Legend Bio: Billie Jean King

Billie Jean King’s game was built on aggressive, forward-moving tennis. For two decades, she won match after match by taking the ball early, cutting off angles, and advancing to the net. This attacking style proved to be most potent on grass — and especially at Wimbledon, where she won a record 20 titles across singles, doubles and mixed.

At age 11, King bought her first tennis racquet with money saved from odd jobs and took free lessons near her home in Long Beach, California. It wasn't long before she told her mother, Betty: "I am going to be No.1 in the world."

The young Billie Jean wanted to make a difference in the world, and she knew that to have the platform to do that, she needed to be the best. By 1966, the year she captured her first Wimbledon singles crown, she had already achieved that singular goal and was on her way to winning 129 singles titles — including a career Grand Slam. She is still one of just 10 women, all-time, to achieve the feat.

Aside from six famous victories at Wimbledon (1966-68, 1972-73, 1975), King was four times champion at the US Open (1967, 1971-72, 1974) and won the Australian Open (1968) and Roland Garros (1972) once. At Wimbledon in 1973 she completed a rare triple crown, winning the singles, doubles (with Rosie Casals), and mixed doubles (with Owen Davidson). 

Indeed, in doubles, King was equally formidable, securing 101 titles. She won 16 majors, including 10 at Wimbledon, and 11 major mixed doubles titles. Her career total of 39 Grand Slam titles across all disciplines remains third on the all-time list, behind Margaret Court and Martina Navratilova.

Charismatic, inquisitive and empathetic, King’s influence extended far beyond the lines of the court, even while she was still playing.

On September 23, 1970, she was one of nine players who broke away from the tennis establishment and signed $1 dollar contracts with promoter Gladys Heldman to compete at the groundbreaking Virginia Slims Invitational at Houston. That event, borne of frustration with prize money ratios for women compared to men, led to the first Virginia Slims Circuit in 1971. King led by example, on court and off, becoming the first female athlete to earn over $100,000 in a single season. 

Two years later, on the eve of Wimbledon in 1973, King spearheaded the founding of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) at a meeting of some 60 players at London's Gloucester Hotel. Elected president of the new organization, she successfully lobbied for equal prize money at the US Open, helping secure the sponsorship needed to ensure pay parity.

Her subsequent victory over Bobby Riggs in the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” match at Houston's Astrodome was a cultural landmark, watched by some 90 million TV viewers around the world. Building on that momentum, in 1974 King was a co-founder of the innovative co-ed World Team Tennis league, and created the Women's Sports Foundation to increase opportunities for female participation in sports.

King remained a contender until she retired from competition, winning her final WTA singles title in Birmingham at 39 years, 7 months, and 23 days – still the oldest player to win a professional Tour title. In the decades that followed, she remained as busy as ever, as a businesswoman, philanthropist, author, tennis commentator, and tireless campaigner for social equity and inclusion.

With her wife, former US Open doubles champion Ilana Kloss, by her side, King became a pioneering investor focusing on women’s sports, equality, and sports technology. Her portfolio grew to include ownership stakes in the Los Angeles Dodgers, LA Sparks, Angel City FC, and the PWHL. During her career, King was a part of 10 victorious US Fed Cup teams, as a player and captain. In 2020, the competition was re-named in her honor as she also took a business stake, working with the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and TWG.

Alongside many media accolades including Sports Illustrated's Sportsperson of the Year in 1972, King's contributions to sport and wider society have been recognized with the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in her native United States, the French Legion of Honour, the ITF’s Philippe Chatrier Award, and induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame – for her own legendary playing career in 1987 and with the Original 9 in 2021.

The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the home of US Open, was inaugurated in 2006. The winner’s trophy at the WTA Finals is also named in her honor.