BILLIE JEAN KING X ROOTS OF FIGHT
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About — Billie Jean King
About —
Billie Jean King
“I am going to fight the good fight.”
Billie Jean King faces Judy Tegart in the 1968 Wimbledon Championships Ladies’ Singles final.
Living legend. Pioneer of the sporting world. The one who changed the game for women athletes all over the world.
Billie Jean King isn’t just one of the greatest tennis players of all time. She is action personified. She is the force that busted into a man’s world with a racket and enough determination to change the attitudes of her day. King became the inspiration of millions by showing what true conviction is all about, using her voice to level the playing field.
Billie Jean King competing in the Family Circle Magazine Cup tournament at Hilton Head Island on April 2, 1977.
How big of an impact has Billie Jean had? She was the “Sportsperson of the Year” in 1972, the first woman to win that distinction. That same year she won the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open — the latter of which she protested playing in again until women received equal pay to their male counterparts.
There are wins. And then there are victories. King symbolized both, and she wasn’t done yet. She walked so that today’s women athletes could run. In 1973, one of the most impactful years of her career, she founded the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), won the triple crown at Wimbledon, secured equal prize money at the US Open and returned serve on misogynists in the Battle of the Sexes match. Over the course of two decades, she rewrote history while defining a higher purpose.
Billie Jean King in her first-round match against Else Spruyt at Wimbledon in June 1965.
Billie Jean King holds the winner’s plate after winning her sixth Wimbledon Ladies’ Singles title on July 4, 1975, defeating Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6-0, 6-1.
The legacy on the court is unparalleled — 39 career Grand Slams, 20 Wimbledon titles, 13 U.S. titles, four French titles, two Australian. She knew how to win. Yet it’s what she stood for that made the biggest difference. As the first woman athlete to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom and one of Life’s “100 Most Important Americans” of the 20th Century, she showed the world what victory really means.
Forever a role model, the legend lives on — that is Billie Jean King.
Introducing our new line, celebrating the legend herself!
