On September 20, 1973, in a high-profile “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match, top player Billie Jean King, 29, defeated Bobby Riggs, 55, a former No. 1 ranked male player. Riggs (1918 -1995), a self-proclaimed chauvinist man, boasted that women were inferior, couldn’t take the pressure of the game, and even at his age he could beat any player. The game was a huge media event, seen in person by over 30,000 spectators at the Houston Astrodome and by 50 million viewers around the world. King made a Cleopatra-like entrance on a golden litter carried by men dressed as ancient slaves, while Riggs arrived in a rickshaw pulled by female mannequins. Legendary sportsman Howard Cosell called the match, in which King beat Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. King’s achievement not only helped legitimize professional women’s tennis and female athletes, but it was seen as a victory for women’s rights in general.
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King was born Billie Jean Moffitt on November 22, 1943 in Long Beach, California. Growing up, she was a star softball player before her parents encouraged her to try tennis, which was considered more distinguished. She excelled in the sport and in 1961, at age 17, on her first outing to Wimbledon, she won the women’s doubles title. King racked up a total of 20 Wimbledon wins, in singles, doubles and mixed doubles, during his pioneering career. In 1971, she became the first female athlete to win over $ 100,000 in prizes in a single season. However, significant pay disparities still existed between male and female athletes and King lobbied for changes. In 1973, the US Open became the first major tennis tournament to distribute the same amount of prizes to winners of both sexes.
In 1972, King became the first woman to be chosen Sports Illustrated “Sportswoman of the year” and in 1973, she became the first president of the Women’s Tennis Association. King also created a sports foundation and a magazine for women and a team tennis league. In 1974, as coach of the Philadelphia Freedoms, one of the league’s teams, she became the first woman to lead a professional co-ed team.
The “mother of modern sports” has retired from tennis with 39 career Grand Slam titles. She has remained active as a coach, commentator and advocate for women’s sport and other causes. In 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center, home of the US Open, was renamed in King’s honor. At the inauguration ceremony, the great tennis player John McEnroe called King “the most important person in the history of women’s sport”.
The 1973 match was the subject of a 2017 film starring Emma Stone and Steve Carell.
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