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
I always wanted to help make tennis a team sport.
A girl didn't get an athletic scholarship until the fall of 1972 for the very first time.
In 1973, a woman could not get a credit card without her husband or father or a male signing off on it.
Women's sports is still in its infancy. The beginning of women's sports in the United States started in 1972, with the passage of Title 9 for girls to finally get athletic scholarships.
I love to promote our sport. I love grass-roots tennis. I love coaching. I love all parts of the sport. I love the business side.
Champions take responsibility. When the ball is coming over the net, you can be sure I want the ball.
In 1973, women got 59 cents on the dollar; now we are getting 74 cents on the dollar. In the area of finance and business, we are at 68 cents on the dollar.
There is no life for girls in team sports past Little League. I got into tennis when I realized this, and because I thought golf would be too slow for me, and I was too scared to swim.
I didn't really care if I had a coach that much, me personally, because I was brought up to think for myself.
When we reach the point where the women athletes are getting their pick of dates just as easily as the men athletes, then we've really and truly arrived. Parity at last!
Martina and I went through a very bad five years. Everything's very good between us now, but it was a long haul.
I would love to be a player today. I had the right personality for it.
I always liked co-ed events best so we have two men and two women on each team.
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.