Billie Jean King

Billie Jean King was born in Long Beach, California on November 22^nd 1943. One of the most successful female tennis players of all time, Billie Jean Moffit spent the formative years of her life playing softball until her father decided that was too unladylike and encouraged her to take tennis lessons at the age of 11. By the time she reached her 16^th birthday she was ranked amongst the top 20 in the country, and began to be coached by the legendary Alice Marble.

Billie Jean King played her first Grand Slam in 1959 at the US Championships, losing in the first round before being taken under the wing of Alice Marble, herself the winner of 18 Grand Slam titles over a four year period from 1936-1940.

The following year King won her first adult tournament at the Philadelphia and District Women’s Grass Court Championships.

In 1961 King came to the attention of the world by winning the women’s doubles title at Wimbledon with her first attempt, partnering Karen Hantze Susman. The pair were unseeded and disposed of some of the top seeds on the way to the title, whilst in the singles competition King was knocked out in the second round after a Centre Court battle against Yola Ramirez Ochoa after receiving a bye in the first round. However, she returned the following year and caused an upset by knocking out tournament favourite and number one seed Margaret Smith in the first round, after which the British press fell in love with her and gave her the nickname, ”Little Miss Moffitt”.

In 1965 Billie Jean married Larry King, a law student who later became her business manager and the nickname disappeared.

Playing as Billie Jean King, she won her first major singles title at Wimbledon in 1966, going on to win the title a further 5 times during her career: 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973 and 1975.

Following her win at Wimbledon, Billie Jean King went from strength to strength, winning the French Open in 1972, the Australian Open in 1968 and winning four US Open singles titles, in 1967, 1971, 1972 and 1974, firmly establishing herself in the list of all time top players.

Billie Jean King is just as well known for a legendary match that took place in 1973. Dubbed “The Battle of the Sexes”, King played and beat male tennis player Bobby Riggs in front of a crowd of over 30,000 inside the Houston Astrodome, winning the match 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. It was a game of retribution after Riggs had beaten Margaret Court earlier in the year and proved that back then women could hold their own in a game against men. After the game King was quoted as saying, “This is a culmination of a lifetime in the sport. Tennis has always been reserved for the rich, the white and the males-and I’ve always pledged to change all that.”

King went on to be a pioneer for women’s tennis, and it is largely because of her Organization, The Virginia Slims Circuit, that the US Open now awards equal prize money to men and women. In 1974 she also founded The Women’s Sports Foundation and WomenSports magazine.

Grand Slam singles finals

18 finals (12 titles, 6 runner-ups)