at
Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club, Dublin, where she won her first international title King's French Open win 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. King won a record 20 career titles at Wimbledon – six in singles, 10 in women's doubles, and four in mixed doubles. King played 51 Grand Slam singles events from 1959 through 1983, reaching at least the semi-finals in 27 and at least the quarterfinals in 40 of her attempts. King was the runner-up in six Grand Slam singles events. An indicator of her mental toughness 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. King won 129 singles titles, 78 of which were WTA titles, and her career prize money totaled US$1,966,487. In Federation Cup finals, she was on the winning United States team seven times, in 1963, 1966, 1967, and 1976 through 1979. Her career win–loss record was 52–4. She won the last 30 matches she played, including 15 straight wins in both singles and doubles. In Wightman Cup competition, her career win–loss record was 22–4, winning her last nine matches (six in singles and three in doubles). The United States won the cup in ten of the 11 years in which she participated. In singles, King was 6–1 against
Ann Haydon-Jones, 4–0 against
Virginia Wade, and 1–1 against
Christine Truman Janes.
The early years: 1959–1963 As Billie Jean King began competing in 1959, she began working with new coaches including Frank Brennan She made her Grand Slam debut at the 1959
U.S. Championships when she was 15. She lost in the first round. She began playing at local, regional, and international tennis championships. Sports Illustrated already claimed her as "one of the most promising youngsters on the West Coast." She won her first tournament the next year in Philadelphia at the 1960 Philadelphia and District Grass Court Championships. At her second attempt at the U.S. Championships, King made it to the third round, losing to
Bernice Carr Vukovich of South Africa. Also in 1960, she reached the final of the National Girls' 18 and Under Championships, losing to
Karen Hantze Susman. Despite the success, Marble terminated her professional relationship with King, for reasons stemming from King's ambition. There, she won the women's doubles title in her first attempt while partnering
Karen Hantze. Despite these performances, she could not get a sports scholarship when later that year she attended Los Angeles State (now California State). For the 1962 singles tournament at
Wimbledon, King upset
Margaret Court, the World No. 1 and top seed, in a second round match by attacking Court's forehand This was the first time in Wimbledon history that the women's top seed had lost her first match. That same year, King and Hantze repeated their doubles victory at Wimbledon. She defeated Ann Haydon-Jones at both the Wightman Cup and
Fed Cup but lost to Court in the final of the Federation Cup. At the U.S. Championships, fifth-seeded
Nancy Richey upset third-seeded King in the quarterfinals. Late in the year, King decided to make a full-time commitment to tennis. While a history major at Los Angeles State College, King made the decision to play full-time when businessman Robert Mitchell offered to pay her way to Australia so that she could train under the great Australian coach
Mervyn Rose. While in Australia, King played three tournaments that year and lost in the quarterfinals of the Queensland Grass Court Championships, the final of the
New South Wales Championships (to Court), and the third round of the Victorian Championships.
1965 In early 1965, King continued her three-month tour of Australia. She lost in the final of the South Australian Championships and the first round of the Western Australia Championships. At the
Fed Cup in Melbourne, she defeated Ann Haydon-Jones to help the United States defeat the United Kingdom in the second round. However, Margaret Court again defeated her in the final. At the
Australian Championships two weeks later, she lost to Court in the semi-finals in two sets. At
Wimbledon, she again lost in the semi-finals, this time in three sets to Maria Bueno. before losing to Court in straight sets. She said that losing while being so close to winning was devastating, but the match proved to her that she was "good enough to be the best in the world. I'm going to win Wimbledon next year." She won six tournaments during the year. For the first time in 81 years, the annual convention of the
United States Lawn Tennis Association overruled its ranking committee's recommendation to award her the sole U.S. No. 1 position and voted 59,810 to 40,966 to rank Nancy Richey Gunter and King as co-U.S. No. 1.
Prime competitive years: 1966–1975 Overview Six of King's Grand Slam singles titles were at Wimbledon, four were at the U.S. Championships/Open, one was at the French Open, and one was at the Australian Championships. King reached the final of a Grand Slam singles tournament in 16 out of 25 attempts and had a 12–4 win–loss record in those finals. In the nine tournaments that she failed to reach the final, she was a losing semi-finalist twice and a losing quarter finalist five times. From 1971 through 1975, she won seven of the ten Grand Slam singles tournaments she played. She won the last seven Grand Slam singles finals she contested, six of them in straight sets and four of them against
Evonne Goolagong. All but one of her Grand Slam singles titles were on
grass. King's Grand Slam record from 1966 through 1975 was comparable to that of Margaret Court, her primary rival during these years. One or both of these women played 35 of the 40 Grand Slam singles tournaments held during this period, and together they won 24 of them. During this period, Court won 31 of her career 64 Grand Slam titles, including 12 of her 24 Grand Slam singles titles, 11 of her 19 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and eight of her 21 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Court reached the final of a Grand Slam singles tournament in 14 out of 25 attempts and had a 12–2 win–loss record in those finals. Court won seven of the 12 Grand Slam finals she played against King during these years, including 2–1 in singles finals, 4–1 in women's doubles finals, and 1–3 in mixed doubles finals. King was the year-ending World No. 1 in six of the ten years from 1966 through 1975. She was the year-ending World No. 2 in three of those years and the World No. 3 in the other year. King won 97 of her career 129 singles titles during this period and was the runner-up in 36 other tournaments.
1966 In 1966, King defeated Dorothy "Dodo" Cheney (then 49 years old) for the first time in five career matches, winning their semi-final at the Southern California Championships 6–0, 6–3. King also ended her nine-match losing streak to Margaret Court by defeating her in the final of the South African Tennis Championships. She also won the women's singles in the
Ojai Tennis Tournament. At the Wightman Cup just before
Wimbledon, King defeated Virginia Wade and Ann Haydon-Jones. After thirteen unsuccessful attempts to win a Grand Slam singles title from 1959 through 1965, King at the age of 22 finally won the first of her six singles titles at Wimbledon and the first of twelve Grand Slam singles titles overall, defeating Court in the semi-finals 6–3, 6–3 and
Maria Bueno in the final. King credited her semi-final victory to her forehand down the line, a new shot in her repertoire. At the U.S. Championships, an ill King was upset by
Kerry Melville in the second round.
1967 King successfully defended her title at the South African Tennis Championships in 1967, defeating Maria Bueno in the final. She played the French Championships for the first time in her career, falling in the quarterfinals to
Annette Van Zyl of South Africa. At the Federation Cup one week later in West Germany on
clay, King won all four of her matches, including victories over DuPlooy, Ann Haydon-Jones, and
Helga Niessen. King then successfully switched surfaces and won her second consecutive
Wimbledon singles title, defeating Virginia Wade in the quarterfinals 7–5, 6–2 and Jones. At the Wightman Cup, King again defeated Wade and Jones. King won her second Grand Slam singles title of the year when she won the U.S. Championships for the first time and without losing a set, defeating Wade, Van Zyl,
Françoise Dürr, and Jones in consecutive matches. Jones pulled her left hamstring muscle early in the final and saved four match points in the second set before King prevailed. King won the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles titles at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships, the first woman to do that since
Alice Marble in 1939. King then returned to the Australian summer tour in December for the first time since 1965, playing seven events there and
Judy Tegart in six of those events (winning four of their matches). King lost in the quarterfinals of the
New South Wales Championships in Sydney to Tegart after King injured her left knee in the second game of the third set of that match. However, King won the Victorian Championships in Melbourne the following week, defeating Dalton, Reid, and
Lesley Turner in the last three rounds. At a team event in
Adelaide, King won all three of her singles and doubles matches to help the U.S. defeat Australia 5–1. To finish the year, King lost to Tegart in the final of the South Australian Championships in Adelaide.
1968 In early 1968, King won three consecutive tournaments to end her Australian tour. In
Perth, King won the Western Australia Championships, defeating Margaret Court in the final. In
Hobart, King won the
Tasmanian Championships by defeating
Judy Tegart-Dalton in the final. King then won the Australian Championships for the first time, defeating Dalton in the semi-finals and Court in the final. King continued to win tournaments upon her return to the United States, winning three indoor tournaments before Nancy Richey Gunter defeated King in the semi-finals of the
Madison Square Garden Challenge Trophy amateur tournament in New York City before 10,233 spectators. The match started with Gunter taking a 4–2 lead in the first set, before King won 9 of the next 10 games. King served for the match at 5–1 and had a match point at 5–3 in the second set; however, she lost the final 12 games and the match 4–6, 7–5, 6–0. King then won three consecutive tournaments in Europe before losing to Ann Haydon-Jones in the final of a professional tournament at Madison Square Garden. Playing the French Open for only the second time in her career and attempting to win four consecutive Grand Slam singles titles (a "non-calendar year Grand Slam"), King defeated Maria Bueno in a quarterfinal before losing to Gunter in a semi-final 2–6, 6–3, 6–4. King rebounded to win her third consecutive
Wimbledon singles title, defeating Jones in the semi-finals and Dalton in the final. At the
US Open, King defeated Bueno in a semi-final before being upset in the final by Virginia Wade. On September 24, she had surgery to repair cartilage in her left knee and did not play in tournaments the remainder of the year. King said that it took eight months (May 1969) for her knee to recover completely from the surgery. In 1977, King said that her doctors predicted in 1968 that her left knee would allow her to play competitive tennis for only two more years.
1969 King participated in the 1969 Australian summer tour for the second consecutive year. Unlike the previous year, King did not win a tournament. She lost in the quarterfinals of the Tasmanian Championships and the semi-finals of the New South Wales Championships. At the Australian Open, King defeated 17-year-old Evonne Goolagong in the second round 6–3, 6–1 and Ann Haydon-Jones in a three-set semi-final before losing to Margaret Court in a straight-sets final. The following week, King lost in the semi-finals of the New Zealand Championships. Upon her return to the United States, King won the Pacific Coast Pro and the Los Angeles Pro. King then won two tournaments in South Africa, including the South African Open. During the European summer clay court season, King lost in the quarterfinals of both the
Italian Open and the French Open. On grass at the Wills Open in
Bristol, United Kingdom, King defeated Virginia Wade in the semi-finals (6–8, 11–9, 6–2) before losing to Court. At
Wimbledon, King lost only 13 points while defeating
Rosemary Casals in the semi-finals 6–1, 6–0; however, Jones upset King in the final and prevented King from winning her fourth consecutive singles title there. The week after, King again defeated Wade to win the Irish Open for the second time in her career. In the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, King lost in the quarterfinals of the
US Open to Nancy Richey Gunter 6–4, 8–6. This was the first year since 1965 that King did not win at least one Grand Slam singles title. King finished the year with titles at the Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles, the
Stockholm Indoors, and the
Midland (Texas) Pro. She said during the Pacific Southwest Open, "It has been a bad year for me. My left knee has been OK, but I have been bothered by a severe tennis elbow for seven months. I expect to have a real big year in 1970, though, because I really have the motivation now. I feel like a kid again."
1970 In 1970, Margaret Court won all four Grand Slam singles tournaments and was clearly the World No. 1. King lost to Court three times in the first four months of the year, in Philadelphia, Dallas, and
Johannesburg (at the South African Open). Court, however, was not totally dominant during this period as King defeated her in Sydney and
Durban, South Africa. Where Court dominated was at the Grand Slam tournaments. King did not play the Australian Open. King had leg cramps and lost to Helga Niessen Masthoff of West Germany in the quarterfinals of the French Open 2–6, 8–6, 6–1. At
Wimbledon, Court needed seven match points to defeat King in the final 14–12, 11–9 in one of the greatest women's finals in the history of the tournament. On July 22, King had right knee surgery, which forced her to miss the
US Open. King returned to the tour in September, where she had a first round loss at the
Virginia Slims Invitational in Houston and a semi-final loss at the
Pacific Coast Championships in
Berkeley, California. To close out the year, King in November won the
Virginia Slims Invitational in
Richmond, Virginia and the Embassy Indoor Tennis Championships in London. During the European clay court season, King warmed-up for the French Open by playing in
Monte Carlo (losing in the semi-finals), winning the
Italian Open (saving three match points against Virginia Wade in the semi-finals), playing in
Bournemouth (losing to Wade in the quarterfinals), and playing in
Berlin (losing to Masthoff in the semi-finals). The Italian Open victory was the first important clay court title of King's career. Along the way, she defeated Masthoff in a three-set quarterfinal and Wade in a three-set semi-final, saving two match points at 4–5 in the second set. The twelfth game of that set (with King leading 6–5) had 21 deuces and lasted 22 minutes, with Wade saving seven set points and holding sixteen game points before King won. In Wightman Cup competition two weeks before Wimbledon but played at the
All England Club, King defeated both Wade and Ann Haydon-Jones in straight sets. Many things bothered King concerning her advocacy for women's rights in sports. Among these concerns, she sought better pay for female tennis players, given the substantial differences in budgets between male and female players. In September 1970, there was the Pacific Southwest Open which was a tennis tournament. The prize money for men and women varied significantly, with the top prize for men being $12,500 and for women, a mere $1,500. Women's expenses were not covered unless they made the quarterfinals. This had bothered King and was the final straw for her. King and other 8 women did not play because of the budgets which they were willing to take the risk of expulsion from the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association. King and the other women organized the women-only Houston Virginia Slims invitational and this helped launch the series of women-only tournaments.
1971 Although King won only one Grand Slam singles title in 1971, this was the best year of her career in terms of tournaments won (17). According to the
International Tennis Hall of Fame, she played in 31 singles tournaments and compiled a 112–13 win–loss record. At the tournament in early May at
Hurlingham, United Kingdom, King lost a second round match to an old rival, Christine Truman Janes (now 30 years old), 6–4, 6–2; but King recovered the next week to win the
German Open in Hamburg on
clay. Four weeks later at the
Queen's Club tournament in London, King played Margaret Court for the first time in 1971, losing their final. At
Wimbledon, King defeated Janes in the fourth round (6–2, 7–5) and Durr in the quarterfinals before losing unexpectedly to Evonne Goolagong in the semi-finals 6–4, 6–4. Two weeks after Wimbledon, King won the
Rothmans North of England Championships on grass in
Hoylake, United Kingdom, beating Virginia Wade, Court, and Casals in the last three rounds. She then played two clay court tournaments in Europe, winning neither, before resuming play in the United States. In August, King won the indoor
Houston tournament and the U.S. Women's Clay Court Championships in
Indianapolis. King then switched back to grass and won the
US Open without losing a set, defeating Evert in the semi-finals (6–3, 6–2) and Casals in the final. King then won the tournaments in
Louisville,
Phoenix, and London (Wembley Pro). King and Casals both defaulted at 6–6 in the final of the Pepsi Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles in September when their request to remove a lineswoman was denied, eventually resulting in the
United States Lawn Tennis Association fining both players US$2,500. To end the year, King played two tournaments in New Zealand but did not win either. She lost in
Christchurch to Durr and in
Auckland to Kerry Melville Reid. In 1971, King was the first female tennis player to earn $100,000 a year. Being one of her greatest accomplishments, this earned her congratulatory phone call from President Richard M. Nixon. Her dominance was aided by rival
Margaret Court's absence from the tour due to childbirth during most of the 1972 season. At the beginning of the year, King failed to win eight of the first ten tournaments she played. She won the title in San Francisco in mid-January. But then King lost in Long Beach to Françoise Dürr (although King claimed in her 1982 autobiography that she intentionally lost the match because of an argument with her husband) and in
Fort Lauderdale on
clay to Chris Evert 6–1, 6–0. The inconsistent results continued through mid-April, in
Oklahoma City (losing in the quarterfinals); Washington, D.C. (losing in the second round); and Dallas (losing to Nancy Richey Gunter after defeating Evert in the quarterfinals 6–7(4–5), 6–3, 7–5 and Evonne Goolagong in the semi-finals 1–6, 6–4, 6–1). King won the title in Richmond; however, one week later, King lost in the semi-finals of the tournament in San Juan. This was followed in successive weeks by a loss in the
Jacksonville final to
Marie Neumannová Pinterová and in a St. Petersburg semi-final to Evert (6–2, 6–3). King did not lose again until mid-August, winning six consecutive tournaments. She won the tournaments in
Tucson and Indianapolis. King then won the French Open without losing a set and completed a career Grand Slam. She defeated Virginia Wade in the quarterfinals, Helga Niessen Masthoff in the semi-finals, and Goolagong in the final. On grass, King then won the Wimbledon warm-up tournaments in
Nottingham and Bristol and won
Wimbledon itself for the fourth time. She lost only one set during the tournament, to Wade in the quarterfinals. That was followed by straight set wins over Rosemary Casals and Goolagong. When the tour returned to the United States, King did not win any of the three tournaments she played before the
US Open, including a straight sets loss to Margaret Court in
Newport. At the US Open, however, King won the tournament without losing a set, including a quarterfinal win over Wade, a semi-final defeat of Court, and a final win over Kerry Melville Reid. King finished the year by winning the tournaments in Charlotte and Phoenix (defeating Court in the final of both), a runner-up finish in
Oakland (losing to Court), and a semifinal finish at the year-end championships in
Boca Raton (losing to Evert).
1973 1973 was Margaret Court's turn to win three Grand Slam singles titles, failing to win only Wimbledon, and was the clear world No. 1 for the year; this was her first full season since winning the Grand Slam in 1970, as she had missed significant portions of 1971 and 1972 due to childbirth. As during the previous year, King started 1973 inconsistently. She missed the first three Virginia Slims tournaments in January because of a wrist injury. She then lost in the third round at the Virginia Slims of Miami tournament but won the Virginia Slims of Indianapolis tournament, defeating Court in the semi-finals 6–7, 7–6, 6–3 and Rosemary Casals in the final. The semi-final victory ended Court's 12-tournament and 59-match winning streaks, with King saving at least three match points when down 5–4 (40–0) in the second set. Indianapolis was followed by five tournaments that King failed to win (Detroit,
Boston, Chicago,
Jacksonville, and the inaugural
Family Circle Cup in
Hilton Head, South Carolina). King lost to Court in two of those tournaments. After deciding not to defend her French Open singles title, King won four consecutive tournaments, including her fifth
Wimbledon singles title when she defeated Kerry Melville Reid in the quarterfinals, Evonne Goolagong in the semi-finals on her eighth match point, and Chris Evert in the final. King lost only nine points in the 6–0 bageling of Evert in the first set of their final. King also completed the
Triple Crown at Wimbledon (winning the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles titles in the same year), thus becoming the first, and only, player to do so at Wimbledon in the Open Era. In none of the preceding tournaments, however, did King play Court. Their rivalry resumed in the final of the Virginia Slims of
Nashville tournament, where Court won for the third time in four matches against King in 1973. (This was the last ever singles match between those players, with Court winning 21 and King 13 of their 34 matches.) Three weeks later at the
US Open, King retired from her fourth-round match with Julie Heldman while ill and suffering from the oppressive heat and humidity. When Heldman complained to the match umpire that King was taking too long between games, King reportedly told Heldman, "If you want the match that badly, you can have it!" The Battle of the Sexes match against Bobby Riggs was held in the middle of the Virginia Slims of Houston tournament. King won her first and second round matches three days before playing Riggs, defeated Riggs, won her quarterfinal match the day after the Riggs match, and then lost the following day to Casals in the semifinals 7–6, 6–1. According to King, "I had nothing left to give." To end the year, King won tournaments in Phoenix, Hawaii, and Tokyo and was the runner-up in
Baltimore.
Battle of the Sexes In 1973, King defeated
Bobby Riggs in an exhibition match, winning $100,000 ($707,000 in 2024 terms). Riggs had been a top men's player in the 1930s and 1940s in both the amateur and professional ranks. He won the Wimbledon men's singles title in 1939, and was considered the World No. 1 male tennis player for 1941, 1946, and 1947. He then became a self-described tennis "hustler" who played in promotional challenge matches. 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 Court 6–2, 6–1. King, who previously had rejected challenges from Riggs, then accepted a lucrative financial offer to play him for $100,000 in a winner-takes-all match. King had previously believed there was nothing in it for her tour if she accepted Riggs challenge, but the defeat of Court changed that. ""everything changed when he beat Margaret, one of the best, perhaps the most physically imposing female players that tennis had ever seen. Now we had something to prove. It wasn't just about my pride or reputation. I imagined that our tour could be threatened or might disappear, Title IX could be damaged, and so many causes that we were still working for-- starting with equal prize money and equitable treatment-- would falter." Dubbed "the Battle of the Sexes", the Riggs–King match took place at the
Houston Astrodome in Texas on September 20, 1973. The match garnered huge publicity. In front of 30,492 spectators and a television audience estimated at 50 million people (U.S.), and 90 million in 37 countries, 29-year-old King beat the 55-year-old Riggs 6–4, 6–3, 6–3. The match is considered a significant event in developing greater recognition and respect for women's tennis. as King said to author and photographer
Lynn Gilbert in her book
Particular Passions: Talks with Women who Have Shaped Our Times, "I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn't win that match. It would ruin the women's tour and affect all women's self-esteem," and that "to beat a 55-year-old guy was no thrill for me. The thrill was exposing a lot of new people to tennis."
1974 King won five of the first seven tournaments she contested in 1974. She won the Virginia Slims of San Francisco, defeating Nancy Richey Gunter in the semi-finals and Chris Evert in the final. The following week in
Indian Wells, California, King again defeated Gunter in the semi-finals but lost to Evert in the final. King then won tournaments in
Fairfax, Virginia and Detroit before losing a semi-final match to Virginia Wade in Chicago. King won both tournaments she played in March, defeating Gunter in the
Akron, Ohio final and Evert at the
U.S. Indoor Championships final.
Olga Morozova then upset King in her next two tournaments, at Philadelphia in the final and at
Wimbledon in a quarterfinal 7–5, 6–2. Afterward, King did not play a tour match until the
US Open, where she won her fourth singles title and third in the last four years. She defeated Rosemary Casals in a straight sets quarterfinal, avenged in the semi-finals her previous year's loss to Julie Heldman, and narrowly defeated Evonne Goolagong in the final. King did not reach a tournament final during the remainder of the year, losing to Heldman in an
Orlando semi-final, Wade in a Phoenix semi-final, and Goolagong in a semi-final of the tour-ending
Virginia Slims Championships in Los Angeles.
1975 In 1975, King played singles only half the year, as she retired (temporarily, as it turned out) from tournament singles competition immediately after winning her sixth
Wimbledon singles title. She began the year in San Francisco, defeating Françoise Dürr and Virginia Wade before losing to Chris Evert in the final. The following week, King won the
Sarasota, Florida tournament, defeating Evert in the final 6–3, 6–2. Evert said immediately after the final, which was her thirteenth career match with King, "I think that's the best that Billie Jean has ever played. I hit some great shots but they just kept coming back at me." Looking back at that match, King said, "I probably played so well because I had to, for the money. Out of frustration comes creativity. Right?" King played only one of the Wimbledon warm-up tournaments, defeating Olga Morozova in the
Eastbourne semi-finals before losing to Wade in the final. Seeded third at Wimbledon, King defeated seventh seeded Morozova in the quarterfinals (6–3, 6–3) and then top seeded Evert in the semi-finals (2–6, 6–2, 6–3) after being down 3–0 (40–15) in the final set. Evert blamed her semifinal defeat on a loss of concentration when she saw
Jimmy Connors, her former fiancé, escorting
Susan George into Centre Court. King, however, believes that the match turned around because King planned for and totally prepared for Wimbledon that year and told herself when she was on the verge of defeat, "Hey, Billie Jean, this is ridiculous. You paid the price. For once, you looked ahead. You're supposed to win. Get your bahoola in gear."
The later years: 1976–1990 1976 Except for five Federation Cup singles matches that she won in straight sets in August, King played only in doubles and mixed doubles events from January through September. She partnered
Phil Dent to the mixed doubles title at the US Open. She lost to
Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat in both of the singles tournaments she played the remainder of the year. Looking back, King said, "I wasted 1976. After watching Chris Evert and Evonne [Goolagong] Cawley play the final at
Wimbledon I asked myself what I was doing. So, despite my age and the operations, the Old Lady came back...." King had knee surgery for the third time on November 9, this time on her right knee, and did not play the remainder of the year.
1977 King spent the first three months of the year rehabilitating her right knee after surgery in November 1976. In March 1977, King requested that the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) exercise its right to grant a wild card entry to King for the eight-player Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Margaret Court, who finished in sixth place on the Virginia Slims points list, had left the tour due to her fourth pregnancy and thus failed to qualify for the tournament because she did not play enough Virginia Slims tournaments leading up to the championships. This left a spot open in the draw, which the WTA filled with
Mima Jaušovec. King then decided to play the Lionel Cup tournament in
San Antonio, Texas, which the WTA harshly criticized because tournament officials there had allowed
Renée Richards, a
transgender athlete, to enter. Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and
Betty Stöve (president of the WTA) criticized King's decision because of Richards's unresolved and highly controversial status on the women's tennis tour. Evert said she was disappointed with King and that until Richards's status was resolved, "all of the women should stick together." Navratilova said, "Billie Jean is a bad girl pouting. She made a bad decision. She's mad because she could not get what she wanted." Stöve said that if King had wanted the competition, "[T]here are plenty of men around here she could've played with. She didn't have to choose a 'disputed' tournament." The draw in San Antonio called for King to play Richards in the semi-finals had form held; however, Richards lost in the quarterfinals. King eventually won the tournament. At the clay court Family Circle Cup in late March, King played for the last time her long-time rival Nancy Richey Gunter in the first round. King won 0–6, 7–6, 6–2. She defeated another clay court specialist,
Virginia Ruzici, in the second round before winning only one game from Evert in the final. At
Wimbledon in the third round, King played Maria Bueno for the last time, with King winning 6–2, 7–5. In the quarterfinals, Evert defeated King for the first time at a Grand Slam singles tournament and for the first time on grass 6–1, 6–2 in just 46 minutes. Evert said it was the best match she had ever played on grass up to that point in her career, and King said, "No excuses. Let's forget knees, ankles, toes, everything else. She just played beautiful tennis. I don't think many players would've beaten her today." King also said after the match, "Maybe I can be happy being number eight instead of number one. At this stage, just playing, that's winning enough for me." But when asked about retirement, King said, "Retire? Quit tournament tennis? You gotta be kidding. It just means I've got a lot more work. I've got to make myself match tough ... mentally as well as physically. I gotta go out and kill myself for the next six months. It's a long, arduous process. I will suffer. But I will be back." There was a small historic note at Wimbledon 1977 in that it was the first time ever that King competed at the championships that she did not reach a final. From her debut in 1961 until 1976, she had played in the final of one of the three championship events for women every year. Perhaps there was irony in this in that as the Wimbledon champion with the most titles in its history, the event was celebrating its centenary in the year King failed to make a final for the first time. The only other years she competed at the championship and did not feature in a final were 1980 and 1982. In her entire Wimbledon career of 22 competitions, King never failed to be a semi-finalist in at least one event every year. Evert repeated her Wimbledon quarterfinal victory over King at the clay court
US Open, winning 6–2, 6–0. This loss prompted King to say, "I better get it together by October or November or that's it. I'll have to make some big decisions. I'm not 20-years-old and I can't just go out and change my game. It's only the last four weeks I haven't been in [knee] pain. [But if] I keep using that as a copout, I shouldn't play." The remainder of the year, King's win–loss record was 31–3, losing to only Evert, Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat, and
Michelle Tyler. King won five of the eight tournaments she entered plus both of her Wightman Cup matches. She defeated Navratilova all four times they played, including three times in three consecutive weeks, and beat Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade twice. Beginning September 26, King played seven consecutive weeks. She lost to Tyler in the second round in
Palm Harbor, Florida, and Fromholtz Balestrat in the semi-finals in
Atlanta. She then won three hard court tournaments in three consecutive weeks. She defeated Navratilova and
Wendy Turnbull to win in Phoenix, losing only four points to Turnbull in the third set of the final. The next week, she defeated Navratilova, Fromholtz Balestrat, and Wimbledon runner-up Stöve to win in
São Paulo. The third week, she defeated Ruzici, Stöve, and
Janet Newberry Wright to win in San Juan. In November, Evert snapped King's 18-match winning streak in the final of the Colgate Series Championships in
Mission Hills, California. King then won her Wightman Cup matches, defeated Navratilova to win the tournament in Japan, and beat Wade to win the Bremar Cup in London. King said, "I have never had a run like this, even in the years when I was Wimbledon champion. At 34, I feel fitter than when I was 24."
1978 (1978) King played ten singles tournaments during the first half of 1978, limiting herself to doubles after Wimbledon. To start the year, King was the runner-up in Houston and
Kansas City (losing to Martina Navratilova in both) and in Philadelphia (losing to Chris Evert). At the Virginia Slims Championships, King lost her first round robin match to Virginia Wade and defaulted her two remaining round robin matches because of a leg injury sustained during the first match. At
Wimbledon, King played with a painful heel spur in her left foot and lost to Evert in the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year 6–3, 3–6, 6–2. The match was on-serve in the third set with King serving at 2–3 (40–0) before Evert won five consecutive points to break serve. King won a total of only two points during the last two games. King said after the match, "I don't think my mobility is very good and that's what I need to beat her. Physically, she [Evert] tears your guts apart unless you can stay with her. I'm really disappointed. I really wanted to play well. I just couldn't cut it because of my heel." King and her partner
Ray Ruffels lost in the final of mixed doubles in straight sets. King teamed with Navratilova to win the women's doubles title at the US Open, King's fourth women's doubles title at that tournament and fourteenth Grand Slam women's doubles title overall. To end the year, King was undefeated in five doubles matches (four with Evert and one with Rosemary Casals) as the U.S. won the Federation Cup in Melbourne, Australia. She also teamed with
Tracy Austin in the
1978 Wightman Cup against Great Britain, beating
Anne Hobbs &
Sue Mappin in the best of seven rubbers, despite the US losing the Cup 3–4. During the Federation Cup competition, King hinted at retirement from future major singles competitions and said that she was "sick and tired of continued surgery" in trying to get fit enough for those events. Nevertheless, King had foot surgery on December 22 in an attempt to regain mobility for a return to the tennis tour.
1979 During the first half of 1979, King played only one event – doubles in the Federation Cup tie against Spain – because of major surgery to her left foot during December 1978. King returned to singles competition at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in
Chichester. She defeated the reigning Wimbledon champion, Martina Navratilova, in a 48-minute quarterfinal 6–1, 6–2 before losing to Evonne Goolagong Cawley in the semi-finals 1–6, 6–4, 10–8. Seeded seventh at
Wimbledon, King defeated
Hana Mandlíková in the fourth round before losing the last six games of the quarterfinal match with fourth-seeded
Tracy Austin 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–2. King partnered with Navratilova at Wimbledon to win King's 20th and final Wimbledon title, breaking
Elizabeth Ryan's longstanding record of 19 Wimbledon titles just one day after Ryan collapsed and died at Wimbledon. At the
US Open, the ninth-seeded King reached the quarterfinals without dropping a set, where she upset the fourth-seeded Virginia Wade 6–3, 7–6(4). Next up was a semi-final match with the four-time defending champion and top-seeded Chris Evert; however, with King hampered by a neck injury sustained during a bear hug with a friend the day before the match, Evert won 6–1, 6–0, including the last eleven games and 48 of the last 63 points. This was Evert's eighth consecutive win over King, with Evert during those matches losing only one set and 31 games and winning four 6–0 sets. Three weeks later in Brighton, King lost a semi-final match with Navratilova 7–5, 0–6, 7–6(3) after King led 6–5 in the third set. She ended the year with a quarterfinal loss in Melbourne (not the Australian Open), a second round loss in Sydney, and a three-set semi-final loss to Austin in Tokyo.
1980–1981 King won the tournament in Houston that began in February, snapping Martina Navratilova's 28-match winning streak in the straight-sets final. At the winter series-ending Avon Championships in March, King defeated Virginia Wade in her first round robin match 6–1, 6–3. After Wade held serve at love to open the match, King won nine consecutive games and lost only nine points during those games. She was seeded second but lost in the quarterfinals to fifth-seeded
Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat of Australia. At
Wimbledon, King defeated
Pam Shriver in a two-hour, forty minute fourth round match after King saved a match point in the second set and recovered from a 4–2 (40–0) deficit in the third set with Shriver serving. In a quarterfinal that took two days to complete, King lost to two-time defending champion and top-seeded Navratilova 7–6, 1–6, 10–8. The beginning of the match was delayed until late afternoon because of rain. Because she wore glasses, King agreed to start the match then on condition that tournament officials immediately suspend the match if the rain resumed. During the first set, drizzle began to fall; however, the chair umpire refused to suspend the match. King led in the tiebreaker 5–1 before Navratilova came back to win the set, whereupon the umpire then agreed to the suspension. When the match resumed the next day, King won 20 of the first 23 points to take a 5–0 lead in the second set and lost a total of seven points while winning the set in just 17 minutes. In the third set, Navratilova broke serve to take a 2–0 lead before King broke back twice and eventually served for the match at 6–5. King then hit four volley errors, enabling Navratilova to break serve at love and even the match. King saved three match points while serving at 6–7 and three more match points while serving at 7–8. During the change-over between games at 8–9, King's glasses broke for the first time in her career. She had a spare pair, but they did not feel the same. King saved two match points before Navratilova broke serve to win the match. King said, "I think that may be the single match in my career that I could have won if I hadn't had bad eyes." King teamed with Navratilova to win King's 39th and final Grand Slam title at the US Open. Navratilova then decided she wanted a new doubles partner and started playing with Shriver but refused to discuss the change directly with King. She finally confronted Navratilova during the spring of 1981, reportedly saying to her, "Tell me I'm too old ... but tell me something." Navratilova refused to talk about it. King had minor knee surgery on November 14 in San Francisco to remove adhesions and cartilage.
1982–1983 In 1982, King began a comeback, winning the Wimbledon warm-up tournament the
1982 Edgbaston Cup in Birmingham, her first singles title in more than two years. King was 38 years old and the twelfth-seed at
Wimbledon. In her third round match with
Tanya Harford of South Africa, King was down 7–5, 5–4 (40–0) before Harford's apparent winner was deemed 'not up' by the umpire, something the South African protested vehemently. King then saved the next two match points to win the second set 7–6(2) and then the third set 6–3. King said in her post-match press conference, "I can't recall the previous time I have been so close to defeat and won. When I was down 4–5 and love–40, I told myself, 'You have been here 21 years, so use that experience and hang on. In the fourth round, King upset sixth-seeded Australian Wendy Turnbull in straight sets. King then upset third-seeded Tracy Austin in the quarterfinals 3–6, 6–4, 6–2 to become the oldest female semi-finalist at Wimbledon since
Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers in 1920. This was King's first career victory over Austin after five defeats and reversed the result of their 1979 Wimbledon quarterfinal. King said in her post-match press conference, "Today, I looked at the scoreboard when I was 2–0 in the third set and the '2' seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. In 1979, when I was up 2–0 at the same stage, I was tired and didn't have anything left. But today I felt so much better and was great mentally." Two days later in the semi-finals, which was King's 250th career match at Wimbledon in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles, the second-seeded Chris Evert defeated King on her fifth match point 7–6(4), 2–6, 6–3. King was down a set and 2–1 in the second set before winning five consecutive games to even the match. King explained that she actually lost the match in the first set by failing to convert break points at 15–40 in the second and fourth games. Having started the year in retirement, King finished 1982 ranked 14 in the world. In 1983, she reached the semi-finals in her final appearance at
Wimbledon, losing to
Andrea Jaeger 6–1, 6–1 after beating
Kathy Jordan in the quarterfinals, seventh-seeded Wendy Turnbull in the fourth round, and Rosemary Casals, her longtime doubles partner, in the third round. Jaeger claims that she was highly motivated to defeat King because King had defeated Turnbull, a favorite of Jaeger's, and because King refused a towel from an attendant just before her match with Jaeger, explaining, "I'm not going to sweat in this match." King became the oldest WTA player to win a singles tournament when she won the
Edgbaston Cup grass court tournament in Birmingham at 39 years, 7 months and 23 days after a straight-sets victory in the final against
Alycia Moulton. Her tally of 20 Wimbledon titles remained when partnered with
Steve Denton and the no.1 seeds in the
mixed doubles, they lost 6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–5), 7–5 to
John Lloyd &
Wendy Turnbull in the final, King being the only player to drop her service in the final game. At her final appearance at the
US Open later in 1983, King didn't play singles, but partnered
Sharon Walsh in the
women's doubles, reaching the semi-finals and
Trey Waltke in the
mixed doubles, losing in the second round. The final official singles match of King's career was a second round loss to
Catherine Tanvier at the
1983 Australian Open.
1984 to present King played doubles sporadically from 1984 through 1990. She and
Vijay Amritraj were seeded sixth for the
Wimbledon mixed doubles 1984, but they withdrew before the tournament began. 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 Temesvári 6–3, 6–2 at the Virginia Slims of Florida tournament. 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 Fernández, and
Mary Joe Fernández 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 succeeded King as Fed Cup captain.
Activism within the tennis profession Player compensation Before the start of the
open era in 1968, King earned US$100 a week as a playground instructor and student at
California State University, Los Angeles when not playing in major tennis tournaments. however, inequalities continued. King won the US Open in 1972 but received US$15,000 less than the men's champion
Ilie Năstase. She stated that she would not play the next year if the prize money was not equal. In 1973, the US Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money for men and women. 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 even though many of the other top players were not supportive. "For three years we had two tours and because of their governments [Martina] Navratilova and Olga Morozova had to play the other tour. Chris [Evert], Margaret [Court], Virginia [Wade], they let us do the pioneering work and they weren't very nice to us. If you go back and look at the old quotes; they played for the love of the game, we played for the money. When we got backing and money, we were all playing together – I wonder why? I tried not to get upset with them. Forgiveness is important. Our job was to have one voice and win them over." 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,
World TeamTennis began, founded by Larry King, Dennis Murphy, Frank Barman and Jordan Kaiser. She became league commissioner in 1982 and major owner in 1984. King is a member of the Board of Honorary Trustees for the
Sports Museum of America, which opened in 2008. The museum is the home of the Billie Jean King International Women's Sports Center, a comprehensive women's sports hall of fame and exhibit.
Other activities King's husband Larry co-founded
World Team Tennis in 1973 with Dennis Murphy, Jordan Kaiser, and Fred Barman and WTT began in 1974. The couple used their savings to put on a team tennis event at the Oakland Coliseum. In 1999, King was elected to serve on the board of directors of
Philip Morris Incorporated, garnering some criticism from anti-tobacco groups. She no longer serves in that capacity. King was involved in the
Women's Sports Foundation and the
Elton John AIDS Foundation. She also served on the President's Council for Fitness, Sports and Nutrition as a way to encourage young people to stay active. In December 2013, US President Barack Obama appointed King and openly gay ice hockey player
Caitlin Cahow to represent the United States at the
2014 Winter Olympics in
Sochi, Russia. This has been interpreted as a signal on gay rights, in the context of
concerns and controversies at the 2014 Winter Olympics regarding
LGBT rights in Russia. King was forced to drop out of the delegation due to her mother's ill health. Betty Moffitt, King's mother, died on February 7, 2014, the day of the
2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony. Billie Jean was selected to deliver the
Northwestern University commencement address on June 16, 2017, in
Evanston, Illinois. She attended the
75th Golden Globe Awards in 2018 as a guest of
Emma Stone. King and Kloss became minority owners of the
Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team in September 2018, and the
WNBA's
Los Angeles Sparks basketball team. In October 2020, they became part of the ownership group of
Angel City FC, a Los Angeles–based team set to start play in the
National Women's Soccer League in 2022. King is also an investor in
Just Women's Sports, an American media platform dedicated to women's sports. On June 29, 2023, the Mark Walter Group and BJK Enterprises purchased the intellectual property and other key elements of the
Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), a professional women's hockey league in the United States and Canada. Headed by
Mark Walter and King, respectively, both businesses had entered a partnership with the
Professional Women's Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) in May 2022, with the intent to create a new professional women's ice hockey league in North America. The buyout changed the landscape in North American women's professional hockey, as it resulted in a single league with stakeholders from both the PHF and PWHPA. The new league began on January 1, 2024, with the first game played between New York and Toronto in Toronto. Also in 2023, King competed in
season ten of
The Masked Singer as "Royal Hen". She was the first of Group B to be eliminated on "A Celebration of
Elton John". ==Awards, honors, and tributes==