Billie Jean King on her journey for equal rights in tennis, life: ‘No one ever has it easy’

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Tennis legend Billie Jean King uses her fame to champion women on and off the court, and fight for equal pay, LGBTQ rights, and racial justice.

Billie Jean King is one of USA TODAY's Women of the Century. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, we've assembled a list of 100 women who've made a substantial impact on our country or our lives over the past 100 years. Read about them all on Aug. 14.It was Sept. 20, 1973, and this was the"Battle of the Sexes," a tennis match that was about far more than tennis.

When she asked for women to get the same prize money as men on the professional tour, the men in charge said no, you're getting what you deserve. So King walked. She and the other "Original Nine" women's players formed their own circuit . At 7 years old, I told my mom I was going to do something great with my life. I was drying the dishes. And she goes,"That's nice."Women of the Century: Billie Jean King is a champion for sports, women, equal pay, and more

She always kept all of us grounded, which is good. Because if you get too high or too low, it's not good.In this 1963 file photo, Billie Jean King, 19, plays Maria Bueno of Brazil during their women's singles quarter finals match at Wimbledon, England. In 1967, King plays during the women's singles at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon.

Southern California tennis world where all our big tournaments were played. I saw Althea Gibson and she was No. 1 in the world at the time. She's the first Black player ever to win a major. If you can see it, you can be it. I knew now what No. 1 of the world looked like. That changed my whole world. Billie Jean King holds up the championship trophy after defeating Chris Evert in the Wimbledon women's singles final in 1973. This was King's fifth time winning Wimbledon.

The"Battle of the Sexes" was one of many fights for equality Billie Jean King had on and off the tennis court.And he goes,"Billie, the old-boy network will not stand for it." He was right. He was totally right. And I was totally wrong. I get too much credit. We did it as a team. And today it is the reason women are making money and everybody has a pathway.

When a woman does something, she doesn't just do it for women. She does it for everyone, just like a guy. And until we start thinking like that as a country, we are never going to elect a woman president. Because women lead everyone if she's a president.With all the work you've done, especially with LGBTQ issues, there may have been times when you thought it was going nowhere. There may be others out there who feel hopeless.

 

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Thank you BillieJeanKing for all you Do for Humanity and Equality❣️ BidenHarris2020ToSaveAmerica 🇺🇸💙🇺🇸💙🇺🇸💙🇺🇸💙

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