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Billie Jean King
Billie Jean Moffit was born on November 22, 1943, in Long Beach, California. She developed an interest in tennis at an early age and saved money to buy her first racket. When she was 14 years old, she won her first championship in a southern California tournament. Despite her success on the court, the fact that tennis was oriented toward and dominated by men would prove a personal challenge to her in ensuing years.
In 1961, King competed in her first Wimbledon tournament in England and won the doubles title. In 1966 she won her first Wimbledon singles championship and repeated in 1967. That same year she won the U.S. Open singles title at Forest Hills, New York.
Billie Jean Moffit married attorney Larry King in 1968 and turned professional the same year. That year she won both the women's singles and doubles. In 1971, she became the first woman athlete to win more than $100,000 in a single year. It was 1972, however, that would be King's banner year. She won the Wimbledon women's singles, the U.S. Open singles, and the French Open. For this feat, Sports Illustrated magazine named her "Sportswoman of the Year," and Sports magazine deemed her "Tennis Player of the Year."
In 1973, King again won Wimbledon's singles and doubles championships. It was then that she began to openly criticize the scanty prize money offered to women competitors. She noted that women were receiving far less than men for what she considered equal ability and effort. Her efforts in this concern led to the offer from a major U.S. drug manufacturer of a sizable sum of money to make the purses at Forest Hills equal for both men and women.
King's career coincided with the women's liberation movement of the 1970s and she became a natural spokesperson for the movement. Her status as a leader in the feminist cause reached a zenith in September of 1973, when she faced the 1939 men's tennis champion Bobby Riggs in a nationally televised match at the Houston Astrodome. King easily beat the aging Riggs and emerged as the winner of what had been billed as the "Battle of the Sexes.
In 1975, King won her sixth Wimbledon singles championship, but she announced that she would no longer compete in major events because of recurring injuries to her knees. In all she won a record 20 Wimbledon championships .
King helped to found the Women's Tennis Association and served as its president from 1973 to 1975 and again from 1980 to 1981. She retired from professional tennis in 1984. Since then, she has served as a tennis commentator, teacher and coach. Today, women competing in professional athletic contests owe much to Billie Jean King. With her outstanding play and aggressive attitude, she earned them the right to compete for the same money prizes as men.
King and her husband have promoted coed team tennis. King has also been active in charitable events. In 1995, she joined the Virginia Slims legends tour along with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova to raise money for the fight against AIDS. King is an investor in Discovery Zone, a chain of children's "play lands" which promotes the equal athletic abilities of boys and girls.
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