I remember my family gathering in front of the television to watch the Battle of the Sexes tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. I remember Riggs’ pompous declarations that he would be the victor and women were inferior. And I remember Billie Jean’s calm demeanor and focused attention as she beat him 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

I had recently turned 12 years old. I didn’t play sports at the time and knew nothing about tennis. But I knew that what Billie Jean accomplished that day was a victory for women, and for young girls like me.

What I didn’t know until I read her autobiography, All In, was that Billie Jean was driven from a young age to become Number One in her sport. She wasn’t driven by her parents or coaches. She was driven by her own desire and love of the game.  

Billie Jean was internally motivated

In 1954, a friend introduced Billie Jean to tennis. She loved it immediately and the 10-year-old rushed home to tell her mother that she had found out what she was going to do with her life—she was going to be the No. 1 tennis player in the world. Her mother replied, “Okay, dear.”

Her parents did not have the means to join a country club where their daughter could play tennis. Rather, she learned through free instruction at a neighborhood park. She was fortunate to have a great teacher who taught her the fundamentals she needed to get started. He recognized Billie Jean had the potential to become a very good player. And she was clever enough to learn which park he taught at each day so she could get as many free lessons as possible.

Through her teen years, Billie Jean took it upon herself to study great tennis players, to understand the game inside and out, and to practice the techniques needed to play successfully. She was determined to excel at the game she loved. Her parents supported her efforts but never pushed. When they picked her up at the airport as she returned from a summer of playing tennis, they wanted to know if she still loved tennis and was still having fun. She did and she was.

Billie Jean was all in for the game—and to make it better

Billie Jean’s competitiveness and love of the game kept her focused on her goal to be Number One in women’s tennis. She was all in. She took no shortcuts. She worked hard at her game, studied opponents, and was fortunate to work with some great coaches. She made no excuses when she performed badly, just kept working on improving her game, even when it meant relearning the way she had served for ten years.

The harder she worked, the better she got and as she played in tournaments, doors opened to new opportunities to play or be coached at the next level. But her path was not easy. If you are a tennis fan, you will enjoy her 400-page book even more than I did. I don’t know the game, but I am inspired by someone who worked so hard for what she believed in, then used her platform to make things better for the next generation.

• Billie Jean wanted to be Number One in women’s tennis.

• She wanted to break down barriers for girls to play sports.

• She wanted women to have the same opportunities and pay as men for playing professionally.

By achieving her first goal, she used her platform to work toward the second two.

As a teenager, Billie Jean recognized that her sport was traditionally available only to white people with country club memberships. Billie Jean believed that regardless of their background or family’s socio-economic status, young girls should have opportunities to play sports. With some of her first professional earnings, she started the Women’s Sports Foundation in 1974 “to advance the lives of women and girls through sports and physical activity. [Their] mission is to enable all girls and women to reach their potential in sports and life.” 

According to her autobiography, by the fiftieth anniversary of Title IX in June of this year, “… the WSF will have raised and invested more than $100 million to expand opportunities for girls and women in all sports.”

There was no professional women’s tennis when Billie Jean began playing. Thanks to her persistence and courage to defy the organizers it became a reality, as did the World TeamTennis league that she helped found.

She has broken down barriers and increased opportunities, but Billie Jean King will likely not live to see women and men compensated equally in tennis. Her efforts started almost 60 years ago and thanks to the Women’s Tennis Association – the organization she founded by rallying her colleagues in 1973, women’s tennis has the lowest gender pay gap in professional sports. A fall 2021 study* showed men earn only 34% more than women.

Billie Jean King has been a role model for many on the tennis court and through the associations and organizations she has been a part of. She helped build a foundation for equality and has energized the next generations to keep working toward their goals.

*The worst gap? Male basketball players earn 8,567% more than female players.

Learn more about Billie Jean King’s autobiography “All In.”

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