Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943), also known as BJK, is an American former
world No. 1 tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. King won 39
Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women's doubles, and 11 in
mixed doubles. She was a member of the victorious
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
team in seven
Federation Cups and nine
Wightman Cups.
King is an advocate of gender equality and has long been a pioneer for equality and social justice. In 1973, at the age of 29, she famously won the "
Battle of the Sexes" tennis match against the 55-year-old
Bobby Riggs. King was also the founder of the
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. The association governs the WTA Tour, which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women, and was founded to create a better future fo ...
and the
Women's Sports Foundation
The Women's Sports Foundation (WSF) is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit charity focused on female involvement in sports. Founded in 1974 by tennis player Billie Jean King and initially supported by Olympic athletes Donna de Varona and Suzy Chaffee ...
. She was instrumental in persuading cigarette brand
Virginia Slims
Virginia Slims is an American brand of cigarettes owned by Altria. It is manufactured by Philip Morris USA (in the United States) and Philip Morris International (outside the United States).
Virginia Slims are narrower ( circumference) than stan ...
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.
King was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...
in 1987. The Fed Cup Award of Excellence was bestowed on her in 2010. In 1972, she was the joint winner, with
John Wooden
John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed "the Wizard of Westwood", he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, nati ...
, of the ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
''
Sportsman of the Year
Since its inception in 1954, ''Sports Illustrated'' has annually presented the Sportsman of the Year award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Ame ...
award and was one of the ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' Persons of the Year in 1975. She has also received the
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...
and the ''Sunday Times'' Sportswoman of the Year lifetime achievement award. She was inducted into the
National Women's Hall of Fame
The National Women's Hall of Fame (NWHF) is an American institution founded to honor and recognize women. It was incorporated in 1969 in Seneca Falls, New York, and first inducted honorees in 1973. As of 2024, the Hall has honored 312 inducte ...
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
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
, and in 2024, she received a
Congressional Gold Medal
The Congressional Gold Medal is the oldest and highest civilian award in the United States, alongside the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is bestowed by vote of the United States Congress, signed into law by the president. The Gold Medal exp ...
.
Early life
Billie Jean Moffitt was born in
Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...
, into a conservative
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
family, the daughter of Betty (née Jerman), a housewife, and Bill Moffitt, a firefighter.
Her family was athletic; her mother excelled at swimming, and her father played basketball and baseball and ran track.
Her younger brother,
Randy Moffitt, became a Major League Baseball pitcher, pitching for 12 years in the major leagues for the
San Francisco Giants
The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
,
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. They are one of two major leag ...
, and
Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...
. 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.
The team went on to win the Long Beach softball championship.
She switched from softball to tennis at the age of 11,
because her parents suggested she should find a more 'ladylike' sport.
She saved her own money, $8 ($92.40 in 2024 terms), to buy her first racket.
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.
One of the city's tennis facilities has subsequently been named the Billie Jean Moffitt King Tennis Center. As a kid playing in her first tennis tournaments, she was often hindered by her aggressive playing style.
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.
King's family in Long Beach attended the
Church of the Brethren
The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition ( "Schwarzenau New Baptists") that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germany during the Radical Pietist revival. ...
, where the minister was former athlete and two-time Olympic pole-vaulting champion
Bob Richards
Robert Eugene Richards (February 20, 1926 – February 26, 2023) was an American athlete, minister, and politician. He made three U.S. Olympic Teams in two events: the 1948, 1952, and 1956 Summer Olympics as a pole vaulter and as a decathlete ...
. 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."
King attended
Long Beach Polytechnic High School
Long Beach Polytechnic High School, founded in 1895 as Long Beach High School, is a four-year public high school located at 1600 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach, California, United States. The school serves portions of Long Beach, including Bixby ...
. After graduating in 1961, she attended Los Angeles State College, now
California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degree programs, 122 m ...
(Cal State LA).
She did not graduate, leaving school in 1964 to focus on tennis. While attending Cal State, she met
Larry King
Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...
in a library in 1963.
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.
Career

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". 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.
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.
King won 129 singles titles, 78 of which were WTA titles, and her career prize money totaled US$1,966,487.
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. She won the last 30 matches she played, including 15 straight wins in both singles and doubles. In Wightman Cup competition, her career win–loss record was 22–4, 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
Sarah Virginia Wade (born 10 July 1945) is a British former professional tennis player. She won three major tennis singles championships and four major doubles championships, and is the only British woman in history to have won titles at all fo ...
, and 1–1 against
Christine Truman Janes.
The early years: 1959–1963
As Billie Jean King began competing in 1959, she began working with new coaches including Frank Brennan
and
Alice Marble, who had won 18 Grand Slam titles as a player herself. She made her Grand Slam debut at the 1959
U.S. Championships when she was 15.
She lost in the first round. She began playing at local, regional, and international tennis championships. Sports Illustrated already claimed her as "one of the most promising youngsters on the West Coast." She won her first tournament the next year in Philadelphia at the 1960 Philadelphia and District Grass Court Championships.
At her second attempt at the U.S. Championships, King made it to the third round, losing to
Bernice Carr Vukovich of South Africa. Also in 1960, she reached the final of the National Girls' 18 and Under Championships, losing to
Karen Hantze Susman
Karen Susman (née Hantze; born December 11, 1942, San Diego) is an American former tennis player. Susman won the women's singles title at The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon in 1962 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles, 1962. She won ...
.
Her national tennis ranking improved from number 19 in 1959 to number 4 in 1960.
Despite the success, Marble terminated her professional relationship with King, for reasons stemming from King's ambition.
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
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
.
There, she won the women's doubles title in her first attempt while partnering
Karen Hantze.
King was 17 and Hantze was 18, making them the youngest team to win the Wimbledon Doubles Title.
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. Despite these performances. she could not get a sports scholarship when later that year she attended Los Angeles State (now California State). For the 1962 singles tournament at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, King upset
Margaret Court
Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian former world number 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Her 24 women's singles major titles and total of 64 major titles (includi ...
, the World No. 1 and top seed, in a second round match by attacking Court's forehand
[Billie Moffitt's Strategy – Attack!", ''Kansas City Times'', June 27, 1962, page 15] This was the first time in Wimbledon history that the women's top seed had lost her first match.
["Wimbledon Upset", Beckley (West Virginia) Post-Herald, June 27, 1962, page 2] That same year, King and Hantze repeated their doubles victory at Wimbledon.
In 1963, King again faced Margaret Court at Wimbledon.
This time they met in the final, and Court prevailed.
1964
In 1964, King won four relatively minor titles but lost to Margaret Court in the
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
semi-finals. She defeated Ann Haydon-Jones at both the Wightman Cup and
Fed Cup
The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...
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. 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
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
The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...
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
The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events every year, held be ...
two weeks later, she lost to Court in the semi-finals in two sets. At
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, she again lost in the semi-finals, this time in three sets to Maria Bueno.
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 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."
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.
Prime competitive years: 1966–1975
Overview
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
Poaceae ( ), also called Gramineae ( ), is a large and nearly ubiquitous family (biology), family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos, the grasses of natural grassland and spe ...
.
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

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. At the Wightman Cup just before
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, 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
Maria Esther Andion Bueno (11 October 1939 – 8 June 2018) was a Brazilian professional tennis player. During her 11-year career in the 1950s and 1960s, she won 19 Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major titles (seven in women's singles, 11 in w ...
in the final. King credited her semi-final victory to her forehand down the line, a new shot in her repertoire.
She also said that the strategy for playing Court is, "Simple. Just chip the ball back at her feet." At the U.S. Championships, an ill King was upset by
Kerry Melville in the second round.
1967
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, falling in the quarterfinals to
Annette Van Zyl of South Africa. At the Federation Cup one week later in West Germany on
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
, 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
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
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. 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. 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. 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
Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...
, 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
In early 1968, King won three consecutive tournaments to end her Australian tour. In
Perth
Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
, King won the Western Australia Championships, defeating Margaret Court in the final. In
Hobart
Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...
, King won the
Tasmania
Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...
n 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
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...
Challenge Trophy amateur tournament in New York City before 10,233 spectators. 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. 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
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
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 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. 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.
1969
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
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, United Kingdom, King defeated Virginia Wade in the semi-finals (6–8, 11–9, 6–2) before losing to Court. At
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, King lost only 13 points while defeating
Rosemary Casals
Rosemary Casals (born September 16, 1948) is an American former professional tennis player. During a tennis career that spanned more than two decades, she won more than 90 titles and was crucial to many of the changes in women's tennis during t ...
in the semi-finals 6–1, 6–0; 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
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
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."
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
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...
(at the South African Open). Court, however, was not totally dominant during this period as King defeated her in Sydney and
Durban
Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Situated on the east coast of South ...
, 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. At
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, Court needed seven match points to defeat King in the final 14–12, 11–9 in one of the greatest women's finals in the history of the tournament. On July 22, 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
Virginia Slims is an American brand of cigarettes owned by Altria. It is manufactured by Philip Morris USA (in the United States) and Philip Morris International (outside the United States).
Virginia Slims are narrower ( circumference) than stan ...
Invitational in Houston and a semi-final loss at the
Pacific Coast Championships in
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
. To close out the year, King in November won the
Virginia Slims Invitational in
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...
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
Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...
(losing in the semi-finals), winning the
Italian Open (saving three match points against Virginia Wade in the semi-finals), playing in
Bournemouth
Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...
(losing to Wade in the quarterfinals), and playing in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
(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, 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 the women-only Houston Virginia Slims invitational and this helped launch the series of women-only tournaments.
[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.]
1971
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
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...
, she played in 31 singles tournaments and compiled a 112–13 win–loss record.
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.
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
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
. Four weeks later at the
Queen's Club
The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in Barons Court, West Kensington, London, England. The club hosts the annual Queen's Club Championships grass court lawn tennis tournament (currently known as the "HSBC Championships" for spo ...
tournament in London, King played Margaret Court for the first time in 1971, losing their final. At
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, 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
Hoylake () is a coast, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the north west of the Wirral Peninsula, near West Kirby and where the River Dee, Wales, River Dee meets the Irish Sea. At the 2021 United K ...
, 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
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
tournament and the U.S. Women's Clay Court Championships in
Indianapolis
Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...
. 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
Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...
,
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. To end the year, King played two tournaments in New Zealand but did not win either. She lost in
Christchurch
Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
to Durr and in
Auckland
Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
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.
1972
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
n... 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." Her dominance was aided by rival
Margaret Court
Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian former world number 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Her 24 women's singles major titles and total of 64 major titles (includi ...
'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) and in
Fort Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...
on
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
to Chris Evert 6–1, 6–0. The inconsistent results continued through mid-April, in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...
(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). 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
Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
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
Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The 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. On grass, King then won the Wimbledon warm-up tournaments in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
and Bristol and won
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
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
Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...
(losing to Court), and a semifinal finish at the year-end championships in
Boca Raton
Boca Raton ( ; ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. Many people with a Boca Raton Address, ...
(losing to Evert).
1973

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. 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, 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
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, Chicago,
Jacksonville
Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
, and the inaugural
Family Circle Cup
The Charleston Open, currently sponsored by Credit One, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in America with a $1,064,510 purse. The t ...
in
Hilton Head, South Carolina
Hilton Head Island, often referred to as simply Hilton Head, is a Lowcountry resort town and barrier island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is northeast of Savannah, Georgia (as the crow flies), and southwest of Charles ...
). 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
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
singles title when she defeated Kerry Melville Reid in the quarterfinals, Evonne Goolagong in the semi-finals on her eighth match point, 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.
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
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
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 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!" 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." To end the year, King won tournaments in Phoenix, Hawaii, and Tokyo and was the runner-up in
Baltimore
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
.
=Battle of the Sexes
=

In 1973, King defeated
Bobby Riggs in an exhibition match, winning $100,000 ($707,000 in 2024 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
Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian former world number 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Her 24 women's singles major titles and total of 64 major titles (includi ...
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. as King said to author and photographer
Lynn Gilbert in her book ''Particular Passions: Talks with Women who Have Shaped Our Times'', "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,"
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."
1974
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
Indian Wells is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, in the Coachella Valley. Incorporated in 1967, it lies in between the cities of Palm Desert and La Quinta, California, La Quinta. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...
, King again defeated Gunter in the semi-finals but lost to Evert in the final. King then won tournaments in
Fairfax, Virginia
Fairfax ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia and the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,146.
Fairfax is pa ...
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
Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...
final and Evert at the
U.S. Indoor Championships final.
Olga Morozova
Olga Vasilyevna Morozova ( rus, Ольга Васильевна Морозова, , ˈolʲɡə mɐˈrozəvə, a=Ru-Olga_Morozova.ogg, links=no; born 22 February 1949) is a Russian former professional tennis player. Competing for the Soviet Uni ...
then upset King in her next two tournaments, at Philadelphia in the final and at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
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
Orlando commonly refers to:
* Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States
Orlando may also refer to:
People
* Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name
* Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...
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
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
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
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
Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers, Florida, Fort Myers and Punta Gorda, Florida, Punta Gord ...
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." 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?"
Two months later, Wade defeated King in the semi-finals of the Philadelphia tournament. At the
Austin, Texas
Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
, 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.
King played only one of the Wimbledon warm-up tournaments, defeating Olga Morozova in the
Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. It is also a non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, bor ...
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.
Evert blamed her semifinal defeat on a loss of concentration when she saw
Jimmy Connors
James Scott Connors (born September 2, 1952) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 2 ...
, 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."
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."
The later years: 1976–1990
1976
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
oolagongCawley play the final at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
I asked myself what I was doing. So, despite my age and the operations, the Old Lady came back...." King had knee surgery for the third time on November 9, this time on her right knee, and did not play the remainder of the year.
1977
King spent the first three months of the year rehabilitating her right knee after surgery in November 1976.
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
Mima Jaušovec (; born 20 July 1956) is a Slovenian former professional tennis player. Competing for Yugoslavia, she won the 1977 French Open singles championship.
Early life
Jaušovec was born in Maribor, in present-day Slovenia, when it was p ...
. King then decided to play the Lionel Cup tournament in
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
, Texas, which the WTA harshly criticized because tournament officials there had allowed
Renée Richards, a
transgender athlete, to enter. 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, "
ere are plenty of men around here she could've played with. She didn't have to choose a 'disputed' tournament." 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
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
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, 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." 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." 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." 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.
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
neepain.
ut ifI keep using that as a copout, I shouldn't play."
The remainder of the year, King's win–loss record was 31–3, losing to only 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
Palm Harbor is a census-designated place (CDP) and Unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 61,366.
Culture
Palm Harbor is located north of down ...
, and Fromholtz Balestrat in the semi-finals in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
. She then won three hard court tournaments in three consecutive weeks. She defeated Navratilova and
Wendy Turnbull
Wendy Turnbull, (born 26 November 1952) is an Australian retired tennis player. During her career, she won nine Grand Slam titles, four of them in women's doubles and five of them in mixed doubles. She also was a three-time Grand Slam runner-u ...
to win in Phoenix, losing only four points to Turnbull in the third set of the final. The next week, she defeated Navratilova, Fromholtz Balestrat, and Wimbledon runner-up Stöve to win in
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
. 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."
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
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
(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
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, 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
vert
Vert or Verts may refer to:
* Vert (heraldry), the colour green in heraldry
* Vert (music producer) (born 1972), pseudonym of Adam Butler, an English music producer
* Vert (river), in southern France
* Vert (sport), a competition in extreme versio ...
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." 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
Tracy Ann Austin Holt (born December 12, 1962) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 21 weeks. Austin won 30 WTA Tour-level singles tit ...
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. Nevertheless, King had foot surgery on December 22 in an attempt to regain mobility for a return to the tennis tour.
1979
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
Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...
. She defeated the reigning Wimbledon champion, Martina Navratilova, in a 48-minute quarterfinal 6–1, 6–2 before losing to Evonne Goolagong Cawley in the semi-finals 1–6, 6–4, 10–8. Seeded seventh at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, King defeated
Hana Mandlíková
Hana Mandlíková (born 19 February 1962) is a Czech–Australian former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 3 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) in the mid-1980s. Mandíková won 27 WTA Tour-level sin ...
in the fourth round before losing the last six games of the quarterfinal match with fourth-seeded
Tracy Austin
Tracy Ann Austin Holt (born December 12, 1962) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 21 weeks. Austin won 30 WTA Tour-level singles tit ...
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.
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.
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.
Evert said after the match, "Psychologically, I feel very confident when I ... play her."
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. 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. 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
King won the tournament in Houston that began in February, snapping Martina Navratilova's 28-match winning streak in the straight-sets final.
[Martina and Billie advance", ''Daily Press'', Escanaba, Michigan, March 20, 1980, page 3-B]
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.
[ 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. She was seeded second but lost in the quarterfinals to fifth-seeded ]Dianne Fromholtz
Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat (née Fromholtz; born 10 August 1956) is an Australian former professional tennis player who reached a highest singles ranking of world No. 4 in 1979.
Career
Fromholtz began playing tennis at the age of seven. She ...
Balestrat of Australia.
At Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, King defeated Pam Shriver
Pamela Howard Shriver (born July 4, 1962) is an American former professional tennis player and current tennis broadcaster, pundit, and coach. She was ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and List of W ...
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. 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."
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.
King had minor knee surgery on November 14 in San Francisco to remove adhesions and cartilage.
1982–1983
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
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
. 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 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. 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." Two days later in the semi-finals, which was King's 250th career match at Wimbledon in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles, 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. 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. 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
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* W ...
, 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. 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
Wendy Turnbull, (born 26 November 1952) is an Australian retired tennis player. During her career, she won nine Grand Slam titles, four of them in women's doubles and five of them in mixed doubles. She also was a three-time Grand Slam runner-u ...
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
Sharon Walsh-Arnold (née Walsh; born February 24, 1952) is a former professional tennis player from the United States.
Walsh enjoyed a long career, playing her first Grand Slam singles event in 1969 and her last Grand Slam doubles match in 199 ...
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
The 1983 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne in Victoria (state), Victoria in Australia. It was the 72nd edition of the Australian Open and was held from 29 November through 1 ...
.
1984 to present
King played doubles sporadically from 1984 through 1990. She and Vijay Amritraj
Vijay Amritraj (; born 14 December 1953) is an Indian sports commentator, actor and retired professional tennis player from Madras. He was awarded the Padma Shri, the government of India's fourth-highest civilian honour, in 1983.
In 2022, ...
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
Brenda Anne Marie Schultz-McCarthy (born 28 December 1970) is a former Dutch tennis player. Primarily known by her maiden name Brenda Schultz, she married Sean McCarthy, a former American football player at University of Cincinnati, on 8 April 1 ...
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
Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach (born June 8, 1976) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 98 weeks (including as the year-end No. 1 four ...
, Gigi Fernández
Beatriz "Gigi" Fernández (born February 22, 1964) is a Puerto Rican former professional tennis player.
Fernández won 17 Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments, major doubles titles and two Olympic gold medals representing the United States, and reach ...
, and Mary Joe Fernández
Mary Joe Fernández Godsick (born María José Fernández; August 19, 1971) is an American former professional tennis player, who reached a career-high ranking of world No. 4 in both singles and doubles. In singles, Fernández was the runner-up ...
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. Opinion was sharply divided, with many supporting King's decision but many feeling the punishment was too harsh, especially in hindsight when Monica Seles
Monica Seles (born December 2, 1973) is a Serbian–American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
and Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond (born August 10, 1973) is an American former professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. Raymond has eleven major titles to her name: six in women's doubles and five in mixed doubles. On June 12, ...
were defeated by lower-ranked Austrians Barbara Schett and Barbara Schwartz. The following year, Zina Garrison
Zina Lynna Garrison (born November 16, 1963) is an American former professional tennis player. Garrison was the runner-up in singles at the 1990 Wimbledon Championships, a three-time major mixed doubles champion, and an Olympic gold and bronze ...
succeeded King as Fed Cup captain.
Activism within the tennis profession
Player compensation
Before the start of the open era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Edgbaston, Warwickshire, England, now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today a ...
in 1968, King earned US$100 a week as a playground instructor and student at California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degree programs, 122 m ...
when not playing in major tennis tournaments.
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:
Push for female equality
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
Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...
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; however, inequalities continued. King won the US Open in 1972 but received US$15,000 less than the men's champion Ilie Năstase
Ilie Theodoriu Năstase (; born 19 July 1946) is a Romanian former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the inaugural world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 40 weeks. Năstase is one of ten play ...
. 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. 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 artinaNavratilova and Olga Morozova had to play the other tour. Chris vert
Vert or Verts may refer to:
* Vert (heraldry), the colour green in heraldry
* Vert (music producer) (born 1972), pseudonym of Adam Butler, an English music producer
* Vert (river), in southern France
* Vert (sport), a competition in extreme versio ...
Margaret ourt Virginia ade 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."[Walsh, David (December 9, 2007]
The Big Interview: Billie Jean King
''Sunday Times''.
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
''womenSports'' magazine was the first magazine dedicated to women in sports. It was launched in close conjunction with Billie Jean King's Women's Sports Foundation and each issue of the magazine contained a two-page article written by the execu ...
'' magazine and started the Women's Sports Foundation. Also in 1974, World TeamTennis
World TeamTennis (WTT) was a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973.
The league's season normally took place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA would ...
began, founded by Larry King, Dennis Murphy, Frank Barman and Jordan Kaiser. 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, 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.
Other activities
King's husband Larry co-founded World Team Tennis
World TeamTennis (WTT) was a mixed-gender professional tennis league played with a team format in the United States, which was founded in 1973.
The league's season normally took place in the summer months. Players from the ATP and WTA would ...
in 1973 with Dennis Murphy, Jordan Kaiser, and Fred Barman and WTT began in 1974. The couple used their savings to put on a team tennis event at the Oakland Coliseum. King remained involved with World Team Tennis for decades, eventually sharing ownership with her ex-husband, her life partner Ilana Kloss and USTA. 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.
In 1999, King was elected to serve on the board of directors of Philip Morris Incorporated, garnering some criticism from anti-tobacco groups. She no longer serves in that capacity.
King was involved in the Women's Sports Foundation
The Women's Sports Foundation (WSF) is a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit charity focused on female involvement in sports. Founded in 1974 by tennis player Billie Jean King and initially supported by Olympic athletes Donna de Varona and Suzy Chaffee ...
and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. She also served on the President's Council for Fitness, Sports and Nutrition as a way to encourage young people to stay active.
In 2008, King published the book ''Pressure is a Privilege: Lessons I've Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes''.
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
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...
in Sochi
Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...
, 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. 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
The opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics took place at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, Russia, on 7 February 2014. It began at 20:14 MSK (UTC+4) and finished at 23:02 MSK (UTC+4). It was filmed and produced by OBS and Russian ho ...
.
Billie Jean was selected to deliver the Northwestern University
Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
commencement address on June 16, 2017, in Evanston, Illinois
Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...
.
She attended the 75th Golden Globe Awards
The 75th Golden Globe Awards honored film and American television of 2017, and was broadcast live on January 7, 2018, from The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California beginning at 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time Zone, PST / 8:00 p.m. Easter ...
in 2018 as a guest of Emma Stone.
King and Kloss became minority owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
baseball team in September 2018, and the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks
The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...
basketball team. In October 2020, they became part of the ownership group of Angel City FC
Angel City Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Los Angeles, California, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The formation of the team was announced on July 21, 2020; it beg ...
, a Los Angeles–based team set to start play in the National Women's Soccer League
The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...
in 2022.
King is also an investor in Just Women's Sports
''Just Women's Sports'' (''JWS'') is an American news website and media company focused on women's sports. It was founded in 2020 by former soccer player Haley Rosen. The company creates content across social, web, and audio platforms, and has ...
, an American media platform dedicated to women's sports.
On June 29, 2023, the Mark Walter Group and BJK Enterprises purchased the intellectual property and other key elements of the Premier Hockey Federation
The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) was a women's professional ice hockey league in the United States and Canada that operated from March 2015 until June 2023. The league was established in 2015 as the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL), com ...
(PHF), a professional women's hockey league in the United States and Canada. Headed by Mark Walter
Mark Richard Walter (born January 1, 1960) is an American businessman and the chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, a privately held global financial services firm with more than $325 billion in assets under management.
Outside invest ...
and King, respectively, both businesses had entered a partnership with the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association
The Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for the promotion of professional women's ice hockey. It was founded in May 2019 following the dissolution of the Canadian Women's Ho ...
(PWHPA) in May 2022, with the intent to create a new professional women's ice hockey league in North America. 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. The new league began on January 1, 2024, with the first game played between New York and Toronto in Toronto.
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
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...
".
Awards, honors, and tributes
Tributes from other players
Margaret Court
Margaret Court (''née'' Smith; born 16 July 1942), also known as Margaret Smith Court, is an Australian former world number 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Her 24 women's singles major titles and total of 64 major titles (includi ...
, who won more Grand Slam titles than anyone, has said that King was "the greatest competitor I've ever known".
Chris Evert
Christine Marie Evert (born December 21, 1954) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful players of all time, she was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 2 ...
, 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."
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
Centre Court is a tennis court at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (also known as the All England Club) and is the main court used in the Wimbledon Championships, the third annual Grand Slam event of the tennis calendar. It is consi ...
. Martina Navratilova, Rosemary Casals
Rosemary Casals (born September 16, 1948) is an American former professional tennis player. During a tennis career that spanned more than two decades, she won more than 90 titles and was crucial to many of the changes in women's tennis during t ...
, and Françoise Dürr all picked King. Navratilova said, "I would have to pick Billie Jean at her best. Consistently, Chris vert
Vert or Verts may refer to:
* Vert (heraldry), the colour green in heraldry
* Vert (music producer) (born 1972), pseudonym of Adam Butler, an English music producer
* Vert (river), in southern France
* Vert (sport), a competition in extreme versio ...
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."
Awards and honors
* King was the Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
Female Athlete of the Year in 1967.
* In 1972, King became the first female athlete ever to be named ''Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
'' Sportsman of the Year
Since its inception in 1954, ''Sports Illustrated'' has annually presented the Sportsman of the Year award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Ame ...
.
* In 1975, '' Seventeen'' magazine found that King was the most admired woman in the world from a poll of its readers. Golda Meir
Golda Meir (; 3 May 1898 – 8 December 1978) was the prime minister of Israel, serving from 1969 to 1974. She was Israel's first and only female head of government.
Born into a Jewish family in Kyiv, Kiev, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) ...
, who had been Israel's prime minister until the previous year, finished second. In a May 19, 1975, ''Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
'' article about King, Frank Deford noted that she had become something of a sex symbol.
* King was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It honors both players and other contributors to the sport of tennis. The complex, the former Newport Casino, includes a museum, 13 grass tennis courts, an ...
in 1987.
* ''Life
Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'' magazine in 1990 named her one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century".
* King was the recipient of the 1999 Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
* In 1999 King was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.
* In 2000, King received an award from GLAAD
GLAAD () is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization. Originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals in the media and entertainment industries, it has since ...
, 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".
* 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.
* On August 28, 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was rededicated as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. (born February 16, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ...
, Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American inactive tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 11 wee ...
, Jimmy Connors, and Chris Evert were among the speakers during the rededication ceremony.
* In 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...
and his wife Maria Shriver
Maria Owings Shriver ( ; born November 6, 1955)
is an American journalist, author, a member of the prominent Shriver and Kennedy families, former First Lady of California, and the founder of the nonprofit organization The Women's Alzheimer's M ...
inducted King into the California Hall of Fame
The California Hall of Fame is an institution created in 2006 by Maria Shriver to honor important Californians. The award was designed by Californian artists Robert Graham (sculptor), Robert Graham. The hall is located in The California Museum i ...
located at The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts
The California Museum is the List of U.S. state historical societies and museums, state history museum of the US state of California, located in its capital city of Sacramento and housed within the Secretary of State of California, Secretary of ...
.
* 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.
* 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.
* On August 12, 2009, President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
awarded King the Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...
for her work advocating for the rights of women and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. This made her the first female athlete to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
* She was inducted into the Southern California Tennis Hall of Fame on August 5, 2011.
* On August 2, 2013, King was among the first class of inductees into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.
* In 2014, she was named one of ESPNW's Impact 25.
* King was shown in ''Marie Claire'' magazine's "The 8 Greatest Moments for Women in Sports".
* 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
Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold me ...
) and the first American woman to win the award.
* Cal State LA's more than athletic facility is named the Billie Jean King Sports Complex. The sports complex—which was approved by the California State University
The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a Public university, public university system in California, and the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest public university system in the United States ...
Board of Trustees on September 21—features the Eagle's Nest Arena
The Golden eagle, Eagle's Nest Arena, formerly known as the Devil, Diablo Den (room), Den, is an iconic indoor arena situated on the California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State L.A.) campus.
This versatile venue serves as the home cou ...
, the University Stadium, Jesse Owens Track and Field, Reeder Field (baseball), the swimming pool, and tennis and basketball courts.
* On September 21, 2019, her hometown of Long Beach, California held a grand opening of the Long Beach Public Library's new main library, named after King. The Billie Jean King Main Library is located in Downtown Long Beach, and has exhibited King's Presidential Medal of Freedom.
* 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
The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
and 2024 World Series champion as part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
* In 2021, King received the Laureus Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of her excellence on the tennis court as well as her life's work in pursuit of gender and racial equality.
*In June 2022, King was awarded the French Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
by President Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
, on the 50th anniversary of her French Open victory.
* Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...
(sports entertainment)
* In 2024, King received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement
The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...
, presented by Christiane Amanpour
Christiane Maria Heideh AmanpourStated on ''Finding Your Roots'', 22 January 2019 (; ; born 12 January 1958) is a British-Iranian journalist and television host. Amanpour is the Chief International Anchor for CNN and host of CNN International, ...
.
* King received a Congressional Gold Medal
The Congressional Gold Medal is the oldest and highest civilian award in the United States, alongside the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is bestowed by vote of the United States Congress, signed into law by the president. The Gold Medal exp ...
in September 2024 for her "courageous and groundbreaking leadership in advancing equal rights for women in athletics, education, and society."
Playing style and personality
upright=.7, Billie Jean King in 2016
King learned to play tennis on the public courts of Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...
, and was coached by tennis teacher Clyde Walker. She furthered her tennis career at the Los Angeles Tennis Club.
She was an aggressive, hard-hitting net-rusher with excellent speed; Chris Evert
Christine Marie Evert (born December 21, 1954) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful players of all time, she was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 2 ...
, however, said about King, "Her weakness is her impatience."
Concerning her motivations in life and tennis, King said,
In a 1984 interview, just after she had turned 40, King said,
Julie Heldman, who frequently played King but never felt close to her, said about King's personality,
Kristien Shaw, another frequent opponent of King, said,
Concerning the qualities of a champion tennis player, King said,
In popular culture
* King's friend Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...
wrote the song " Philadelphia Freedom" for King. The song was released New Year's Day 1975 and became a US number one hit.
* Charles M. Schulz, creator of the ''Peanuts
''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...
'' comic strip, was an admirer and close friend; 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.
* Actress Holly Hunter portrayed King in the 2001 ABC television film '' When Billie Beat Bobby''. King played a judge on ''Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, launching the ''Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire ...
'' in 2007, and appeared as herself on '' The Odd Couple'' in 1973, ''The L Word
''The L Word'' is a television drama series that aired on Showtime in the United States from 2004 to 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated wit ...
'' in 2006, ''Ugly Betty
''Ugly Betty'' is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from September 28, 2006, to April 14, 2010. It is based on the Colombian telenovela ''Yo soy Betty, la fea' ...
'' in May 2009, ''Fresh Off The Boat
''Fresh Off the Boat'' is an American television sitcom created by Nahnatchka Khan and produced by 20th Century Fox Television for ABC. It is loosely inspired by the life of chef and food personality Eddie Huang and his 2013 autobiography ...
'' in 2016, and '' The Bold Type'' in 2020.
* King's name appears in the lyrics of the Le Tigre
Le Tigre (, ; French for "The Tiger") is an American art punk and riot grrrl band formed by Kathleen Hanna (of Bikini Kill), Johanna Fateman and Sadie Benning in 1998 in New York City. Benning left in 2000 and was replaced by JD Samson. ...
song "Hot Topic
Hot Topic, Inc. is an American fast-fashion company specializing in counterculture-related clothing and accessories, as well as licensed music. The stores are aimed towards an audience interested in rock music and video gaming, and most of the ...
."
* Actress Emma Stone portrayed King in the 2017 biographical film ''Battle of the Sexes''.
* The Ted Tinling designed dress King wore for the ''Battle of the Sexes'' match is part of a Smithsonian Museum
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, education and research centers, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded on August 10, 1846, it operates as a trus ...
collection.
* In 2023, King competed in the tenth season of '' The Masked Singer'' as "Royal Hen". She sang " Philadelphia Freedom" and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart
"Don't Go Breaking My Heart" is a duet by English musician Elton John and English singer Kiki Dee, released by The Rocket Record Company on 25 June 1976. It was written by John with Bernie Taupin under the pseudonyms "Ann Orson" and "Carte B ...
" in an episode that was a tribute to Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...
.
Personal life
Billie Jean and Larry King
Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...
were engaged in autumn of 1964 and married in Long Beach, California, on September 17, 1965. Billie Jean credited Larry with introducing her to feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
and for pushing her to pursue tennis as a career. Billie Jean later said she "was totally in love with Larry" when they married.
By 1968, King realized that she was attracted to women. 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
Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek ()
"half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neura ...
, 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.[Ware, S. (2015). ''Game, set, match: Billie Jean King and the revolution in women's sports''. Chapel Hill: The University Of North Carolina Press.] 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.
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. 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.
Also in 1971, King had an abortion that was made public in a ''Ms.'' magazine article. Larry had revealed Billie Jean's abortion without consulting her.
Concerning the personal cost of concealing her sexuality for so many years, Billie Jean said:
Billie Jean and Larry remained married through the palimony suit fallout. Their marriage ended in 1987 after Billie Jean fell in love with her doubles partner, Ilana Kloss. Billie Jean and Larry nevertheless remained close, and she is the godmother of Larry's son from his subsequent marriage.
On October 18, 2018, King and Kloss were married by former New York City Mayor David Dinkins
David Norman Dinkins (July 10, 1927 – November 23, 2020) was an American politician, lawyer, and author who served as the 106th mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993.
Dinkins was among the more than 20,000 Montford Point Marine Associa ...
in a secret ceremony. King and her wife Kloss have residences in New York City and Chicago.
It was announced in March 2021 that King would be an advisor to First Women's Bank in Chicago.
Grand Slam statistics
Grand Slam single finals
18 finals (12 titles, 6 runners-up)
Grand Slam tournament timeline
* Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December.
Records
* 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.
*president of the WTA
Books
*
*
See also
* All-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
Wimbledon Championships, is an annual tennis tournament first contested in 1877 Wimbledon Championship, 1877 and played on Grass court, outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) in the Wimbledon, London, Wimbledo ...
* List of Wimbledon mixed doubles champions
* Open Era tennis records – women's singles
Open or OPEN may refer to:
Music
* Open (band), Australian pop/rock band
* The Open (band), English indie rock band
* ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969
* ''Open'' (Gerd Dudek, Buschi Niebergall, and Edward Vesala album), 1979
* ''Open'' (Got ...
* WTA Tour records
Explanatory notes
References
Further reading
*
* Jones, Ann, ''A Game of Love'', 1971
* Overman, Steven J. and K. B. Sagert, ''Icons of Women's Sport''. Greenwood Press, 2012, Vol. 1.
*
* 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
*
*
*
*
Billie Jean King Collection
at the New-York Historical Society
The New York Historical (known as the New-York Historical Society from 1804 to 2024) is an American history museum and library on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. It ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Billie Jean
1943 births
American female tennis players
American feminists
Methodists from California
Angel City FC owners
Australian Championships (tennis) champions
BBC Sports Personality Lifetime Achievement Award recipients
French Championships (tennis) champions
French Open champions
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in mixed doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's doubles
Grand Slam (tennis) champions in women's singles
International Tennis Hall of Fame inductees
Laureus World Sports Awards winners
Lesbian feminists
LGBTQ people from California
American lesbian sportswomen
LGBTQ tennis players
Living people
Los Angeles Dodgers executives
Los Angeles Dodgers owners
Los Angeles State College alumni
Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients
Shorty Award winners
Tennis players from Long Beach, California
American tennis commentators
Tennis players from California
United States National champions (tennis)
US Open (tennis) champions
Wimbledon champions
American women sports commentators
Women's Sports Foundation
World number 1 ranked female tennis players
American recipients of the Legion of Honour
Long Beach Polytechnic High School alumni
20th-century American LGBTQ people
21st-century American LGBTQ people
World TeamTennis owners