How Billie Jean King Changed the World of Tennis

By: V. Messana

​“Visionary. Pioneer. Legend. As a tennis champion and social activist, Billie Jean King lives her life according to the principles of equality, empowerment, and access.” - The Official Website of Billie Jean King.
Billie Jean, born November 22, 1943, in California, U.S., is a former American tennis player whose influence and style dignified the status of women’s professional tennis. She won 39 major titles in her career, competing in both singles and doubles and even became the world’s number one Tennis player.
 
But, how did Bille revolutionise the tennis world?
 
One of King’s major achievements was getting equal prize money for men and women at major tournaments, such as the U.S. Open. When Billie Jean King won the U.S. Open in 1972, she didn’t make the usual remarks about hoping to win again. Instead, she threatened not to play at all the following year and added that no other women would either. For over 50 years now, all four semi-finalists in both singles draws of the US Open get $1 million apiece.
In 1973, King formed the Women's Tennis Association and rallied more than 60 other women players to create it alongside her. The WTA is now the global leader in women’s professional sports. It is the principal organising body of women’s professional tennis and governs the WTA Tour, the worldwide professional tennis tour for women.
In 1974, she co-founded World Team Tennis, the only professional, co-ed team sports league. She also co-founded Women’s Sports magazine and started the Women's Sports Foundation, dedicated to creating leaders by providing girls access to sports and to defending Title IX in lawsuits.
King participated in “The Battle of the Sexes”, where she played a match against Bobby Riggs that drew over 30,000 fans and was watched by 90 million people worldwide. King won the match in straight sets. This led to a boom in women's sports participation, and empowered women to advocate for equal pay in all workforce sectors.
In 2006, the United States Tennis Association renamed the National Tennis Centre to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre, and in 2020, the Fed Cup, a global annual world cup of women's tennis competition, was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup.
King was undoubtedly a remarkable woman, and these are just some of the many things Billie Jean King did that completely changed the sexist world of tennis and brought women to sports.