Billie Jean Moffitt King
 |
| Country |
 United States |
| Residence |
|
| Date of birth |
November 22 1943 (1943--) (age 63) |
| Place of birth |
Long Beach, California |
| Height |
5' 4 1/2" |
| Weight |
|
| Turned Pro |
1968 |
| Retired |
1983 |
| Plays |
Right |
| Career Prize Money |
US$1,966,487[1] |
| Singles |
| Career record: |
695-155[2] |
| Career titles: |
67 (open era only) |
| Highest ranking: |
1 (1966, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1974)[3] |
| Grand Slam results |
| Australian Open |
W (1968) |
| French Open |
W (1972) |
| Wimbledon |
W (1966, 1967, 1968, 1972, 1973, 1975) |
| U.S. Open |
W (1967, 1971, 1972, 1974) |
| Doubles |
| Career record: |
87-37[4] |
| Career titles: |
|
| Highest ranking: |
|
Billie Jean Moffitt King (born November 22, 1943 in
Long Beach, California) is a retired tennis
player from the United States. During her career, she won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles
titles. She is generally considered to be one of the greatest female tennis players and female athletes in history. King has been
an outspoken advocate against sexism in sports and society. The tennis match for which the public
best remembers her is the "Battle of the Sexes" in 1973, in which she defeated Bobby Riggs, a former Wimbledon men's champion who had been ranked the "World's Number 1" tennis player for the years 1941, 1946, and 1947.
Biography
King was born Billie Jean Moffitt. She was born into a conservative Methodist family, the daughter of a firefighter
father[5] and housewife mother. Her younger brother
Randy Moffitt grew up to become a professional baseball
player, pitching for 12 years in the major leagues for the San Francisco Giants,
Houston Astros, and Toronto Blue Jays.[6]
Early career
Moffitt learned to play tennis on the public courts of Long Beach, California.[7] She attended Long Beach Polytechnic High
School[8] where she was a member of Zayn Welfare Sorority. She first gained international recognition in 1961 when,
at age 17, she won the women's doubles title at Wimbledon in her first
attempt while partnering Karen Hantze Susman.[9] At Wimbledon in 1962, in only her second career
singles match at that tournament, Moffitt upset the number one player in the world and top seed, Margaret Smith Court, in a second round match after Court had led 5-2 and was serving at 5-3
(30-15) in the third set.[10]
In 1965, Moffitt married law student Lawrence King.
In 1966, King won the first of her six singles titles at Wimbledon. She followed up in 1967 by
winning the singles titles at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships. She
developed a reputation as an aggressive, hard-hitting net-rusher, with excellent speed and a highly competitive personality. King
once said, "Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever."[11]
Before the start of the open era in 1968, she earned
US$100 a week as a playground instructor and student at Los Angeles State College when not playing in major tennis tournaments.
In 1967, King criticized the United States Lawn Tennis Association
in a series of press conferences, denouncing what she called the Association's practice of "shamateurism," where top players were
paid under the table to guarantee their entry into tournaments. King argued that this was corrupt and kept the game highly
elitist. King quickly became a significant force in the opening of tennis to professionalism.
When the open era began, King campaigned for equal prize money in the men's and women's games. As the financial backing of the
women's game improved due to the efforts of World Tennis magazine founder, publisher and editor Gladys
M. Heldman, King became the first woman athlete to earn over US$100,000 in prize money in 1971; however, inequalities continued.
In 1972, King won the U.S. Open but received US$15,000 less than the men's champion Ilie
Năstase. She stated that if the prize money was not equal by the following year, she would not play. In 1973, the U.S. Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money for men and women.
Battle of the Sexes
-
Despite King's achievements at the world's biggest tennis tournaments, the U.S. public best remembers King for her win over
Bobby Riggs in 1973.
Riggs had been a top men's player in the 1930s and 1940s in both the amateur and professional ranks, becoming the world's best
player in the mid-1940s. He then became a self-described tennis "hustler" who played in promotional challenge matches. In
1973, he took on the role of male chauvinist. Claiming that the
women's game was so inferior to the men's game that even a 55-year-old like himself could beat the current top female players, he
challenged and defeated Margaret Smith Court 6-2, 6-1. King, who previously had
rejected challenges from Riggs, then accepted a lucrative financial offer to play him.
Dubbed the Battle of the Sexes, the Riggs-King match was played at the
Houston Astrodome in Texas on September 20, 1973. The match garnered huge publicity. In front of 30,492
spectators and a worldwide television audience estimated at 50 million people in 37 countries, King beat Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. The
match is considered a very significant event in developing greater recognition and respect for women's tennis. King said, "I
thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn't win that match. It would ruin the women's [tennis] tour and affect all women's
self-esteem."[12]
In recent years, a persistent urban legend has arisen, particularly on the
Internet, that the rules of tennis were modified for the match so that Riggs had only one serve
for King's two and that King was allowed to hit into the doubles court area. This is untrue, the match was played under the
normal rules of tennis.
Furthering the tennis profession
King led player efforts to support the first professional women's tennis tour in the 1970s called the Virginia Slims, founded
by Gladys Heldman and funded by Joseph Cullman of Philip
Morris. Once the tour took flight, King worked tirelessly to promote it.
In 1973, King became the first president of the women's players union – the Women's Tennis Association. In 1974, she, with husband Larry King and Jim Jorgensen, founded womenSports magazine and
started the Women's Sports Foundation. Also in 1974, King helped to found
World TeamTennis. She became league commissioner in 1982.
King is also a founding member on the Board of Honorary Trustees for the National
Sports Museum, which is expected to open in early 2008, and will be home to the Women's Sports Foundation Hall of
Fame.
Later career
King retired from competitive play in singles at the end of 1983. She reached the semifinals in her final appearance at
Wimbledon, losing to Andrea Jaeger
6-1, 6-1 after beating Kathy Jordan 7-5, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, Wendy Turnbull 7-5, 6-3 in the fourth round, and Rosie Casals,
her longtime doubles partner, 6-3, 6-4 in the third round. The final singles match of her career was a second round 7-6, 4-6, 6-4
loss to Catherine Tanvier at the 1983 Australian
Open.
King played doubles sporadically from 1984 through 1990. She retired from competitive play in doubles in March 1990. In her
last competitive doubles match, King and her partner, Jennifer Capriati, lost a second
round match to Brenda Schultz-McCarthy and Andrea Temesvari 6-3, 6-2 at the Virginia Slims of Florida tournament.
In the mid-1990s, King became the captain of the United States Fed Cup team and coach of its
women's Olympic tennis squad. She guided the U.S. to the Fed Cup championship in
1996 and helped Lindsay Davenport, Gigi Fernandez, and Mary Joe Fernandez capture Olympic gold
medals.
In 2002, King dismissed Capriati from the Fed Cup team, saying Capriati had violated rules that forbade bringing along and
practicing with personal coaches. Opinion was sharply divided, with many supporting King's decision but many feeling the
punishment was too harsh, especially in hindsight when Monica Seles and Lisa Raymond were defeated by lower-ranked Austrians Barbara Schett
and Barbara Schwartz. The following year, Zina Garrison
Jackson succeeded King as Fed Cup captain.
Tennis legacy
According to the end-of-year rankings compiled by the Daily Telegraph from 1914
through 1972, King was ranked first in the world three times: 1966, 1967, and 1968. King also was ranked first for 1972 and 1974,
when the official rankings were produced by the Women's Tennis
Association.
King's triumph at the French Open in 1972 made her only the fifth woman in
tennis history to win the singles titles at all four Grand Slam events, a "career Grand Slam." She also won a career Grand Slam
in mixed doubles. In women's doubles, only the Australian Open eluded her. She won a
record 20 career titles at Wimbledon – 6 singles, 10 women's doubles, and 4
mixed doubles. (Martina Navratilova also has 20 career titles at Wimbledon.)
During her career, King won 67 professional and 37 amateur singles titles and helped the United States win the
Fed Cup seven times. Her career prize money totalled US$1,966,487.[13]
King played 51 Grand Slam events in singles from 1959 through 1983 (197-39 .835 win-loss record): 21 at Wimbledon (96-15 win-loss
record), 18 at the U.S. Championships/Open (63-14 win-loss record), 7 at the
French Championships/Open (22-6 win-loss record), and 5 at the Australian
Championships/Open (16-4 win-loss record).
She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles: 6 at Wimbledon, 4 at the U.S. Championships/Open, 1 at the French Open, and 1 at the
Australian Championships. She won the last 7 Grand Slam singles finals in which she played, 6 of them in straight sets. Four of
those finals were against Evonne Goolagong.
From 1966 through 1975, King played in 25 Grand Slam singles tournaments, winning 12. She was the runner-up in 4 of those
tournaments, a losing semifinalist in 2 of those tournaments, and a losing quarterfinalist in 5 of those tournaments. From 1971
through 1975, King won 7 of the 10 Grand Slam singles tournaments she played. All but one of King's Grand Slam singles
championships were on grass.
During her career, King was the runner-up in 6 Grand Slam singles events, and she reached at least the semifinals in 27 and at
least the quarterfinals in 40 out of her 51 attempts. An indicator of King's mental toughness at crunch time in Grand Slam
singles tournaments was her 11-2 career record in deuce third sets, i.e., third sets that were tied 5-5 before being
resolved.
TV appearance
King appeared on Law & Order, one of her favorite television shows, as a
judge on April 27, 2007.
Personal life
King married Lawrence King in 1965. In 1971, she had an abortion. King said in an interview
with 60 Minutes in 1972 that she and her husband were not ready to have children at
that time because both were busy with their careers and could not devote time to children.
In 1971, King began an intimate relationship with her secretary Marilyn Barnett. King acknowledged the relationship when it
became public in a lawsuit ten years later, becoming the first prominent American athlete to confirm having a gay relationship. King said that she decided to play on the tour in 1982 and
1983 solely because she needed money to pay the attorneys who defended her in that lawsuit and that
she really did not want to play at age 38 and 39.
In 1987, she divorced Lawrence King. On a PBS program on March 20, 2005, she discussed the fact that her sexual side has been the greatest struggle of her life. She pointed out that
she came from a personally conservative background, which worked against her being open about her sexual orientation, as
contrasted with less inhibited players such as Martina Navratilova.
Friends with singer Elton John, the song "Philadelphia Freedom" is a tribute to
King.[14] On a PBS program, John talked about how he brought a demo copy of the record to play for her
right after he had recorded it.
Charles M. Schulz, creator of the Peanuts
comic strip, was another of King's admirers and close friends. Schulz referenced King several times in Peanuts over the
years. In one strip, Peppermint Patty tells Marcie, "Has anyone ever told you that when you're mad, you look just like Billie Jean King?"
In 1999 King was elected to serve on the Board of Directors of Philip Morris
Incorporated, garnering some criticism from anti-tobacco groups [15]. She no longer serves in that capacity.
In 2000, King received an award from the GLAAD, an
organisation devoted to reducing discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals, for "furthering the visibility and
inclusion of the community in her work." The award noted her involvement in production and the free distribution of educational
films, as well as serving on the boards of several AIDS charities.[16]
King currently resides in New York and Chicago[17]
with partner Ilana Kloss.
Awards, honors, and tributes
Margaret Smith Court, who won more Grand
Slam titles than anyone, has said that King was “the greatest competitor I’ve ever known.”[1]
In 1972, King became the first tennis player to be named Sports Illustrated
Sportsman of the Year. She was also the first female athlete ever to receive that
honor.
In 1975, Seventeen (magazine) magazine found that King was the most admired
woman in the world from a poll of its readers. Golda Meir, who had been Israel's prime minister until the previous year, finished second.
King was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in
1987. In 1990, Life
magazine named her one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century."
King was the recipient of the 1999 Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
On August 28, 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was rededicated as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. John McEnroe,
Venus Williams, Jimmy Connors, and
Chris Evert were among the speakers during the rededication ceremony. The center is the
largest sports facility in the world to be named after a woman.
On December 6, 2006, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver inducted
King into the California Hall of Fame located at The California Museum for History, Women, and the Arts.
Career statistics
Grand Slam finals
Singles
Wins (12)
| Year |
Championship |
Opponent in Final |
Score in Final |
| 1966 |
Wimbledon |
 Maria Bueno |
6-3, 3-6, 6-1 |
| 1967 |
Wimbledon (2) |
Ann Haydon Jones |
6-3, 6-4 |
| 1967 |
U.S. Championships |
Ann
Haydon Jones |
11-9, 6-4 |
| 1968 |
Australian Championships |
 Margaret Smith Court |
6-1, 6-2 |
| 1968 |
Wimbledon (3) |
Judy Tegart Dalton |
9-7, 7-5 |
| 1971 |
U.S. Open (2) |
Rosemary Casals |
6-4, 7-6 |
| 1972 |
French Open |
Evonne Goolagong Cawley |
6-3, 6-3 |
| 1972 |
Wimbledon (4) |
Evonne Goolagong
Cawley |
6-3, 6-3 |
| 1972 |
U.S. Open (3) |
Kerry Melville Reid |
6-3, 7-5 |
| 1973 |
Wimbledon (5) |
Chris Evert |
6-0, 7-5 |
| 1974 |
U.S. Open (4) |
Evonne Goolagong
Cawley |
3-6, 6-3, 7-5 |
| 1975 |
Wimbledon (6) |
Evonne Goolagong
Cawley |
6-0, 6-1 |
Runner-ups (6)
Women's doubles
Wins (16)
| Year |
Championship |
Partnering |
Opponents in Final |
Score in Final |
| 1961 |
Wimbledon |
Karen Hantze Susman |
 Jan Lehane O'Neill
Margaret Smith Court |
6-3, 6-4 |
| 1962 |
Wimbledon (2nd) |
Karen Hantze
Susman |
Sandra Reynolds Price
Renee Schuurman Haygarth |
5-7, 6-3, 7-5 |
| 1964 |
U.S. Championships |
Karen Hantze
Susman |
Margaret Smith Court
Lesley Turner Bowrey |
3-6, 6-2, 6-4 |
| 1965 |
Wimbledon (3rd) |
 Maria
Bueno |
 Françoise Durr
Jeanine
Lieffrig |
6-2, 7-5 |
| 1967 |
Wimbledon (4th) |
Rosemary Casals |
Maria Bueno
Nancy Richey Gunter |
9-11, 6-4, 6-2 |
| 1967 |
U.S. Championships (2nd) |
Rosemary
Casals |
Mary Ann Eisel
Donna Floyd Fales |
4-6, 6-3, 6-4 |
| 1968 |
Wimbledon (5th) |
Rosemary
Casals |
Françoise Durr
Ann Haydon Jones |
3-6, 6-4, 7-5 |
| 1970 |
Wimbledon (6th) |
Rosemary
Casals |
Françoise Durr
Virginia Wade |
6-2, 6-3 |
| 1971 |
Wimbledon (7th) |
Rosemary
Casals |
Margaret Smith Court
Evonne Goolagong Cawley |
6-3, 6-2 |
| 1972 |
French Open |
 Betty Stöve |
Winnie Shaw
Christine Truman Janes |
6-1, 6-2 |
| 1972 |
Wimbledon (8th) |
Betty Stöve |
Judy Tegart Dalton
Françoise Durr |
6-2, 4-6, 6-3 |
| 1973 |
Wimbledon (9th) |
Rosemary
Casals |
Françoise Durr
Betty Stöve |
6-1, 4-6, 7-5 |
| 1974 |
U.S. Open (3rd) |
Rosemary
Casals |
Françoise Durr
Betty Stöve |
7-6, 6-7, 6-4 |
| 1978 |
U.S. Open (4th) |
 Martina Navratilova |
Kerry Melville Reid
Wendy Turnbull |
7-6, 6-4 |
| 1979 |
Wimbledon (10th) |
Martina
Navratilova |
Betty Stöve
Wendy Turnbull |
5-7, 6-3, 6-2 |
| 1980 |
U.S. Open (5th) |
Martina
Navratilova |
Pam Shriver
Betty Stöve |
7-6, 7-5 |
Runner-ups (13)
| Year |
Championship |
Partnering |
Opponents in Final |
Score in Final |
| 1962 |
U.S. Championships |
Karen Hantze Susman |
Maria
Bueno
Darlene Hard |
4-6, 6-3, 6-2 |
| 1964 |
Wimbledon |
Karen Hantze
Susman |
Margaret Smith Court
Lesley Turner Bowrey |
7-5, 6-2 |
| 1965 |
Australian Championships |
Robbyn
Ebbern |
Margaret Smith Court
Lesley Turner Bowrey |
1-6, 6-2, 6-3 |
| 1965 |
U.S. Championships (2nd) |
Karen Hantze
Susman |
Carole Caldwell Graebner
Nancy Richey Gunter |
6-4, 6-4 |
| 1966 |
U.S. Championships (3rd) |
Rosemary Casals |
Maria Bueno
Nancy Richey
Gunter |
6-3, 6-4 |
| 1968 |
French Open |
Rosemary
Casals |
Françoise Durr
Ann Haydon Jones |
7-5, 4-6, 6-4 |
| 1968 |
U.S. Open (4th) |
Rosemary
Casals |
Maria Bueno
Margaret Smith Court |
4-6, 9-7, 8-6 |
| 1969 |
Australian Open (2nd) |
Rosemary
Casals |
Margaret Smith Court
Lesley Turner Bowrey |
6-4, 6-4 |
| 1970 |
French Open (2nd) |
Rosemary
Casals |
Françoise Durr
Gail
Sherriff Chanfreau |
6-1, 3-6, 6-3 |
| 1973 |
U.S. Open (5th) |
Rosemary
Casals |
Margaret Smith Court
Virginia Wade |
3-6, 6-3, 7-5 |
| 1975 |
U.S. Open (6th) |
Rosemary
Casals |
Margaret Smith Court
Virginia
Wade |
7-5, 2-6, 7-6 |
| 1976 |
Wimbledon (2nd) |
Betty Stöve |
Chris Evert
Martina Navratilova |
6-1, 3-6, 7-5 |
| 1979 |
U.S. Open (7th) |
Martina
Navratilova |
Betty Stöve
Wendy Turnbull |
7-5, 6-3 |
Mixed doubles
Wins (11)
