 50 King then won three consecutive tournaments in Europe before losing to Ann Haydon Jones in the final of a professional tournament at Madison Square Garden Playing the French Open for only the second time in her career and attempting to win four consecutive Grand Slam singles titles a non calendar year Grand Slam King defeated Maria Bueno in a quarterfinal before losing to Gunter in a semi final 2 6 6 3 6 4 King rebounded to win her third consecutive Wimbledon singles title defeating Jones in the semi finals and Dalton in the final At the US Open King defeated Bueno in a semi final before being upset in the final by Virginia Wade On September 24 she had surgery to repair cartilage in her left knee 51 and did not play in tournaments the remainder of the year King said that it took eight months May 1969 for her knee to recover completely from the surgery 52 In 1977 King said that her doctors predicted in 1968 that her left knee would allow her to play competitive tennis for only two more years 53 1969 edit King participated in the 1969 Australian summer tour for the second consecutive year Unlike the previous year King did not win a tournament She lost in the quarterfinals of the Tasmanian Championships and the semi finals of the New South Wales Championships At the Australian Open King defeated 17 year old Evonne Goolagong in the second round 6 3 6 1 and Ann Haydon Jones in a three set semi final before losing to Margaret Court in a straight sets final The following week King lost in the semi finals of the New Zealand Championships Upon her return to the United States King won the Pacific Coast Pro and the Los Angeles Pro King then won two tournaments in South Africa including the South African Open During the European summer clay court season King lost in the quarterfinals of both the Italian Open and the French Open On grass at the Wills Open in Bristol United Kingdom King defeated Virginia Wade in the semi finals 6 8 11 9 6 2 before losing to Court At Wimbledon King lost only 13 points while defeating Rosemary Casals in the semi finals 6 1 6 0 54 however Jones upset King in the final and prevented King from winning her fourth consecutive singles title there The week after King again defeated Wade to win the Irish Open for the second time in her career In the final Grand Slam tournament of the year King lost in the quarterfinals of the US Open to Nancy Richey Gunter 6 4 8 6 This was the first year since 1965 that King did not win at least one Grand Slam singles title King finished the year with titles at the Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles the Stockholm Indoors and the Midland Texas Pro She said during the Pacific Southwest Open It has been a bad year for me My left knee has been OK but I have been bothered by a severe tennis elbow for seven months I expect to have a real big year in 1970 though because I really have the motivation now I feel like a kid again 55 1970 edit nbsp Billie Jean King in 1970In 1970 Margaret Court won all four Grand Slam singles tournaments and was clearly the World No 1 King lost to Court three times in the first four months of the year in Philadelphia Dallas and Johannesburg at the South African Open Court however was not totally dominant during this period as King defeated her in Sydney and Durban South Africa Where Court dominated was at the Grand Slam tournaments King did not play the Australian Open King had leg cramps and lost to Helga Niessen Masthoff of West Germany in the quarterfinals of the French Open 2 6 8 6 6 1 56 At Wimbledon Court needed seven match points 57 to defeat King in the final 14 12 11 9 in one of the greatest women s finals in the history of the tournament 58 On July 22 59 King had right knee surgery which forced her to miss the US Open King returned to the tour in September where she had a first round loss at the Virginia Slims Invitational in Houston and a semi final loss at the Pacific Coast Championships in Berkeley California To close out the year King in November won the Virginia Slims Invitational in Richmond Virginia and the Embassy Indoor Tennis Championships in London During the European clay court season King warmed up for the French Open by playing in Monte Carlo losing in the semi finals winning the Italian Open saving three match points against Virginia Wade in the semi finals 60 playing in Bournemouth losing to Wade in the quarterfinals and playing in Berlin losing to Masthoff in the semi finals The Italian Open victory was the first important clay court title of King s career Along the way she defeated Masthoff in a three set quarterfinal and Wade in a three set semi final saving two match points at 4 5 in the second set The twelfth game of that set with King leading 6 5 had 21 deuces and lasted 22 minutes 61 with Wade saving seven set points and holding sixteen game points before King won In Wightman Cup competition two weeks before Wimbledon but played at the All England Club King defeated both Wade and Ann Haydon Jones in straight sets Many things bothered King concerning her advocacy for women s rights in sports Among these concerns she sought better pay for female tennis players given the substantial differences in budgets between male and female players In September 1970 there was the Pacific Southwest Open which was a tennis tournament The prize money for men and women varied significantly with the top prize for men being 12 500 and for women a mere 1 500 Women s expenses were not covered unless they made the quarterfinals This had bothered King and was the final straw for her King and other 8 women did not play because of the budgets which they were willing to take the risk of expulsion from the U S Lawn Tennis Association King and the other women organized a women Houston Virginia Slims invitational and this helped launch the series of women only tournaments 62 1971 edit Although King won only one Grand Slam singles title in 1971 this was the best year of her career in terms of tournaments won 17 According to the International Tennis Hall of Fame she played in 31 singles tournaments and compiled a 112 13 win loss record 32 She started the year by winning eight of the first thirteen tournaments she played defeating Rosemary Casals in seven finals King s five losses during this period were to Francoise Durr twice Casals once Ann Haydon Jones once and Chris Evert in St Petersburg At the time King said that retiring from the match with Evert after splitting the first two sets was necessary because of leg cramps But in early 1972 King admitted that cramps associated with an abortion caused the retirement 63 At the tournament in early May at Hurlingham United Kingdom King lost a second round match to an old rival Christine Truman Janes now 30 years old 6 4 6 2 but King recovered the next week to win the German Open in Hamburg on clay Four weeks later at the Queen s Club tournament in London King played Margaret Court for the first time in 1971 losing their final At Wimbledon King defeated Janes in the fourth round 6 2 7 5 and Durr in the quarterfinals before losing unexpectedly to Evonne Goolagong in the semi finals 6 4 6 4 Two weeks after Wimbledon King won the Rothmans North of England Championships on grass in Hoylake United Kingdom beating Virginia Wade Court and Casals in the last three rounds She then played two clay court tournaments in Europe winning neither before resuming play in the United States In August King won the indoor Houston tournament and the U S Women s Clay Court Championships in Indianapolis King then switched back to grass and won the US Open without losing a set defeating Evert in the semi finals 6 3 6 2 and Casals in the final King then won the tournaments in Louisville Phoenix and London Wembley Pro King and Casals both defaulted at 6 6 in the final of the Pepsi Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles in September when their request to remove a lineswoman was denied eventually resulting in the United States Lawn Tennis Association fining both players US 2 500 64 To end the year King played two tournaments in New Zealand but did not win either She lost in Christchurch to Durr and in Auckland to Kerry Melville Reid In 1971 King was the first female tennis player to earn 100 000 a year Being one of her greatest accomplishments this earned her congratulatory phone call from President Richard M Nixon 62 1972 edit King won three Grand Slam singles titles in 1972 electing not to play the Australian Open despite being nearby when she played in New Zealand in late 1971 King said I was twenty eight years old and I was at the height of my powers I m quite sure I could have won the Grand Slam in 1972 but the Australian was such a minor league tournament at that time More important I did not want to miss any Virginia Slims winter tournaments I was playing enough as it was 65 Her dominance was aided by rival Margaret Court s absence from the tour due to childbirth during most of the 1972 season At the beginning of the year King failed to win eight of the first ten tournaments she played She won the title in San Francisco in mid January But then King lost in Long Beach to Francoise Durr although King claimed in her 1982 autobiography that she intentionally lost the match because of an argument with her husband 66 and in Fort Lauderdale on clay to Chris Evert 6 1 6 0 The inconsistent results continued through mid April in Oklahoma City losing in the quarterfinals Washington D C losing in the second round and Dallas losing to Nancy Richey Gunter after defeating Evert in the quarterfinals 6 7 4 5 6 3 7 5 and Evonne Goolagong in the semi finals 1 6 6 4 6 1 67 King won the title in Richmond however one week later King lost in the semi finals of the tournament in San Juan This was followed in successive weeks by a loss in the Jacksonville final to Marie Neumannova Pinterova and in a St Petersburg semi final to Evert 6 2 6 3 King did not lose again until mid August winning six consecutive tournaments She won the tournaments in Tucson and Indianapolis King then won the French Open without losing a set and completed a career Grand Slam She defeated Virginia Wade in the quarterfinals Helga Niessen Masthoff in the semi finals and Goolagong in the final 68 On grass King then won the Wimbledon warm up tournaments in Nottingham and Bristol and won Wimbledon itself for the fourth time She lost only one set during the tournament to Wade in the quarterfinals That was followed by straight set wins over Rosemary Casals and Goolagong When the tour returned to the United States King did not win any of the three tournaments she played before the US Open including a straight sets loss to Margaret Court in Newport At the US Open however King won the tournament without losing a set including a quarterfinal win over Wade a semi final defeat of Court and a final win over Kerry Melville Reid King finished the year by winning the tournaments in Charlotte and Phoenix defeating Court in the final of both a runner up finish in Oakland losing to Court and a semifinal finish at the year end championships in Boca Raton losing to Evert 1973 edit nbsp The dress worn by King in 1973 during the Battle of the Sexes match The National Museum of American History1973 was Margaret Court s turn to win three Grand Slam singles titles failing to win only Wimbledon and was the clear world No 1 for the year this was her first full season since winning the Grand Slam in 1970 as she had missed significant portions of 1971 and 1972 due to childbirth As during the previous year King started 1973 inconsistently She missed the first three Virginia Slims tournaments in January because of a wrist injury 69 She then lost in the third round at the Virginia Slims of Miami tournament but won the Virginia Slims of Indianapolis tournament defeating Court in the semi finals 6 7 7 6 6 3 and Rosemary Casals in the final The semi final victory ended Court s 12 tournament and 59 match winning streaks 70 with King saving at least three match points when down 5 4 40 0 in the second set Indianapolis was followed by five tournaments that King failed to win Detroit Boston Chicago Jacksonville and the inaugural Family Circle Cup in Hilton Head South Carolina King lost to Court in two of those tournaments After deciding not to defend her French Open singles title King won four consecutive tournaments including her fifth Wimbledon singles title when she defeated Kerry Melville Reid in the quarterfinals Evonne Goolagong in the semi finals on her eighth match point 71 and Chris Evert in the final King lost only nine points in the 6 0 bageling of Evert in the first set of their final 72 King also completed the Triple Crown at Wimbledon winning the singles women s doubles and mixed doubles titles in the same year thus becoming the first and only player to do so at Wimbledon in the Open Era In none of the preceding tournaments however did King play Court Their rivalry resumed in the final of the Virginia Slims of Nashville tournament where Court won for the third time in four matches against King in 1973 This was the last ever singles match between those players with Court winning 21 and King 13 of their 34 matches Three weeks later at the US Open King retired from her fourth round match with Julie Heldman while ill 73 and suffering from the oppressive heat and humidity When Heldman complained to the match umpire that King was taking too long between games King reportedly told Heldman If you want the match that badly you can have it 74 The Battle of the Sexes match against Bobby Riggs was held in the middle of the Virginia Slims of Houston tournament King won her first and second round matches three days before playing Riggs defeated Riggs won her quarterfinal match the day after the Riggs match and then lost the following day to Casals in the semifinals 7 6 6 1 According to King I had nothing left to give 75 To end the year King won tournaments in Phoenix Hawaii and Tokyo and was the runner up in Baltimore Battle of the Sexes edit Main article Battle of the Sexes tennis nbsp Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973In 1973 King defeated Bobby Riggs in an exhibition match winning 100 000 670 520 in 2022 terms Riggs had been a top men s player in the 1930s and 1940s in both the amateur and professional ranks He won the Wimbledon men s singles title in 1939 and was considered the World No 1 male tennis player for 1941 1946 and 1947 He then became a self described tennis hustler who played in promotional challenge matches Claiming that the women s game was so inferior to the men s game that even a 55 year old like himself could beat the current top female players he challenged and defeated Margaret Court 6 2 6 1 King who previously had rejected challenges from Riggs then accepted a lucrative financial offer to play him for 100 000 in a winner takes all match Dubbed the Battle of the Sexes the Riggs King match took place at the Houston Astrodome in Texas on September 20 1973 The match garnered huge publicity In front of 30 492 spectators and a television audience estimated at 50 million people U S and 90 million in 37 countries 29 year old King beat the 55 year old Riggs 6 4 6 3 6 3 The match is considered a significant event in developing greater recognition and respect for women s tennis King said I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn t win that match It would ruin the women s tour and affect all women s self esteem 76 and that to beat a 55 year old guy was no thrill for me The thrill was exposing a lot of new people to tennis 77 1974 edit King won five of the first seven tournaments she contested in 1974 She won the Virginia Slims of San Francisco defeating Nancy Richey Gunter in the semi finals and Chris Evert in the final The following week in Indian Wells California King again defeated Gunter in the semi finals but lost to Evert in the final King then won tournaments in Fairfax Virginia and Detroit before losing a semi final match to Virginia Wade in Chicago King won both tournaments she played in March defeating Gunter in the Akron Ohio final and Evert at the U S Indoor Championships final Olga Morozova then upset King in her next two tournaments at Philadelphia in the final and at Wimbledon in a quarterfinal 7 5 6 2 Afterward King did not play a tour match until the US Open where she won her fourth singles title and third in the last four years She defeated Rosemary Casals in a straight sets quarterfinal avenged in the semi finals her previous year s loss to Julie Heldman and narrowly defeated Evonne Goolagong in the final King did not reach a tournament final during the remainder of the year losing to Heldman in an Orlando semi final Wade in a Phoenix semi final and Goolagong in a semi final of the tour ending Virginia Slims Championships in Los Angeles 1975 edit In 1975 King played singles only half the year as she retired temporarily as it turned out from tournament singles competition immediately after winning her sixth Wimbledon singles title She began the year in San Francisco defeating Francoise Durr and Virginia Wade before losing to Chris Evert in the final The following week King won the Sarasota Florida tournament defeating Evert in the final 6 3 6 2 Evert said immediately after the final which was her thirteenth career match with King I think that s the best that Billie Jean has ever played I hit some great shots but they just kept coming back at me 78 Looking back at that match King said I probably played so well because I had to for the money Out of frustration comes creativity Right 79 Two months later Wade defeated King in the semi finals of the Philadelphia tournament At the Austin Texas tournament in April King defeated Evonne Goolagong 6 1 6 3 before losing to Evert in the final As King was serving for the match at 6 5 in the third set a disputed line call went in Evert s favor King said after the match that she was cheated out of the match and that she had never been angrier about a match 80 King played only one of the Wimbledon warm up tournaments defeating Olga Morozova in the Eastbourne semi finals before losing to Wade in the final Seeded third at Wimbledon King defeated seventh seeded Morozova in the quarterfinals 6 3 6 3 and then top seeded Evert in the semi finals 2 6 6 2 6 3 after being down 3 0 40 15 in the final set 81 Evert blamed her semifinal defeat on a loss of concentration when she saw Jimmy Connors her former fiance escorting Susan George into Centre Court King however believes that the match turned around because King planned for and totally prepared for Wimbledon that year and told herself when she was on the verge of defeat Hey Billie Jean this is ridiculous You paid the price For once you looked ahead You re supposed to win Get your bahoola in gear 81 King then defeated fourth seeded Goolagong Cawley in the second most lopsided women s final ever at Wimbledon 6 0 6 1 King called her performance a near perfect match and said to the news media I m never coming back 82 The later years 1976 1990 edit 1976 edit Except for five Federation Cup singles matches that she won in straight sets in August King played only in doubles and mixed doubles events from January through September She partnered Phil Dent to the mixed doubles title at the US Open She lost to Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat in both of the singles tournaments she played the remainder of the year Looking back King said I wasted 1976 After watching Chris Evert and Evonne Goolagong Cawley play the final at Wimbledon I asked myself what I was doing So despite my age and the operations the Old Lady came back 83 King had knee surgery for the third time on November 9 84 this time on her right knee 85 and did not play the remainder of the year 1977 edit King spent the first three months of the year rehabilitating her right knee after surgery in November 1976 86 In March 1977 King requested that the Women s Tennis Association WTA exercise its right to grant a wild card entry to King for the eight player Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden in New York City Margaret Court who finished in sixth place on the Virginia Slims points list had left the tour due to her fourth pregnancy and thus failed to qualify for the tournament because she did not play enough Virginia Slims tournaments leading up to the championships This left a spot open in the draw which the WTA filled with Mima Jausovec King then decided to play the Lionel Cup tournament in San Antonio Texas which the WTA harshly criticized because tournament officials there had allowed Renee Richards a transgender athlete to enter 87 Chris Evert Martina Navratilova and Betty Stove president of the WTA criticized King s decision because of Richards s unresolved and highly controversial status on the women s tennis tour Evert said she was disappointed with King and that until Richards s status was resolved all of the women should stick together Navratilova said Billie Jean is a bad girl pouting She made a bad decision She s mad because she could not get what she wanted Stove said that if King had wanted the competition T here are plenty of men around here she could ve played with She didn t have to choose a disputed tournament 88 The draw in San Antonio called for King to play Richards in the semi finals had form held however Richards lost in the quarterfinals King eventually won the tournament At the clay court Family Circle Cup in late March King played for the last time her long time rival Nancy Richey Gunter in the first round King won 0 6 7 6 6 2 She defeated another clay court specialist Virginia Ruzici in the second round before winning only one game from Evert in the final At Wimbledon in the third round King played Maria Bueno for the last time with King winning 6 2 7 5 In the quarterfinals Evert defeated King for the first time at a Grand Slam singles tournament and for the first time on grass 6 1 6 2 in just 46 minutes Evert said it was the best match she had ever played on grass up to that point in her career 89 and King said No excuses Let s forget knees ankles toes everything else She just played beautiful tennis I don t think many players would ve beaten her today 90 King also said after the match Maybe I can be happy being number eight instead of number one At this stage just playing that s winning enough for me 91 But when asked about retirement King said Retire Quit tournament tennis You gotta be kidding It just means I ve got a lot more work I ve got to make myself match tough mentally as well as physically I gotta go out and kill myself for the next six months It s a long arduous process I will suffer But I will be back 92 There was a small historic note at Wimbledon 1977 in that it was the first time ever that King competed at the championships that she did not reach a final From her debut in 1961 until 1976 she had played in the final of one of the three championship events for women every year Perhaps there was irony in this in that as the Wimbledon champion with the most titles in its history the event was celebrating its centenary in the year King failed to make a final for the first time The only other years she competed at the championship and did not feature in a final were 1980 and 1982 In her entire Wimbledon career of 22 competitions King never failed to be a semi finalist in at least one event every year 93 Evert repeated her Wimbledon quarterfinal victory over King at the clay court US Open winning 6 2 6 0 This loss prompted King to say I better get it together by October or November or that s it I ll have to make some big decisions I m not 20 years old and I can t just go out and change my game It s only the last four weeks I haven t been in knee pain But if I keep using that as a copout I shouldn t play 94 The remainder of the year King s win loss record was 31 3 losing only to Evert Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat and Michelle Tyler King won five of the eight tournaments she entered plus both of her Wightman Cup matches She defeated Navratilova all four times they played including three times in three consecutive weeks and beat Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade twice Beginning September 26 King played seven consecutive weeks She lost to Tyler in the second round in Palm Harbor Florida and Fromholtz Balestrat in the semi finals in Atlanta She then won three hard court tournaments in three consecutive weeks She defeated Navratilova and Wendy Turnbull to win in Phoenix losing only four points to Turnbull in the third set of the final 95 The next week she defeated Navratilova Fromholtz Balestrat and Wimbledon runner up Stove to win in Sao Paulo The third week she defeated Ruzici Stove and Janet Newberry Wright to win in San Juan In November Evert snapped King s 18 match winning streak in the final of the Colgate Series Championships in Mission Hills California King then won her Wightman Cup matches defeated Navratilova to win the tournament in Japan and beat Wade to win the Bremar Cup in London King said I have never had a run like this even in the years when I was Wimbledon champion At 34 I feel fitter than when I was 24 96 1978 edit nbsp King in 1978 photographed by Lynn Gilbert 1978 King played ten singles tournaments during the first half of 1978 limiting herself to doubles after Wimbledon To start the year King was the runner up in Houston and Kansas City losing to Martina Navratilova in both and in Philadelphia losing to Chris Evert At the Virginia Slims Championships King lost her first round robin match to Virginia Wade and defaulted her two remaining round robin matches because of a leg injury sustained during the first match At Wimbledon King played with a painful heel spur in her left foot and lost to Evert in the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year 6 3 3 6 6 2 The match was on serve in the third set with King serving at 2 3 40 0 before Evert won five consecutive points to break serve King won a total of only two points during the last two games King said after the match I don t think my mobility is very good and that s what I need to beat her Physically she Evert tears your guts apart unless you can stay with her I m really disappointed I really wanted to play well I just couldn t cut it because of my heel 97 King and her partner Ray Ruffels lost in the final of mixed doubles in straight sets King teamed with Navratilova to win the women s doubles title at the US Open King s fourth women s doubles title at that tournament and fourteenth Grand Slam women s doubles title overall To end the year King was undefeated in five doubles matches four with Evert and one with Rosemary Casals as the U S won the Federation Cup in Melbourne Australia She also teamed with Tracy Austin in the 1978 Wightman Cup against Great Britain beating Anne Hobbs amp Sue Mappin in the best of seven rubbers despite the US losing the Cup 3 4 During the Federation Cup competition King hinted at retirement from future major singles competitions and said that she was sick and tired of continued surgery in trying to get fit enough for those events 98 Nevertheless King had foot surgery on December 22 in an attempt to regain mobility for a return to the tennis tour 99 1979 edit During the first half of 1979 King played only one event doubles in the Federation Cup tie against Spain because of major surgery to her left foot during December 1978 King returned to singles competition at the Wimbledon warm up tournament in Chichester She defeated the reigning Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova in a 48 minute quarterfinal 6 1 6 2 100 before losing to Evonne Goolagong Cawley in the semi finals 1 6 6 4 10 8 Seeded seventh at Wimbledon King defeated Hana Mandlikova in the fourth round before losing the last six games 101 of the quarterfinal match with fourth seeded Tracy Austin 6 4 6 7 5 6 2 King partnered with Navratilova at Wimbledon to win King s 20th and final Wimbledon title breaking Elizabeth Ryan s longstanding record of 19 Wimbledon titles just one day after Ryan collapsed and died at Wimbledon 102 At the US Open the ninth seeded King reached the quarterfinals without dropping a set where she upset the fourth seeded Virginia Wade 6 3 7 6 4 Next up was a semi final match with the four time defending champion and top seeded Chris Evert however with King hampered by a neck injury sustained during a bear hug with a friend the day before the match Evert won 6 1 6 0 including the last eleven games and 48 of the last 63 points 103 This was Evert s eighth consecutive win over King with Evert during those matches losing only one set and 31 games and winning four 6 0 sets 103 Evert said after the match Psychologically I feel very confident when I play her 103 The following week in Tokyo King won her first singles title in almost two years defeating Goolagong Cawley in the final In November in Stockholm King defeated Betty Stove in the final after Stove lost her concentration while serving for the match at 5 4 in the third set 104 Three weeks later in Brighton King lost a semi final match with Navratilova 7 5 0 6 7 6 3 after King led 6 5 in the third set 105 She ended the year with a quarterfinal loss in Melbourne not the Australian Open a second round loss in Sydney and a three set semi final loss to Austin in Tokyo 1980 1981 edit King won the tournament in Houston that began in February snapping Martina Navratilova s 28 match winning streak in the straight sets final 106 At the winter series ending Avon Championships in March King defeated Virginia Wade in her first round robin match 6 1 6 3 After Wade held serve at love to open the match King won nine consecutive games and lost only nine points during those games 106 King then lost her second round robin match to Navratilova and defeated Wendy Turnbull in an elimination round match before losing to Tracy Austin in the semi finalsKing played the 1980 French Open her first time since she won the event in 1972 and completed a career singles Grand Slam citation needed She was seeded second but lost in the quarterfinals to fifth seeded Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat of Australia 107 At Wimbledon King defeated Pam Shriver in a two hour forty minute fourth round match after King saved a match point in the second set and recovered from a 4 2 40 0 deficit in the third set with Shriver serving 108 In a quarterfinal that took two days to complete King lost to two time defending champion and top seeded Navratilova 7 6 1 6 10 8 The beginning of the match was delayed until late afternoon because of rain Because she wore glasses King agreed to start the match then on condition that tournament officials immediately suspend the match if the rain resumed During the first set drizzle began to fall however the chair umpire refused to suspend the match King led in the tiebreaker 5 1 before Navratilova came back to win the set whereupon the umpire then agreed to the suspension When the match resumed the next day King won 20 of the first 23 points to take a 5 0 lead in the second set and lost a total of seven points while winning the set in just 17 minutes In the third set Navratilova broke serve to take a 2 0 lead before King broke back twice and eventually served for the match at 6 5 King then hit four volley errors enabling Navratilova to break serve at love and even the match King saved three match points while serving at 6 7 and three more match points while serving at 7 8 During the change over between games at 8 9 King s glasses broke for the first time in her career She had a spare pair but they did not feel the same King saved two match points before Navratilova broke serve to win the match King said I think that may be the single match in my career that I could have won if I hadn t had bad eyes 109 110 111 King teamed with Navratilova to win King s 39th and final Grand Slam title at the US Open Navratilova then decided she wanted a new doubles partner and started playing with Shriver but refused to discuss the change directly with King She finally confronted Navratilova during the spring of 1981 reportedly saying to her Tell me I m too old but tell me something Navratilova refused to talk about it 112 King had minor knee surgery on November 14 in San Francisco to remove adhesions and cartilage 113 1982 1983 edit In 1982 King began a comeback winning the Wimbledon warm up tournament the 1982 Edgbaston Cup in Birmingham her first singles title in more than two years King was 38 years old and the twelfth seed at Wimbledon In her third round match with Tanya Harford of South Africa King was down 7 5 5 4 40 0 before Harford s apparent winner was deemed not up by the umpire something the South African protested vehemently King then saved the next two match points 114 to win the second set 7 6 2 and then the third set 6 3 King said in her post match press conference I can t recall the previous time I have been so close to defeat and won When I was down 4 5 and love 40 I told myself You have been here 21 years so use that experience and hang on 115 In the fourth round King upset sixth seeded Australian Wendy Turnbull in straight sets King then upset third seeded Tracy Austin in the quarterfinals 3 6 6 4 6 2 to become the oldest female semi finalist at Wimbledon since Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers in 1920 This was King s first career victory over Austin after five defeats and reversed the result of their 1979 Wimbledon quarterfinal King said in her post match press conference Today I looked at the scoreboard when I was 2 0 in the third set and the 2 seemed to be getting bigger and bigger In 1979 when I was up 2 0 at the same stage I was tired and didn t have anything left But today I felt so much better and was great mentally 116 Two days later in the semi finals which was King s 250th career match at Wimbledon in singles women s doubles and mixed doubles 117 the second seeded Chris Evert defeated King on her fifth match point 7 6 4 2 6 6 3 King was down a set and 2 1 in the second set before winning five consecutive games to even the match 118 King explained that she actually lost the match in the first set by failing to convert break points at 15 40 in the second and fourth games 119 120 Having started the year in retirement King finished 1982 ranked 14 in the world In 1983 she reached the semi finals in her final appearance at Wimbledon losing to Andrea Jaeger 6 1 6 1 after beating Kathy Jordan in the quarterfinals seventh seeded Wendy Turnbull in the fourth round and Rosemary Casals her longtime doubles partner in the third round Jaeger claims that she was highly motivated to defeat King because King had defeated Turnbull a favorite of Jaeger s and because King refused a towel from an attendant just before her match with Jaeger explaining I m not going to sweat in this match King became the oldest WTA player to win a singles tournament when she won the Edgbaston Cup grass court tournament in Birmingham at 39 years 7 months and 23 days after a straight sets victory in the final against Alycia Moulton 121 Her tally of 20 Wimbledon titles remained when partnered with Steve Denton and the no 1 seeds in the mixed doubles they lost 6 7 5 7 7 6 7 5 7 5 to John Lloyd amp Wendy Turnbull in the final King being the only player to drop her service in the final game At her final appearance at the US Open later in 1983 King didn t play singles but partnered Sharon Walsh in the women s doubles reaching the semi finals and Trey Waltke in the mixed doubles losing in the second round The final official singles match of King s career was a second round loss to Catherine Tanvier at the 1983 Australian Open 1984 to present edit King played doubles sporadically from 1984 through 1990 She and Vijay Amritraj were seeded sixth for the Wimbledon mixed doubles 1984 but they withdrew before the tournament began She retired from competitive play in doubles in March 1990 In her last competitive doubles match King and her partner Jennifer Capriati lost a second round match to Brenda Schultz McCarthy and Andrea Temesvari 6 3 6 2 at the Virginia Slims of Florida tournament King became the captain of the United States Fed Cup team and coach of its women s Olympic tennis squad She guided the U S to the Fed Cup championship in 1996 and helped Lindsay Davenport Gigi Fernandez and Mary Joe Fernandez capture Olympic gold medals In 2002 King dismissed Capriati from the Fed Cup team saying Capriati had violated rules that forbade bringing along and practicing with personal coaches 122 Opinion was sharply divided with many supporting King s decision but many feeling the punishment was too harsh especially in hindsight when Monica Seles and Lisa Raymond were defeated by lower ranked Austrians Barbara Schett and Barbara Schwartz The following year Zina Garrison succeeded King as Fed Cup captain Activism within the tennis profession edit Player compensation edit Before the start of the open era in 1968 King earned US 100 a week as a playground instructor and student at California State University Los Angeles when not playing in major tennis tournaments 76 In 1967 King criticized the United States Lawn Tennis Association USLTA in a series of press conferences denouncing what she called the USLTA s practice of shamateurism where top players were paid under the table to guarantee their entry into tournaments King argued that this was corrupt and kept the game highly elitist King quickly became a significant force in the opening of tennis to professionalism King said this about the amateur game In America tennis players are not people If you are in tennis you are a cross between a panhandler and a visiting in law You re not respected you re tolerated In England you re respected as an artist In Europe you re a person of importance Manuel Santana gets decorated by Franco The Queen leads the applause How many times have I been presented at the White House You work all your life to win Wimbledon and Forest Hills and all the people say is That s nice Now what are you going to do with your life They don t ask Mickey Mantle that Stop 12 people on the street and ask them who Roy Emerson is and they re stuck for an answer but they know the third string right guard for the Rams I d like to see tennis get out of its sissy image and see some guy yell Hit it ya bum and see it be a game you don t have to have a lorgnette or a sash across your tuxedo to get in to watch 123 Push for female equality edit When the open era began King campaigned for equal prize money in the men s and women s games In 1971 her husband Larry King created the idea to form a nine player women s group with the financial backing of World Tennis magazine founder Gladys Heldman and the sponsorship of Virginia Slims chairman Joe Cullman King became the first woman athlete to earn over US 100 000 in prize money 124 however inequalities continued King won the US Open in 1972 but received US 15 000 less than the men s champion Ilie Năstase She stated that she would not play the next year if the prize money was not equal In 1973 the US Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money for men and women King led player efforts to support the first professional women s tennis tour in the 1970s called the Virginia Slims founded by Gladys Heldman and funded by Joseph Cullman of Philip Morris 125 Once the tour took flight King worked tirelessly to promote it even though many of the other top players were not supportive For three years we had two tours and because of their governments Martina Navratilova and Olga Morozova had to play the other tour Chris Evert Margaret Court Virginia Wade they let us do the pioneering work and they weren t very nice to us If you go back and look at the old quotes they played for the love of the game we played for the money When we got backing and money we were all playing together I wonder why I tried not to get upset with them Forgiveness is important Our job was to have one voice and win them over 126 In 1973 King became the first president of the women s players union the Women s Tennis Association In 1974 she with husband Larry King and Jim Jorgensen founded womenSports magazine and started the Women s Sports Foundation 127 Also in 1974 World TeamTennis began founded by Larry King Dennis Murphy Frank Barman and Jordan Kaiser 128 She became league commissioner in 1982 and major owner in 1984 King is a member of the Board of Honorary Trustees for the Sports Museum of America 129 which opened in 2008 The museum is the home of the Billie Jean King International Women s Sports Center a comprehensive women s sports hall of fame and exhibit 130 Billie Jean King through her various efforts has been said to have started the second wave of feminism Not just for women in sports but for women everywhere Kings triumphs have led to greater opportunities For example it is said that In a single tennis match Billie Jean King was able to do more for the cause of women than most feminists can achieve in a lifetime Paule Koba Kings win against Bobby Riggs one of the greatest male tennis players of their time was not just a win for herself but a win for women everywhere After Riggs sexist comments leading up to the match King realized she had a lot more to win the match for then a trophy Billie Jean King was the rare athlete who brought together sport and feminism and in doing so she put a human face on the ideals of liberal feminism Paule Koba Since her win against Riggs King has started her own tour for women to create equal pay for them influenced and aided the title IX legislation and helped create the Women s sports foundation known as womenSports and World Team Tennis 131 Other activities edit King s husband Larry co founded World Team Tennis in 1973 with Dennis Murphy Jordan Kaiser and Fred Barman and WTT began in 1974 132 The couple used their savings to put on a team tennis event at the Oakland Coliseum 132 King remained involved with World Team Tennis for decades eventually sharing ownership with her ex husband her life partner Ilana Kloss and USTA 132 In 2017 King sold her majority ownership stake of the league to Mark Ein and Fred Luddy WTT was based on her philosophy for gender equality and it had been running continuously for over 40 years 133 In 1999 King was elected to serve on the board of directors of Philip Morris Incorporated garnering some criticism from anti tobacco groups 134 She no longer serves in that capacity As of 2012 update King was involved in the Women s Sports Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation 135 She also served on the President s Council for Fitness Sports and Nutrition as a way to encourage young people to stay active 135 In 2008 King published the book Pressure is a Privilege Lessons I ve Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes 136 In December 2013 US President Barack Obama appointed King and openly gay ice hockey player Caitlin Cahow to represent the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia This has been interpreted as a signal on gay rights in the context of concerns and controversies at the 2014 Winter Olympics regarding LGBT rights in Russia 137 King was forced to drop out of the delegation due to her mother s ill health Betty Moffitt King s mother died on February 7 2014 the day of the 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony 138 Billie Jean was selected to deliver the Northwestern University commencement address on June 16 2017 in Evanston Illinois 139 She attended the 75th Golden Globe Awards in 2018 as a guest of Emma Stone 140 King and Kloss became minority owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team in September 2018 and the WNBA s Los Angeles Sparks basketball team 141 142 In October 2020 they became part of the ownership group of Angel City FC a Los Angeles based team set to start play in the National Women s Soccer League in 2022 143 King is also an investor in Just Women s Sports an American media platform dedicated to women s sports 144 On June 29 2023 the Mark Walter Group and BJK Enterprises purchased the intellectual property and other key elements of the Premier Hockey Federation PHF a professional women s hockey league in the United States and Canada 145 Headed by Mark Walter and King respectively both businesses had entered a partnership with the Professional Women s Hockey Players Association PWHPA in May 2022 with the intent to create a new professional women s ice hockey league in North America 146 The buyout changed the landscape in North American women s professional hockey as it resulted in a single league with stakeholders from both the PHF and PWHPA As of June 30 2023 update the new league is expected to start in January 2024 147 148 Also in 2023 King competed in season ten of The Masked Singer as Royal Hen She was the first of Group B to be eliminated on A Celebration of Elton John 149 Awards honors and tributes editTributes from other players edit nbsp Billie Jean King speaking at an event in Des Moines IowaMargaret Court who won more Grand Slam titles than anyone has said that King was the greatest competitor I ve ever known 150 Chris Evert winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles has said She s the wisest human being that I ve ever met and has vision people can only dream about Billie Jean King is my mentor and has given me advice about my tennis and my boyfriends On dealing with my parents and even how to raise children And she doesn t have any 151 In 1979 several top players were asked who they would pick to help them recover from a hypothetical deficit of 1 5 15 40 in the third set of a match on Wimbledon s Centre Court Martina Navratilova Rosemary Casals and Francoise Durr all picked King Navratilova said I would have to pick Billie Jean at her best Consistently Chris Evert is hardest to beat but for one big occasion one big match one crucial point yes it would have to be Billie Jean Casals said No matter how far down you got her you never could be sure of beating her 152 Awards and honors edit King was the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year in 1967 153 In 1972 King became the first female athlete ever to be named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year 154 155 In 1975 Seventeen magazine found that King was the most admired woman in the world from a poll of its readers Golda Meir who had been Israel s prime minister until the previous year finished second 76 In a May 19 1975 Sports Illustrated article about King Frank Deford noted that she had become something of a sex symbol 79 King was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987 32 Life magazine in 1990 named her one of the 100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century 76 King was the recipient of the 1999 Arthur Ashe Courage Award 156 In 1999 King was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame 157 In 2000 King received an award from GLAAD an organization devoted to reducing discrimination against gays lesbians bisexuals and transgender people for furthering the visibility and inclusion of the community in her work 158 In 2003 the International Tennis Federation ITF presented her with its highest accolade the Philippe Chatrier Award for her contributions to tennis both on and off the court In 2006 the Women s Sports Foundation began to sponsor the Billie Awards which are named after and hosted by King 159 nbsp The USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park was rededicated as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis CenterOn August 28 2006 the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Corona Park was rededicated as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center 160 John McEnroe Venus Williams Jimmy Connors and Chris Evert were among the speakers during the rededication ceremony In 2006 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver inducted King into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History Women and the Arts 161 162 On November 20 2007 King was presented with the 2007 Sunday Times Sports Women of the Year Lifetime Achievement award for her contribution to sport both on and off the court 126 She was honored by the Office of the Manhattan Borough President in March 2008 and was included in a map of historical sites related or dedicated to important women 163 On August 12 2009 President Barack Obama awarded King the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her work advocating for the rights of women and the lesbian gay bisexual and transgender community 164 165 She was inducted into the Southern California Tennis Hall of Fame on August 5 2011 166 On August 2 2013 King was among the first class of inductees into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame 167 In 2014 she was named one of ESPNW s Impact 25 168 King was shown in Marie Claire magazine s The 8 Greatest Moments for Women in Sports 169 King received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award on December 16 2018 It was presented to by long time friend and fellow tennis player and broadcaster Sue Barker making King only the second American after Michael Phelps and the first American woman to win the award 170 Cal State LA s more than 11 acres 4 5 ha athletic facility is named the Billie Jean King Sports Complex The sports complex which was approved by the California State University Board of Trustees on September 21 features the Eagle s Nest Arena the University Stadium Jesse Owens Track and Field Reeder Field baseball the swimming pool and tennis and basketball courts 171 The Fed Cup the premier international team competition in women s tennis was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup in September 2020 in her honor 2020 World Series champion as part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers 172 In June 2022 King was awarded the French Legion of Honour by President Emmanuel Macron on the 50th anniversary of her French Open victory 173 Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame sports entertainment 174 Playing style and personality edit nbsp Billie Jean King in 2016King learned to play tennis on the public courts of Long Beach California and was coached by tennis teacher Clyde Walker 10 She furthered her tennis career at the Los Angeles Tennis Club She was an aggressive hard hitting net rusher with excellent speed 76 Chris Evert however said about King Her weakness is her impatience 175 Concerning her motivations in life and tennis King said I m a perfectionist much more than I m a super competitor and there s a big difference there I ve been painted as a person who only competes But most of all I get off on hitting a shot correctly Any woman who wants to achieve anything has to be aggressive and tough but the press never sees us as multidimensional They don t see the emotions the downs 176 In a 1984 interview just after she had turned 40 King said Sometimes when I m watching someone like Martina Navratilova I remember how nice it was to be No 1 Believe me it s the best time in your life Don t let anyone ever tell you different My only regret is that I had to do too much off the court Deep down I wonder how good I really could have been if I had concentrated just on tennis 177 Julie Heldman who frequently played King but never felt close to her said about King s personality One of the reasons I ve never gotten close to Billie Jean is that I ve never felt strong enough to survive against that overwhelming personality of hers She talks about me being the smart one Let me tell you Billie Jean s the smartest one the cleverest one you ll ever see She was the one who was able to channel everything into winning into being the most consummate tennis player 79 Kristien Shaw another frequent opponent of King said For a time I think I was as close to Billie Jean as anyone ever was But as soon as I got to the point where I could read her too well she tried to dissociate the relationship She doesn t want to risk appearing weak in front of anybody She told me once that if you want to be the best you must never let anyone anyone know what you really feel You see she told me they can t hurt you if they don t know 79 Concerning the qualities of a champion tennis player King said The difference between me at my peak and me in the last few years of my career is that when I was the champion I had the ultimate in confidence When I decided under pressure that I had to go with my very weakest shot forehand down the line I was positive that I could pull it off when it mattered the most Even more than that going into a match I knew it was my weakest shot and I knew in a tight spot my opponent was going to dare me to hit it and I knew I could hit it those two or three or four times in a match when I absolutely had to The cliche is to say that champions play the big points better Yes but that s only the half of it The champions play their weaknesses better 178 In popular culture editKing s friend Elton John wrote the song Philadelphia Freedom a nod to her World TeamTennis team for King The song was released New Year s Day 1975 and became a number one hit 32 Charles M Schulz creator of the Peanuts comic strip was an admirer and close friend 179 Schulz referred to King several times in Peanuts and used the comic strip to support the women s sports movement after becoming friends with King 180 Actress Holly Hunter portrayed King in the 2001 ABC television film When Billie Beat Bobby 181 King played a judge on Law amp Order in 2007 182 and appeared as herself on The Odd Couple in 1973 The L Word in 2006 Ugly Betty in May 2009 Fresh Off The Boat in 2016 and The Bold Type in 2020 183 King s name appears in the lyrics of the Le Tigre song Hot Topic 184 Actress Emma Stone portrayed King in the 2017 biographical film Battle of the Sexes 185 186 The Ted Tinling designed dress King wore for the Battle of the Sexes match is part of a Smithsonian Museum collection 187 In 2023 she competed in the tenth season of The Masked Singer as Royal Hen She sang Philadelphia Freedom and Don t Go Breaking My Heart in an episode that was a tribute to Elton John 188 Personal life editBillie Jean and Larry King were engaged in fall of 1964 and married in Long Beach California on September 17 1965 10 189 Billie Jean credited Larry with introducing her to feminism and for pushing her to pursue tennis as a career 20 Billie Jean later said she was totally in love with Larry when they married 126 By 1968 King realized that she was attracted to women 190 In 1971 she began an affair with her secretary Marilyn Barnett born Marilyn Kathryn McRae on January 28 1948 Barnett had been living rent free in the Kings Malibu house In 1979 the Kings asked Barnett to leave their house but she did not want to Refusing to leave the house Barnett threatened to leak records and receipts that she had kept over the years These receipts included letters from Billie Jean to Marilyn credit card receipts and paid bills After a suicide attempt where she jumped off the balcony of the house leaving her a paraplegic Barnett sued the Kings in a May 1981 palimony lawsuit for half their income and the Malibu house where she had been staying Billie Jean acknowledged the relationship between her and Marilyn shortly afterward making Billie Jean the first prominent female professional athlete to come out 191 Feeling she could not admit to the extent of the relationship Billie Jean publicly called it a fling and a mistake The lawsuit caused Billie Jean to lose an estimated 2 million in endorsements and forced her to prolong her tennis career to pay attorneys 151 In December 1981 a court order stipulated that Barnett leave the house and that her threats to publish private correspondence between her and King in exchange for money came close to extortion Barnett s palimony suit was thrown out of court in November 1982 192 But in a bizarre twist of fate a few months later in March 1983 the house that had been contested was destroyed during a series of freak storms that lashed the southern California coastline 193 Also in 1971 King had an abortion that was made public in a Ms magazine article 190 Larry had revealed Billie Jean s abortion without consulting her 190 Concerning the personal cost of concealing her sexuality for so many years Billie Jean said I wanted to tell the truth but my parents were homophobic and I was in the closet As well as that I had people tell me that if I talked about what I was going through it would be the end of the women s tour I couldn t get a closet deep enough One of my big goals was always to be honest with my parents and I couldn t be for a long time I tried to bring up the subject but felt I couldn t My mother would say We re not talking about things like that and I was pretty easily stopped because I was reluctant anyway I ended up with an eating disorder that came from trying to numb myself from my feelings I needed to surrender far sooner than I did At the age of 51 I was finally able to talk about it properly with my parents and no longer did I have to measure my words with them That was a turning point for me as it meant I didn t have regrets anymore 126 Billie Jean and Larry remained married through the palimony suit fallout 20 Their marriage ended in 1987 after Billie Jean fell in love with her doubles partner Ilana Kloss 20 Billie Jean and Larry nevertheless remained close and she is the godmother of Larry s son from his subsequent marriage 20 On October 18 2018 King and Kloss were married by former New York City Mayor David Dinkins in a secret ceremony 194 King and her wife Kloss have residences in New York City and Chicago 195 196 King is a vegetarian 197 It was announced in March 2021 that King will be an advisor to First Women s Bank in Chicago 198 Grand Slam statistics editMain article Billie Jean King career statistics Grand Slam single finals edit 18 finals 12 titles 6 runners up Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent ScoreLoss 1963 Wimbledon Grass nbsp Margaret Court 3 6 4 6Loss 1965 U S Championships Grass nbsp Margaret Court 6 8 5 7Win 1966 Wimbledon Grass nbsp Maria Bueno 6 3 3 6 6 1Win 1967 Wimbledon 2 Grass nbsp Ann Haydon Jones 6 3 6 4Win 1967 U S Championships Grass nbsp Ann Haydon Jones 11 9 6 4Win 1968 Australian Championships Grass nbsp Margaret Court 6 1 6 2 Open Era Win 1968 Wimbledon 3 Grass nbsp Judy Tegart Dalton 9 7 7 5Loss 1968 US Open Grass nbsp Virginia Wade 4 6 2 6Loss 1969 Australian Open Grass nbsp Margaret Court 4 6 1 6Loss 1969 Wimbledon Grass nbsp Ann Haydon Jones 6 3 3 6 2 6Loss 1970 Wimbledon Grass nbsp Margaret Court 12 14 9 11Win 1971 US Open 2 Grass nbsp Rosemary Casals 6 4 7 6 5 2 Win 1972 French Open Clay nbsp Evonne Goolagong 6 3 6 3Win 1972 Wimbledon 4 Grass nbsp Evonne Goolagong 6 3 6 3Win 1972 US Open 3 Grass nbsp Kerry Melville Reid 6 3 7 5Win 1973 Wimbledon 5 Grass nbsp Chris Evert 6 0 7 5Win 1974 US Open 4 Grass nbsp Evonne Goolagong 3 6 6 3 7 5Win 1975 Wimbledon 6 Grass nbsp Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6 0 6 1Grand Slam tournament timeline edit Key W F SF QF R RR Q DNQ A NH W winner F finalist SF semifinalist QF quarterfinalist R rounds 4 3 2 1 RR round robin stage Q qualification round DNQ did not qualify A absent NH not held SR strike rate events won competed W L win loss record Tournament 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 SR W LAustralian Open A A A A A A SF A A W F A A A A A A A A A A A A A QF 2R A 1 5 16 4French Open A A A A A A A A QF SF QF QF A W A A A A A A A QF A 3R A A 1 7 21 6Wimbledon A A 2R QF F SF SF W W W F F SF W W QF W A QF QF QF QF A SF SF A 6 21 95 15US Open 1R 3R 2R 1R 4R QF F 2R W F QF A W W 3R W A A QF A SF A A 1R A A 4 18 58 14SR 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 2 0 2 0 2 0 3 1 2 2 3 2 4 0 4 0 2 1 2 3 3 1 2 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 4 0 2 0 0 12 51 190 39Note The Australian Open was held twice in 1977 in January and December Records editMost singles matches played in a season 1971 125 Most singles matches won in a season 1971 112 Most doubles titles won in a season 1971 21 Most singles and doubles titles won in a season 1971 38 Most singles and doubles matches won in a season 1971 192 Most doubles matches won in a season 1971 80 Oldest singles title winner on the WTA Tour Birmingham 1983 39 years 7 months Books editKing Billie Jean Brennan Christine 2008 Pressure Is a Privilege Lessons I ve Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes New York LifeTime Media ISBN 978 0 9816368 0 1 OCLC 1036819775 Howard Johnette Vollers Maryanne 2021 All In An Autobiography New York Alfred A Knopf ISBN 978 1 101 94733 3 See also edit nbsp Tennis portal nbsp Sports portalAll time tennis records women s singles Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative Homosexuality in sports in the United States List of French Open mixed doubles champions List of French Open women s doubles champions List of French Open women s singles champions List of Grand Slam women s singles champions List of Open Era tennis records List of US Open mixed doubles champions List of US Open women s doubles champions List of US Open women s singles champions List of Wimbledon ladies doubles champions List of Wimbledon ladies singles champions List of Wimbledon mixed doubles champions Open Era tennis records women s singles WTA Tour recordsNotes edit Five additional women have completed a career Grand Slam since King Martina Navratilova also has 20 career titles at Wimbledon 26 3 in singles and 26 1 in doubles excluding two unfinished matches 14 2 in singles and 8 2 in women s doublesReferences edit a b Women s Tennis Association biography of Billie Jean King Sonyericssonwtatour com Archived from the original on July 5 2009 Retrieved July 4 2011 King Billie Jean Billie Jean King Speaker TED Deixlia Billie Jean King in 1973 Wimbledon match against Bobby Riggs ElasticReviews com Archived from the original on September 14 2021 Retrieved September 14 2021 Jason Le Miere August 28 2015 Top 10 Women s Tennis Players Of All Time Where Does Serena Williams Rank On List Of Greatest Ever International Business Times Retrieved January 30 2017 Serena Williams Is she your greatest female player of the Open era BBC Sport January 28 2017 Retrieved January 30 2017 Who Is the Greatest Female Player Ever Archived from the original on December 28 2008 International Tennis Hall of Fame biography of Billie Jean Moffitt King Archived from the original on November 19 2006 Retrieved February 15 2007 a b Official Wimbledon profile of Billie Jean King Archived from the original on February 25 2007 Retrieved February 15 2007 King Billie Jean 1943 Women in World History A Biographical Encyclopedia Encyclopedia com Retrieved June 29 2014 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Higdon Hal August 23 2013 Plays Tennis Like a Man Speaks Out Like Billie Jean King The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved September 16 2017 Randy Moffitt Statistics Retrieved February 15 2007 a b King Billie Jean National Women s Hall of Fame National Women s Hall of Fame Archived from the original on October 1 2019 Retrieved September 15 2017 Billie Jean King Moffitt Tennis Center Archived from the original on August 29 2017 Retrieved August 26 2017 Ware Susan 2012 Game Set Match Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women s Sports Chapel Hill North Carolina The University of North Carolina Press p 20 MRS BILLIE JEAN KING Sports Illustrated Vault A FAN AT THE GAME John Leonard Published 1982 The New York Times June 30 1982 Cope Myron They Cheer When the Parson Is Pitching Sports Illustrated Vault Retrieved August 31 2020 Press Release King s Schools Archived from the original on December 24 2006 Retrieved February 15 2007 Ware Susuan 2011 Game Set Match Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women s Sports p 25 Archived from the original on October 1 2017 a b c d e Hingston Sandy June 17 2011 Billie Jean King Racquet Revolutionary Philadelphia Magazine p 4 Archived from the original on September 30 2017 Retrieved September 30 2017 Nelson Murry R May 23 2013 American Sports A History of Icons Idols and Ideas 4 Volumes A History of Icons Idols and Ideas ABC CLIO p 665 ISBN 978 0 313 39753 0 Billie Jean King Overview Women s Tennis Association Retrieved August 26 2017 Billie Jean King record in Federation Cup Archived July 23 2015 at the Wayback Machine Hollander Zander Collins Bud 1994 Bud Collins Modern Encyclopedia of Tennis Detroit Visible Ink Press pp 580 581 ISBN 0 8103 9443 X Teele Jack The Sports Beat Long Beach Press Telegram November 12 1959 page D 3 a b Billie Jean King International Tennis Hall of Fame Retrieved September 15 2017 Nelson Kathleen July 3 2011 Three aces for Tennis stltoday com Retrieved September 24 2017 Bollinger Michele Tran Dao November 6 2012 101 Changemakers Rebels and Radicals Who Changed U S History Haymarket Books ISBN 978 1 60846 156 1 Talbert William F February 16 1959 New Hopes are Abounding on the Courts SI com Retrieved October 8 2017 Hingston Sandy June 17 2011 Billie Jean King Racquet Revolutionary Philadelphia Magazine p 4 Archived from the original on September 30 2017 Retrieved September 27 2017 a b c d e Ware Susan 2011 Game Set Match Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women s Sports Archived from the original on October 16 2017 a b c d International Tennis Hall of Fame biography of Billie Jean Moffitt King Archived from the original on November 19 2006 Retrieved February 15 2007 Collins Bud 1989 My Life With the Pros New York E P Dutton p 261 ISBN 0 525 24659 2 Billie Moffitt s Strategy Attack Kansas City Times June 27 1962 page 15 Starr Cynthia King Billie Jean 1988 We Have Come a Long Way The Story of Women s Tennis New York McGraw Hill p 106 ISBN 0 07 034625 9 Wimbledon Upset Beckley West Virginia Post Herald June 27 1962 page 2 Lovesey John July 13 1964 The Outcasts are Counted In SI com Retrieved October 15 2017 Starr Cynthia King Billie Jean 1988 We Have Come a Long Way The Story of Women s Tennis New York McGraw Hill pp 113 114 ISBN 0 07 034625 9 Santana Miss Smith Grab U S Tennis Championships Pacific Stars amp Stripes September 14 1965 page 20 a b Starr Cynthia King Billie Jean 1988 We Have Come a Long Way The Story of Women s Tennis New York McGraw Hill p 114 ISBN 0 07 034625 9 Billie Jean Must Share No 1 Rating Independent Press Telegram Long Beach California February 6 1966 page C 1 Tournament Facts The Ojai Lovesey John July 11 1966 Manolo is king and a King is queen Vault sportsillustrated cnn com Archived from the original on December 9 2008 Retrieved July 4 2011 News Archive 1966 Tennis News elementfx com Archived from the original on March 3 2016 Retrieved July 4 2011 King claims that the United States Lawn Tennis Association prohibited her from playing the French Championships earlier in her career because the association needed her to play grass court tournaments in the United States to draw crowds Starr Cynthia King Billie Jean 1988 We Have Come a Long Way The Story of Women s Tennis New York McGraw Hill p 114 ISBN 0 07 034625 9 Aussie Billie Jean Capture U S Titles Oakland Tribune September 11 1967 page 40 E News Archive 1967 Tennis News elementfx com Archived from the original on March 3 2016 Retrieved July 4 2011 Injury May Force King Out Of Tennis Tourney Florence Morning News November 25 1967 page 6 Anderson Dave March 30 1968 Miss Richey Upsets Mrs King 4 6 7 5 6 0 to Gain Garden Tennis Final The New York Times Retrieved July 4 2011 News Archive 1968 Tennis News elementfx com Archived from the original on March 4 2016 Retrieved July 4 2011 Mrs King Undergoes Successful Surgery The New York Times June 3 2011 Retrieved July 4 2011 Surgery for Billie Jean Independent Press Telegram Long Beach California July 11 1970 p C 1 King Will Resume Singles Competition The Pocono Record Stroudsburg Pennsylvania January 20 1977 p 14 Mrs King Crushes Foe Abilene Texas Reporter News July 3 1969 page 12 A Billie Jeannjfvcxi Pancho Gain Pacific Southwest Finals Independent Press Telegram Long Beach California September 28 1969 page S 6 Katz Michael June 4 1970 Mrs King Hobbled by Leg Cramps Loses to Miss Niessen in French Tennis The New York Times Retrieved July 4 2011 Classic women s singles finals BBC News June 11 2000 Retrieved July 4 2011 Margaret Court Smith Wimbledon official website Archived May 15 2009 at the Wayback Machine Billie Jean Has Knee Surgery Wisconsin State Journal July 23 1970 section 2 page 3 Billie Jean King Julia Heldman score victories Winona Minnesota Daily News April 26 1970 page 7b Tingay Lance 1983 The Guinness Book of Tennis Facts amp Feats Enfield Middlesex Guinness Superlatives p 26 ISBN 0 85112 268 X a b Pappano Laura Women Win On and Off Court The Women s Review of Books vol 28 no 3 2011 pp 7 9 JSTOR http www jstor org stable 41331726 Accessed 1 Oct 2023 Tennis Pro Favors Abortion Tucson Arizona Daily Citizen February 23 1972 page 16 Female tennis stars even The Idaho Free Press January 5 1972 page 12 Deford Frank King Billie Jean 1982 Billie Jean New York City Viking p 20 ISBN 0 670 47843 1 Deford Frank King Billie Jean 1982 Billie Jean New York N Y Viking p 93 ISBN 0 670 47843 1 For a description of the Dallas tournament in 1972 see the Sports Illustrated article Shoot Out at the T Bar M Archived December 9 2008 at the Wayback Machine After winning the French Open in 1972 King stayed away from the tournament for seven consecutive years and in fact played the tournament only twice more during her career in 1980 and 1982 King bows in on courts Daily Review Hayward California February 8 1973 page 30 Sweetie upset for Billie Jean Oakland Tribune February 26 1973 page E27 Evert Shatters Court Sets Up American Finals Abilene Texas Reporter News July 5 1973 page 2 C Jares Joe July 16 1973 A Bloomin Winner Vault sportsillustrated cnn com Archived from the original on June 25 2009 Retrieved July 4 2011 Starr Cynthia King Billie Jean 1988 We Have Come a Long Way The Story of Women s Tennis New York McGraw Hill p 144 ISBN 0 07 034625 9 Hollander Zander Collins Bud 1994 Bud Collins Modern Encyclopedia of Tennis Detroit Michigan Visible Ink Press p 196 ISBN 0 8103 9443 X Starr Cynthia King Billie Jean 1988 We Have Come a Long Way The Story of Women s Tennis New York McGraw Hill p 145 ISBN 0 07 034625 9 a b c d e Schwartz Larry Billie Jean Won for All Women Retrieved February 15 2007 Gilbert Lynn December 10 2012 Particular Passions Billie Jean King Women of Wisdom Series 1st ed New York Lynn Gilbert Inc ISBN 978 1 61979 354 5 permanent dead link Billie Jean Dumps Evert at Sarasota Daily Times News Burlington North Carolina January 20 1975 page 5B a b c d Deford Frank May 19 1975 Mrs Billie Jean King Vault sportsillustrated cnn com Archived from the original on December 9 2008 Retrieved July 4 2011 Cool Chris Edges Angry Billie Jean Star News Pasadena California April 21 1975 page B 2 a b Deford Frank King Billie Jean 1982 Billie Jean New York N Y Viking p 95 ISBN 0 670 47843 1 Lannin Joanne 1999 Billie Jean King Tennis Trailblazer Minneapolis Lerner Publications Co p 99 ISBN 0 8225 4959 X Brace Reginald King Billie Jean 1981 Play Better Tennis With Billie Jean King and Reginald Brace Octopus p 16 ISBN 0 7064 1223 0 Billie Jean Undergoes Knee Surgery Tyrone Pennsylvania Daily Herald November 10 1976 page 12 King Will Resume Singles Competition The Pocono Record Stroudsburg Pennsylvania January 20 1977 page 14 King to Command McFarlin Spotlight San Antonio Light March 21 1977 page 1 B Billie Jean King returns to tennis action The Independent Record Helena Montana March 23 1977 page 10 Gals Continue to Snap at King San Antonio Light March 25 1977 page 4 E Evert Thrashes Former Queen King With 6 1 6 2 Win at Wimbledon Galveston Texas News June 28 1977 page B1 Evert Demolishes Billie Jean The Gazette Montreal Quebec Canada June 28 1977 p 18 Retrieved August 26 2017 Lannon Joanne 1999 Billie Jean King Tennis Trailblazer Minneapolis Lerner Publications Company p 101 ISBN 0 8225 4959 X Tennis Joe Frazier Idaho State Journal Pocatello Idaho June 28 1977 page A6 Barrett John Wimbledon The Official History Vision Sports Publishing 2014 revised edition ISBN 978 1 909534 23 0 Comeback Soon Over for King News Tribune Fort Pierce Florida September 8 1977 page 10 King Wins 1st Major Tourney in 2 Years Raleigh Register Beckley West Virginia October 17 1977 page 8 King Wade London Finalists Star News Pasadena California December 11 1977 page D 7 Evert Enters Grudge Match With Wade Galveston Texas Daily News July 5 1978 page 1 B U S wins Federation Cup opener European Stars and Stripes November 29 1978 page 28 Surgery for King Valley Independent Monessen Pennsylvania December 22 1978 page 9 Sports Shorts The Capital Annapolis Maryland June 16 1979 page 25 Radosta John S July 3 1979 Tracy Austin Ousts Mrs King 6 4 6 7 6 2 The New York Times Ryan dies at Wimbledon The News Frederick Maryland July 7 1979 page D 2 a b c Amdur Neil September 8 1979 Injured Mrs King Is Routed By Mrs Lloyd in Semi finals The New York Times Brace Reginald King Billie Jean 1981 Play Better Tennis With Billie Jean King and Reginald Brace Octopus p 46 ISBN 0 7064 1223 0 Navratilova Lloyd Final The New York Times November 25 1979 a b Martina and Billie advance Daily Press Escanaba Michigan March 20 1980 page 3 B WTA Tournament Archives PDF WTA Archived from the original PDF on April 24 2016 Retrieved September 23 2017 This Is a Wimbly to Remember for Veteran King Abilene Texas Reporter News July 1 1980 page 1 C Deford Frank King Billie Jean 1982 Billie Jean New York N Y Viking p 82 ISBN 0 670 47843 1 Navratilova downs veteran King Daily Intelligencer Doylestown Pennsylvania July 2 1980 page 21 Martina Edges King Borg Connors Win Syracuse New York Herald Journal July 2 1980 page C 1 Lannin Joanne 1999 Billie Jean King Tennis Trailblazer Minneapolis Lerner Publications Co p 103 ISBN 0 8225 4959 X Surgery for King Valley Independent Monessen Pennsylvania November 15 1980 page 6 Wimbledon Under the Weather Time July 12 1982 Archived from the original on December 9 2008 Retrieved July 4 2011 Associated Press June 27 1982 Associated Press July 1 1982 Knight Ridder Wire July 3 1982 Associated Press July 3 1982 Dallas Morning News Lloyd spoils King s hopes July 3 1982 pages 1B 9B Dallas Times Herald Evert stops King rally in Wimbledon replay July 3 1982 page B 7 Billie Jean King retained the 90 000 Edgbaston Women s Tennis UPI June 12 1983 Dillman Lisa April 27 2002 King Dismisses Capriati From Fed Cup Los Angeles Times ISSN 0458 3035 Retrieved October 15 2017 Huck Finn of Tennis That s Billie Jean Oakland Tribune September 26 1967 page 38 BJK Firsts and Facts Billiejeanking com August 12 2009 Archived from the original on March 24 2010 Retrieved July 4 2011 Bud Collins on Gladys Heldman Archived from the original on May 13 2008 a b c d Walsh David December 9 2007 The Big Interview Billie Jean King Sunday Times Billie Jean King Founder Leader Legend Archived from the original on October 13 2007 Billie Jean King co founder Wtt com Archived from the original on July 21 2011 Retrieved July 4 2011 Board of Honorary Trustees Thesportsmuseum com Archived from the original on July 17 2011 Retrieved July 4 2011 thesportsmuseum com www thesportsmuseum com Archived from the original on May 7 2013 194 Paule Koba A L 2012a Pressure is a privilege Billie Jean King title IX and gender equity Reviews in American History 40 4 711 715 https doi org 10 1353 rah 2012 0094 a b c Dwyre Bill June 30 2009 Billie Jean King is still making team work Los Angeles Times ISSN 0458 3035 Retrieved September 23 2017 Billie Jean King sells majority ownership of Mylan World Team Tennis RSN March 13 2017 Billie Jean King Elected To Philip Morris Board Cleanlungs com 1999 Retrieved July 4 2011 a b Billie Jean King Still Got Game ABILITY magazine Retrieved October 22 2012 Billie Jean King Remembers Battle of the Sexes NPR August 25 2008 Retrieved October 15 2017 Pells Eddie December 17 2013 Obama picks gay athletes for delegation to Sochi Olympics sending signal on gay rights Associated Press Archived from the original on December 19 2013 Tennis Great Billie Jean King s Mother Dies in Arizona February 7 2014 Retrieved February 8 2014 Equality advocate and sports icon to address Class of 2017 Northwestern Now news northwestern edu Yam Kimberly January 8 2018 Here s What You Should Know About The 8 Activists Who Went to the Golden Globes HuffPost Huffington Post Retrieved January 11 2018 Gurnick Ken September 21 2018 Addition of King Kloss sends strong message MLB com Retrieved October 31 2018 Dodgers WNBA Sparks Adding Billie Jean King As Minority Owner www sportsbusinessdaily com September 21 2018 Angel City Confirms Name as Angel City Football Club and Officially Joins National Women s Soccer League Press release National Women s Soccer League October 21 2020 Retrieved October 21 2020 Billionaire Joe Tsai Billie Jean King Back Just Women s Sports Bloomberg com June 9 2022 Retrieved October 13 2023 Salvian Hailey June 30 2023 What we know about the PHF shutdown and more on the new pro women s hockey league The Athletic Retrieved June 30 2023 Salvian Hailey May 24 2022 PWHPA Billie Jean King considering new league Source The Athletic Retrieved June 30 2023 ESPN News Services June 29 2023 Sources Premier Hockey Federation sale could unite women s hockey ESPN Retrieved June 30 2023 Krotz Paul June 30 2023 New Women s Pro Hockey League to Launch in 2024 PremierHockeyFederation com Press release Premier Hockey Federation Retrieved June 30 2023 Initiative led by Mark and Kimbra Walter Billie Jean King has PWHPA and PHF support Huff Lauren October 18 2023 Masked Singer reveals Royal Hen as tennis legend and iconic activist with sweet Elton John connection Entertainment Weekly Retrieved October 20 2023 Who Is the Greatest Female Player Ever Archived from the original on December 28 2008 a b Grossfeld Stan December 3 2006 No royalty like King The Boston Globe Retrieved July 4 2011 Billie Jean King toughest in tight spot Durr says Daily Leader Pontiac Illinois March 22 1979 page 13 Billie Jean King Named Woman Athlete of the Year Daily Capital News Jefferson City Missouri January 13 1968 page 6 Sports Illustrated honors Wade Sports Illustrated December 4 2006 Retrieved July 4 2011 Billie Jean King The Dynamic Path Retrieved July 4 2011 Weah selected for Arthur Ashe Courage Award ESPN Retrieved July 4 2011 Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame Archived from the original on October 17 2015 GLAAD s Resources for Press GLAAD September 12 2011 Archived from the original on December 9 2008 Murphy Melissa April 15 2006 Documentary focuses on tennis great Billie Jean King Sarasota Herald Tribune History of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Archived from the original on March 14 2008 State unveils Hall of Fame Orange County Register August 1 2017 Retrieved October 9 2017 Inductees California Museum www californiamuseum org Retrieved October 9 2017 Scott Stringer Manhattan Borough President Mbpo org Archived from the original on July 18 2011 Retrieved July 4 2011 Gay Sheryl August 12 2009 Obama Gives Medal of Freedom to 16 Luminaries The New York Times Retrieved July 4 2011 President Obama Names Medal of Freedom Recipients Archived December 15 2009 at the Wayback Machine White House Office of the Press Secretary July 30 2009 Hall Of Fame Southern California Retrieved October 15 2017 National Gay amp Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame s Inaugural Class Announced Out Magazine Out com June 18 2013 Retrieved December 4 2013 2014 espnW Impact 25 Friedman Megan March 17 2015 Historic Moments in Female Sports Athletic Women Marieclaire com Retrieved April 16 2015 Sports Personality of the Year Billie Jean King given lifetime achievement award BBC Sport December 16 2018 Billie Jean King Sports Complex Spotlight calstatela edu November 2 2013 Dodgers part owner BJK celebrates World Series win Tennis com Billie Jean King awarded France s Legion of Honour France 24 June 3 2022 Billie Jean King to receive Hollywood Walk of Fame star Tennis com Chris Evert Miss Cool on the Court Time August 27 1973 Archived from the original on May 3 2007 Retrieved July 4 2011 Billie Jean King a perfectionist New Mexican Santa Fe New Mexico June 1 1980 page C 7 The Challenge of Her Life Billie Jean at 40 Parade magazine Syracuse Herald Journal January 8 1984 page 7 Deford Frank King Billie Jean 1982 Billie Jean New York City Viking pp 96 7 ISBN 0 670 47843 1 Kanzenberg Corry November 5 2015 10 Facts About Charles Schulz the Creator of the Peanuts Gang Biography com Retrieved October 9 2017 Kay Stanley August 19 2016 How Peppermint Patty became an advocate for female athletes SI com Retrieved October 9 2017 Oxman Steven April 11 2001 When Billie Beat Bobby Variety Retrieved October 9 2017 Law amp Order Fallout Full Cast amp Crew IMDb Retrieved February 5 2018 Billie Jean King TV Guide Retrieved October 13 2017 Oler Tammy October 31 2019 57 Champions of Queer Feminism All Name Dropped in One Impossibly Catchy Song Slate Magazine Sage Alyssa September 17 2017 Emma Stone Imagines a World Where Everyone Is Absolutely Equal at Battle of the Sexes Premiere Variety Retrieved September 22 2017 Dargis Manohla September 21 2017 Review Advantage Bobby but Game Set Match Billie Jean in Battle of the Sexes The New York Times Retrieved February 19 2020 Leibowitz Ed September 2003 How Billie Jean King Picked Her Outfit for the Battle of the Sexes Match Smithsonian Retrieved October 9 2017 The Masked Singer reveals identity of the Royal Hen Variety magazine Retrieved October 19 2023 Billie Jean King of Her Family Long Beach Press Telegram Long Beach California Digital First Media November 23 1965 p C 4 a b c Stanley Alessandra April 26 2006 The Legacy of Billie Jean King an Athlete Who Demanded Equal Play The New York Times Retrieved February 1 2014 Ware S 2015 Game set match Billie Jean King and the revolution in women s sports Chapel Hill The University Of North Carolina Press Billie Jean King wins palimony case UPI November 11 1982 An angry storm Wednesday smashed historic piers UPI March 2 1983 King Billie Jean 2021 All In Knopf pp 412 413 ISBN 978 1 101 94733 3 Billie Jean King Mother of Modern Sports PDF Imgspeakers com Archived from the original PDF on September 29 2011 Retrieved July 4 2011 Evert Navratilova weigh in on tennis legend Billie Jean King Pittsburghlive com Associated Press April 23 2006 Archived from the original on April 22 2009 Retrieved July 4 2011 Avery Grant Anika 1999 The Vegetarian Female A Guide to a Healthier Diet for Women of All Ages Avery Publishing pp 86 87 ISBN 978 0 89529 840 9 Billie Jean King Joins First Women s Bank in organization in Effort to Close the Gender Gap in Access to Capital Assosciated Press March 24 2021 Retrieved March 25 2021 Further reading editFein Paul 2005 You Can Quote Me On That Greatest Tennis Quips Insights And Zingers Washington Potomac Books ISBN 1 57488 925 7 Jones Ann A Game of Love 1971 Overman Steven J and K B Sagert Icons of Women s Sport Greenwood Press 2012 Vol 1 Roberts Selena 2005 A Necessary Spectacle Billie Jean King Bobby Riggs and the Tennis Match That Leveled the Game New York Crown ISBN 1 4000 5146 0 Ware Susan 2011 Game Set Match Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women s Sports University of North Carolina Press Combines biography and history in a study of the tennis player liberal feminism and Title IX External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Billie Jean King Official website Billie Jean King at the Women s Tennis Association nbsp Billie Jean King at the Billie Jean King Cup nbsp Billie Jean King at the International Tennis Hall of Fame nbsp Billie Jean King Collection at the New York Historical Society Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Billie Jean King amp oldid 1186128841, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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