This is a story about two very different people who had one thing in common … tennis. Together they made history.
Billie Jean King
King’s 1966 win at Wimbledon (photo, The Big Issue)
Decades ago, Billie Jean King was a big name in competitive tennis. Her prime years were 1966-1972 when she won many prestigious titles, including 39 Grand Slams (12 in singles, 16 in doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles).
King was an advocate for gender equality, too. She believed strongly that women and men should be paid equally. If they didn’t, King said, then she wouldn’t play again competitively.
Given her status in the game at the time it didn’t take long to get the outcome she preferred. The 1973 U.S. Open became the first tournament to offer equal prize money.
Billie Jean King left her mark on tennis. In 1987 she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Bobby Riggs
Riggs wins at Wimbledon, 1939 (photo, AP/REX/Shutterstock)
Bobby Riggs was also a tennis champion, ranked or co-ranked No. 1 in the world for 3 years (1939 as an amateur and 1946 and 1947 as a pro). His best year may have been 1939 when Riggs won at Wimbledon, was crowned U.S. National Champion (now The U.S. Open), and was runner-up in the French Championships.
Riggs “played” another way, too. In his 1973 autobiography, Court Hustler, Riggs wrote that in 1939 he made $105,000 (over $1 million in today’s dollars) by betting on himself to win all three Wimbledon championships–the singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.
The New York Times once wrote: “Riggs’s small stature — he stood 5′ 8″ and weighed 140 pounds — belied a lion’s heart and a magician’s bag of tricks. He never flinched at a match point, whether it was for or against him.”
King Vs. Riggs
Flash forward to 1973. Riggs, 55 years old, wants to come out of retirement to prove that a woman can’t beat a man.
He first took on Australian champion, Margaret Court. The May 13th match, televised by CBS Sports, took place in Ramona, California. The game was played in two-sets with Riggs winning both sets.
The victory put Riggs back in the national limelight. His next goal was to beat King, who was 29 at the time and clearly the biggest name in the women’s game. Riggs had already asked King to play him (before he ended up playing Court), but King said no.
But Riggs was persistent. He made a lucrative financial offer of $100.000, winner takes all. The match would be televised internationally by ABC-TV. King accepted.
That much-anticipated match–dubbed “The Battle of the Sexes“–took place at the Houston Astrodome on October 20th in front of nearly 31,000 fans (including my parents) with 90 million viewers watching around the world on TV. It was–and remains–the largest television audience ever to watch a tennis match in the United States.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7vqSm4yIZc
King was down early in the first set but came back to win, 6-4. She then went on a roll, winning the second and third sets easily, 6-3 and 6-3.
Sports Illustrated ranks the match as the 32nd greatest moment in the history of sports. Here’s why.
“Billie Jean King’s dominant victory wasn’t just a win between the two players; it was a larger societal statement about women’s sports and the equal respect they deserve. King would go on to lay the foundation for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).”
Game, set, and match, Ms. King.
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