Portrait
Billie Jean King
Born
22 November 1943Long Beach, California, USA
Tennis player and activistUnited States

Billie Jean King

She won 39 Grand Slam titles and used her standing in tennis to fight for equal pay and LGBTQ+ rights.

Billie Jean King was born in Long Beach, California, in 1943. She won 39 Grand Slam titles across singles, doubles and mixed doubles, including 20 at Wimbledon, establishing herself among the most successful players in tennis.

In 1973 she defeated Bobby Riggs in the widely televised “Battle of the Sexes”. The match became a public argument about women’s abilities, but her campaigning extended beyond it. That year she helped found the Women’s Tennis Association and pressed the US Open to offer equal prize money to women and men.

In 1981 a lawsuit brought by a former partner exposed King’s relationship with a woman while she was still married to Larry King. Sponsors withdrew, and she faced the consequences of being outed before she was ready to discuss her sexuality publicly.

She later spoke openly about being a lesbian and continued campaigning for equality in sport and for LGBTQ+ rights. King and her longtime partner, former player Ilana Kloss, married in 2018. In 2009 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, recognising a career in which athletic success and the effort to change the conditions of sport became inseparable.

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