Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean Kingis an American former World No. 1 professional tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 singles, 16 women's doubles, and 11 mixed doubles titles. King won the singles title at the inaugural WTA Tour Championships. King often represented the United States in the Federation Cup and the Wightman Cup. She was a member of the victorious United States team in seven Federation Cups and nine Wightman Cups. For three years, King was the United States'...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTennis Player
Date of Birth22 November 1943
CityLong Beach, CA
CountryUnited States of America
Men can have a huge turnover of sponsorship and still survive a lot better than the women. But the women's ratings are better, at least at home in the United States than in the men's tennis.
Tennis is a game of angles. You never have time to figure the angles. It's practiced. It's so practiced that it becomes an instinct. You just know where to put the ball. You just feel it. It has been computed into your brain so many times it is there.
Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn't allowed in a photo because I wasn't wearing a tennis skirt, I knew that I wanted to change the sport.
We have, or have had women presidents or prime ministers in Liberia, Chile, Germany, Great Britain...and yet the US of A still hasn't had a women president. It's just beyond my thinking. Look at Congress...
It's about learning your craft. That's a wonderful thing--especially with today's consumerism and instant gratification. You can'tbuy that. It's about making decisions, corrections, choices. I don't think it's so much about becoming a tennis player. It's about becoming a person.
Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever.
You've got to win in sports - that's talent - but you've also got to learn how to remind everybody how you did win, and how often. That comes with experience.
Sports are a microcosm of society.
That is where the power, opportunity, and choice come from-when you have money. Money equals opportunity. There is no question.
I wanted to use sports for social change.
When people tell you not to believe in your dreams, and they say “Why?”, say “Why not?
Champions take responsibility.
It is very hard to be a female leader. While it is assumed that any man, no matter how tough, has a soft side... and female leader is assumed to be one-dimensional.
For me, losing a tennis match isn't failure, it's research.