Billie Jean King

Billie Jean King is one of those rare figures who didn't just dominate a sport — she genuinely changed the world through it. Thirty-nine Grand Slam titles across singles, doubles, and mixed doubles is an almost absurd achievement on its own, but what I find even more remarkable is that she was fighting for equal prize money and women's rights at the same time she was winning those trophies. The 1973 Battle of the Sexes match against Bobby Riggs drew something like 90 million viewers worldwide and became a genuine cultural moment, not just a tennis match. She co-founded the Women's Tennis Association, pushed for Title IX, and kept showing up as an advocate long after her playing days ended — earning the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Billie Jean King

Name (Japanese)

ビリー・ジーン・キング

Reading

びりー・じーん・きんぐ

Born

November 22, 1943 (age 82)

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Scorpio / Goat

Origin

Long Beach, California, United States

Height

164 cm

Occupation

tennis player / tennis coach / sports commentator / writer / athlete

High school

Long Beach Polytechnic High School

University

California State University, Los Angeles

Awards & achievements

• 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom
• Arthur Ashe Courage Award
• 1990 National Women's Hall of Fame
• Library of Congress Living Legend
• 2006 California Hall of Fame
• 1987 International Tennis Hall of Fame
• 1995 Sarah Palfrey Danzig Award
• 1999 Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame

• Official sitehttps://www.billiejeanking.com
• Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/billiejeanking/
• Xhttps://x.com/BillieJeanKing
• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie%20Jean%20King
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%93%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B8%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AD%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B0
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q54527

Tags

• California
• tennis player
• tennis coach
• sports commentator

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.