The Beginning of The Journey
Born on November 22nd 1943, King first learned how to play tennis on free courts in her hometown of Long Beach, CA. Starting to play professionally at the tender age of 15, King had a multitude of ups and downs. At 16, King won her first adult tournament at the Philadelphia and District Woman's Grass Court Championships. While she did have a slight taste of success early, she also had her number of defeats Throughout the early years of her career, she was defeated a number of times by the same people. It took King five times to defeat Dorothy Cheney in the early stages of her career. It also took King ten matches to defeat Margaret Court. Despite her early struggles of losing many of early matches, King prevailed, improving each and every year.
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1966 And Beyond
The year 1966 was sweet for Billie King. She defeated both Cheney and Court for the first time in career. In addition to defeating them, King went on to win her first Wimbledon championship. This would be the beginning of a King's era.
In 1971, King won a historic 17 tournaments in one year. In 1973, she made a huge statement against 55 year old Bobby Riggs in a "Battle of the Sexes". Riggs claimed that women's tennis was not nearly as competitive as men's tennis, claiming that even he could still beat any top notch female player. Playing for $100,000, King defeated Riggs, which showed that women should be more respected in the game.
Throughout her career, King won 32 total Grand Slam titles, (12 single, 16 women double, and 10 mixed doubles). King dominated the late 60's - early 70's , being ranked in the top 3 of the world for over a decade. King , now a hall of famer, is considered one of the greatest to ever play. She showed that through dedication, anything can be accomplished.