Billie Jean King
November 22, 1943 – PRESENT
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States and is widely regarded as one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. Throughout her career, she won a total of 39 Grand Slam titles, including 12 singles titles, 16 women’s doubles titles, and 11 mixed doubles titles. She used her fame to argue for equal pay and equal rights for women in tennis and all other sports as well.
King was a pioneer for gender equality in sports and a strong advocate for women’s rights. She famously defeated Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match in 1973, cementing her status as a champion for equal representation in sports. It was the most-watched tennis match of all time.
In 1975, when her feverish major championship run ended, a readership poll in Seventeen magazine revealed that King was the most admired woman in the world. On New Year’s Day 1975, music icon Elton John released his No. 1 platinum hit “Philadelphia Freedom” in homage to his friend King and her World TeamTennis squad bearing same name.
She was admitted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. As a result, the scope for women in tennis advanced to the next level and she founded The Women’s Tennis Association and the Women’s Sports Foundation.
In 2009 she became the first female athlete to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.