Billie Jean King is an iconic female tennis player who broke down barriers and fought for today’s generation to have greater opportunities, all while being one of the most dominant players of all time.
King famously won an astonishing total of 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 individual titles, cementing her legacy as one of the greatest athletes in all of sports. However, her impact doesn’t exclusively revolve around the tennis court. King is one of the biggest advocates for gender and pay equality, social justice, and LGBTQ+ rights in sports. She has constantly spoken out proudly against injustice and taken action to back her words. Billie Jean King is a luminary, remembered for her grit both on and off of the court.
Billie Jean King was born on November 22, 1943, in Long Beach, California. She grew up playing many different sports, including basketball and softball. However, when she first picked up a tennis racket at 11 years old, she knew immediately it was her calling. Famously, she told her mother as a kid, “I am going to be No. 1 in the world.” It is an understatement to say that it absolutely became true.
At 15 years old, King won her age bracket in the Southern California championship, marking the start of her elite career. Soon after, in 1961, she sent shock waves over the country, becoming the youngest to win the Wimbledon doubles title, with partner Karen Hantze Susman. From then on, she became a perennial Gram Slam champion.
In 1966, she achieved her dream of being #1 in the world.
Then she would do that again, in 1967. Then again, in 1968, 1971, 1972, and 1974. As said best by her biography in the Tennis Hall of Fame, “There was not one area of King’s game that shined more than any other. She was as complete an all-court player as the women’s game has ever seen.”
She would continue her stellar career by winning Wimbledon a record 20 times, claiming 13 U.S. titles, four French titles, and two Australian titles. In 1972, she secured three Grand Slam victories in one year: the U.S. Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon. As a result, she was named 1972 Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated, becoming the first woman and first tennis player ever to earn the title.
Her relentlessness made her one of the greatest of all time. It also made her unsatisfied with accepting any injustice.
Throughout her storied career, King grew increasingly frustrated with the inequity of her compensation compared to her male counterparts. She was very vocal about this discontent. So much so that in 1970, she was one of nine players who protested the tennis establishment by breaking away. These players created their own tour called the Virginia Slims Circuit, and Billie became the first female athlete to earn over $100,000 in a single season. Although she didn’t want to be the only one, she wanted all women to reap the same benefits.
After garnering the support of fellow athletes, Billie Jean King founded the Women’s Tennis Association and served as the first president. The WTA, which still stands today, “mobilizes the global tennis and sports community to advance women’s health, expand opportunity, and strengthen leadership pathways for girls and women worldwide.”
As a direct result of her valiant advocacy, in the following year, the U.S Open became the first major tournament to award equal prizes to male and female champions. The Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon eventually followed suit.
Then, to prove her point further, Billie defeated notorious misogynist and former professional men’s player, Bobby Riggs, in the Battle of the Sexes. She did so in dominant fashion, beating him in three straight sets and obliterating his ego. This win was a massive triumph for women’s sports and the feminist movement. It was also a cultural phenomenon, capturing nearly 40 million viewers worldwide, and invalidating stereotypes about a woman’s “role.” In response to her win, King has noted, “It really was about social change. Women have come up to me since that match — that match has been mentioned every day of my life since… The women got a lot more self-confidence from that” (Weisholtz).
In addition to her advocacy for women in sports, King has also fought to make athletics a safer place for the LGBTQ+ community. She has been vocal about her experience with sexuality, and alongside her wife, Ilana Kloss, founded the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative, which seeks to rid workplaces of discrimination based on race, gender, and sexuality.
Billie Jean King has shown the world the power of unapologeticness. She is living proof that change takes initiative and consistency. It is because of her sacrifice that girls worldwide can see a future for themselves athletically. She wanted to leave the sport better than she found it. So she did.
Billie proved time and time again that women are worthy of respect, and standing up for what you believe in can make important change. King is widely considered a catalyst for the 1972 passage of Title IX, which granted women equal participation and opportunity in sports. She did this all while becoming undeniably one of the most dominant athletes of all time.
She quite literally changed the game.
