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Billie Jean King

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"Billie Jean King," (born November 22 1943, in Long Beach, California) is a retired tennis player from the United States. During her career, she won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 25 Grand Slam doubles titles. She is considered by many to be one of the greatest tennis players and female athletes in history. King was an outspoken advocate against sexism in sports and in society in general. The match for which she is best remembered is the "Battle of the Sexes" in 1973, in which she defeated the former Wimbledon men's champion Bobby Riggs.

Biography

King was born "Billie Jean Moffit" in 1943. She was the daughter of a firefighter father and homemaker mother. Her younger brother Randy Moffit eventually became a pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. She learned to play tennis on the public courts of Long Beach, California, and first gained international recognition in 1961 when, aged 17, she won the women's doubles title at Wimbledon in her first attempt (partnering Karen Hantze Susman). At Wimbledon in 1962, Billie Jean toppled the number one player in the world and top seed, Margaret Smith Court, in a stunning first round match.

In 1965, Billie Jean married law student Lawrence King.

In 1966, King won the first of six singles titles at Wimbledon and reached the World No. 1 ranking for the first time. She followed up by winning the singles titles at both Wimbledon and the US Championships in 1967. She developed a reputation as an aggressive, hard-hitting net-rusher, with excellent speed and a highly-competitive nature.

King was a significant force in the opening of tennis to professionalism. Prior to the advent of the Open era in 1968, she had to get by on US$100 a week as a playground instructor and student at Los Angeles State College in between playing at major tennis tournaments. In 1967, she attacked the United States Lawn Tennis Association in a series of press conferences, denouncing what she called the association'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. When the Open era began, King campaigned for equal prize money in the men's and women's games. As the financial backing of the women's game improved, King became the first woman athlete to earn over US$100,000 in prize money in 1971. But inequalities continued to exist. In 1972, King won the US Open but received US$15,000 less than the men's champion Ilie Nastase. She stated that if the prize money was not equal by the following year, she would not play. In 1973, the US Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money for men and women.

Despite all King's achievements at the world's biggest tennis tournaments, she is best remembered for her win over a 55 year-old man in 1973. Bobby Riggs had been a top men's player in the 1930s and 40s. He had then gone on to become a well-known tennis hustler who made a living promoting himself playing in challenge matches. In 1973, he took on the role of male chauvinist and, claiming that the women's game was so inferior to the men's game even a 55 year-old like him could beat the current top female players, he challenged Margaret Court to a match and beat her 6-2, 6-1. King, who previously had rejected challenges from Riggs, then accepted a lucrative financial offer to play him at the Houston Astrodome in Texas on September 20, 1973, in an event dubbed the "Battle of the Sexes." The match garnered huge publicity. In front of 30,492 spectators and a worldwide television audience estimated at 50 million people in 37 countries, King beat Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. The match is considered a very significant event in developing greater recognition and respect for women's tennis.

King was instrumental in establishing the women's tennis tour in the 1970s, and worked tirelessly to promote it. She became the first president of the women's players union – the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) – in 1973. In 1974, she founded "Womensports" magazine and started the Women's Sports Foundation. She also helped to found World Team Tennis.

King's triumph at the French Open 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. She won a record 20 career titles at Wimbledon – 6 singles, 10 women's doubles, and 4 mixed doubles. (Martina Navratilova also has 20 career titles at Wimbledon).

King retired from competitive play in singles at the end of 1983. She reached the semifinals in her final appearance at Wimbledon, losing to Andrea Jaeger 6-1, 6-1 after beating Kathy Jordan 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, Wendy Turnbull 7-5, 6-3 in the fourth round, and Rosie Casals, her longtime doubles partner, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round. The final singles match of her career was a second round 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 loss to Catherine Tanvier at the 1983 Australian Open.

King played doubles sporadically from 1984 through 1990. She retired from competitive play in doubles in March 1990. In her last competitive doubles match, King and her partner, Jennifer Capriati, lost a second round match to Brenda Schultz-McCarthy and Andrea Temesvari 6-3, 6-2 at the Virginia Slims of Florida tournament.

During her career, King won 67 professional and 37 amateur singles titles and helped the US win the Fed Cup 7 times. Her career prize money totalled US$1,966,487.

King was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. In 1990, Life magazine named her one of the '100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century'.

In the mid-1990s, King became the captain of the United States Fed Cup team and coach of its women's Olympic tennis squad. She guided the US to the Fed Cup in 1996, and helped Lindsay Davenport, Gigi Fernandez and Mary Joe Fernandez capture Olympic Gold Medals. In 2002, King dismissed Jennifer Capriati from the team, saying Capriati had violated rules that forbade bringing along personal coaches and practicing with them. Opinion was sharply divided, with many supporting King's decision but many feeling the punishment was too harsh, especially when Monica Seles and Lisa Raymond were then promptly defeated by lower ranked Austrians Barbara Schett and Barbara Schwartz. The following year, King was replaced as Fed Cup captain by Zina Garrison.

In 1971, King began an affair with her secretary Marilyn Barnett. When this came to light in a lawsuit ten years later, King acknowledged the affair and thus became the first American athlete to openly admit to having a homosexual relationship. She received an award from GLAAD - an organisation devoted to reducing discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals - in 2001 for "furthering the visibility and inclusion of the community in her work". The award noted her involvement in production and the free distribution of educational films, as well as serving on the boards of several AIDS charities.

King currently resides in New York and Seattle. In the mid-1980s, she divorced Lawrence King.

Trivia

The Elton John song "Philadelphia Freedom" is a tribute to King. [1]

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (12)

Year     Championship          Opponent in Final       Score in Final
1966     Wimbledon             Maria Bueno             6-3, 3-6, 6-1
1967     Wimbledon             Ann Haydon Jones        6-3, 6-4 
1967     US Championships      Ann Haydon Jones        11-9, 6-4
1968     Australian Open       Margaret Court          6-1, 6-2
Open Era
1968     Wimbledon             Judy Tegart-Dalton      9-7, 7-5
1971     US Open               Rosemary Casals         6-4, 7-6 
1972     French Open           Evonne Goolagong        6-3, 6-3 
1972     Wimbledon             Evonne Goolagong        6-3, 6-3
1972     US Open               Kerry Melville          6-3, 7-5
1973     Wimbledon             Chris Evert             6-0, 7-5
1974     US Open               Evonne Goolagong        3-6, 6-3, 7-5
1975     Wimbledon             Evonne Goolagong        6-0, 6-1

Runner-ups (6)

Year     Championship          Opponent in Final       Score in Final
1963     Wimbledon             Margaret Court          6-3, 6-4
1965     US Championships      Margaret Court          8-6, 7-5
Open Era
1968     US Open               Virginia Wade           6-4, 6-2
1969     Australian Open       Margaret Court          6-4, 6-1
1969     Wimbledon             Ann Haydon Jones        3-6, 6-3, 6-2 
1970     Wimbledon             Margaret Court          14-12, 11-9

Grand Slam doubles finals

  • Australian Open:
    • Women's Doubles runner-up – 1965, 69
    • Mixed Doubles champion – 1968
  • French Championships / French Open:
    • Women's Doubles champion – 1972
    • Women's Doubles runner-up – 1968, 70
    • Mixed Doubles champion – 1967, 7023-7 in three set matches. 73-8 in two set matches. 5-1 in deuce third sets.

96-15 overall in 21 years (1961-1975, 1977-1980, 1982-1983).

    • Mixed Doubles runner-up – 1968
  • Wimbledon:
    • Women's Doubles champion – 1961, 62, 65, 67, 68, 70, 71, 72, 73, 79
    • Women's Doubles runner-up – 1964, 76
    • Mixed Doubles champion – 1967, 71, 73, 74
    • Mixed Doubles runner-up – 1966, 78, 83
  • US Championships / US Open:
    • Women's Doubles champion – 1964, 67, 74, 78, 80
    • Women's Doubles runner-up – 1962, 65, 66, 68, 73, 75, 79
    • Mixed Doubles champion – 1967, 71, 73, 76
    • Mixed Doubles runner-up – 1975, 77, 78

Wimbledon singles record

96-15 overall in 21 years (1961-1975, 1977-1980, 1982-1983). Her win total includes one walkover.

6-3 in final matches. 9-5 in semifinal matches. 14-6 in quarterfinal matches. King failed to reach the quarterfinals only once, in 1961 during her first Wimbledon. After receiving a bye during the first round, King lost to the fifth seed, Yola Ramirez, in the second round.

23-7 in three set matches. 73-8 in two set matches. 5-1 in deuce third sets, i.e., sets that were tied 5-5 before being resolved.

Seeded #1 in 1967, 1968, and 1974. Seeded #2 in 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, and 1973. Seeded #3 in 1964 and 1975. Seeded #4 in 1966. Seeded #5 in 1965, 1977, 1978, and 1980. Seeded #7 in 1979. Seeded #10 in 1983. Seeded #12 in 1982.

31-15 against seeded players. Never lost to an unseeded player (65-0). Worst loss was to #8 seed Olga Morozova in 1974.

4-7 versus #1 seeds (wins: Chris Evert (1975), Evonne Goolagong (1972), Margaret Court (1962, 1966); losses: Martina Navratilova (1980), Chris Evert (1977, 1978), Margaret Court (1963, 1964, 1970), Maria Bueno (1965))

2-1 versus #2 seeds (wins: Maria Bueno (1966), Lesley Turner Bowrey (1963); loss: Chris Evert (1982))

6-2 versus #3 seeds (wins: Tracy Austin (1982), Evonne Goolagong (1973), Virginia Wade (1970), Ann Haydon-Jones (1967, 1963), Lesley Turner Bowrey (1965); losses: Andrea Jaeger (1983), Evonne Goolagong (1971))

3-2 versus #4 seeds (wins: Evonne Goolagong (1975), Chris Evert (1973), Ann Haydon-Jones (1968); losses: Tracy Austin (1979), Ann Haydon-Jones (1969))

0-2 versus #5 seeds (Ann Haydon-Jones (1962), Yola Ramirez (1961))

4-0 versus #6 seeds (Wendy Turnbull (1982), Rosie Casals (1972), Anette Van Zyl (1966), Ann Haydon-Jones (1964))

8-0 versus #7 seeds (Wendy Turnbull (1983), Olga Morozova (1975), Kerry Reid (1973), Virginia Wade (1972), Francoise Durr (1971), Karen Krantzcke (1970), Judy Tegart-Dalton (1968), Maria Bueno (1963))

3-1 versus #8 seeds (wins: Judy Tegart-Dalton (1969), Lesley Turner Bowrey (1968), Virginia Wade (1967); loss: Olga Morozova (1974))

1-0 versus #14 seeds (Sue Barker (1978))

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