Billie-Jean King: The Bespectacled ‘Battle of Sexes’ Champion
Some argue King was the most accomplished Wimbledon contester ever. Born on November 22, 1943, in Long Beach, California, U.S.A., 11-year-old Billie Jean Moffitt told her mother, “I am going to be No.1 in the world.” Little did the aspiring youngster know how prophetic her words would prove. After accumulating enough money from part-time jobs, the tennis fanatic purchased the first tennis racket and began attending a free of cost tennis class in her hometown in Long Island. King would later spend a spell at the Los Angeles State University.
Over her 15-year-long professional career spanning from 1968 to 1983, King triumphed at an astonishing 39 Grand Slam events. At Wimbledon, she booked a total of 20 victories keeping in view her 10 doubles, 4 mixed doubles and six ladies’ singles trophies at SW19. Over a period of 23 years, King contested on a staggering 22 occasions, a stint that saw her participate in an epic 265 showdowns at Wimbledon, 224 of which were won by her. The American played her first match at the All England Club at the age of seventeen in 1961, the unmarried teenager known then as Billie Jean Moffat. Over the 1960’s and 1970’s, King adopted a passionate and ferociously forceful manner of play with a demeanour that was ideal for Wimbledon glory. Over the years, she developed an intense on-court feud with Australia’s Margaret Court - a competitor who pushed her till the end at the All England title in 1969 and 1970.
Remarkably, the showdown for which Billie Jean will be most celebrated for was the memorable 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” clash where at the age of 29, King found herself pitted against veteran men’s champion Bobby Riggs who was 55 at that time. In a face-off witnessed by an astoundingly vast audience of around 50 million television spectators around the world, King unforgettably overcame Riggs with a score of 6-4, 6-4 and 6-3.
King also enjoyed considerable Grand Slam success away from the All England Courts. She booked memorable wins at the U.S. Open ladies’ singles events in 1967, ’71,’72 and ’74 and the 1964,’67,’74,’78 and ’80 U.S. Open doubles matches. In doing so, King became the lone women in history to have recorded U.S. Open singles victories on an impressive four surface types which includes grass, clay, carpet and hard courts. King won the ladies’ singles Australian Open title in 1968 and added the doubles trophy to her name in 1965 and ’69. The French Open title at Roland Garros also failed to elude Billie Jean and at the 1972 event the unstoppable American added both the ladies’ singles title and the doubles title to her rapidly expanding silverware.
In 1983, Billie Jean became the most aged contender ever at 39 years, 7 months and 23 days to win the professional WTA Tour event in Birmingham. King is also amongst the nine players who alone have managed to record singles title wins in all four of the Grand Slam competitions - a distinguished group that includes the likes of superstars Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graff and Serena Williams. From 1966 to 1974, King managed to climb up to the World No.1 ranking on five occasions as she held her ground in the world top ten slots for an astounding 17 years.
Yet it would be fair to say that in spite of her epic on-court record, Billie Jean’s sententious and ever-enduring legacy persists all the more poignantly off the tennis court rather than on the court. She was the driving force behind the creation of her sport’s governing body, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the inauguration of the professional tour in 1970. Over the years King has lobbied relentlessly to endorse the women’s game and was already battling for an end to gender prize money discrimination at the All England Club championships as early as 1973.
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