Billy Jean King

Highlights

She is a pioneer in women's tennis and women's sports; Her career is a long list of many firsts

Fee Range: $40,000 - $50,000

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Billie Jean Moffitt King began blazing through the tennis world in 1960 when she first appeared in women's rankings at No, 4. She was 17. For more than two decades she continued as a force in the game as the all-time Wimbledon champion, frequently the foremost player, a crusader in building the female professional game and a million-dollar-plus winner on the tour.

Billie Jean's has been a career of firsts. In 1968 she was the first woman of the open era to sign a pro contract to tour in a female tournament group, with Rosie Casals, Françoise Durr and Ann Haydon Jones as the women's auxiliary of the National Tennis League. In 1971 B.J. was the first woman athlete over the 100-grand hurdle, winning $117,000. 

In 1973 Billie Jean engaged in a "Battle of the Sexes" challenge match, defeating 55-year-old ex-Wimbledon champ Bobby Riggs, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, in a heavily publicized and nationally televised extravaganza that captured the nation's fancy and drew a record tennis crowd, 30,472, to Houston's Astrodome.

In 1974 she became the first woman to coach a professional team containing men when she served as player-coach of the Philadelphia Freedoms of World Team Tennis, a league she and her husband, Larry King, helped establish. Traded to the New York Apples, she led that team to WTT titles in 1976 and 1977 as a player.

In a career encompassing the amateur and open eras, she won 67 pro and 37 amateur singles titles. She reached 38 other pro finals and had 677-149 singles match record as a pro. Her prize money: $1,966,487.

A founder and ex-president of the WTA, B.J. remains Active in World Team Tennis as commissioner. She returned to her USTA roots in 1995 as captain of the Federation Cup team, having been player-captain in 1965 (a loss) and 1976 (a win). In 1996 she guided the U.S. team to the Cup over Spain, and, as U.S. women's Olympic coach, Lindsay Davenport, Gigi Fernandez and Mary Joe Fernandez to gold medals.

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