Before the Revolution: Tennis in the 1960s and Early 1970s

To understand the magnitude of Billie Jean King’s achievement, one must first grasp the landscape of professional tennis in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The sport was deeply divided along gender lines, with women’s tennis treated as a secondary attraction to the men’s game. Male players commanded larger purses, better scheduling, and greater media attention, while female athletes competed for prize money that was often a fraction of what their male counterparts earned at the same tournament. For instance, at the 1970 Italian Open, the men’s singles champion earned $3,500, while the women’s champion took home just $600. At the Pacific Southwest Championships that same year, the men’s winner received $12,500, while the women’s winner got only $1,500. These disparities were not anomalies; they were the entrenched standard across the professional circuit.

Billie Jean King, then 26 years old and already a multiple Grand Slam champion with titles at Wimbledon and the US Open, saw this inequality as fundamentally unjust. She was not merely a gifted player but also a student of the sport’s economics and a keen observer of its institutional structures. She understood that the gate revenue and television interest generated by women’s matches were comparable to men’s, yet the pay structures were rigged to favor male competitors. The patriarchal culture of tennis governance, embodied by organizations such as the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA), treated women’s tennis as a philanthropic addition to tournament programs rather than a commercial equal. King’s early advocacy was met with resistance at every turn. Tournament organizers told her bluntly that women’s tennis did not sell tickets—a claim she would later refute emphatically with sold-out crowds at her own events. She began collecting data on attendance figures and television ratings, building a case that women’s matches drew audiences just as large as men’s, and used that evidence to press her arguments with officials who were reluctant to change.

The Virginia Slims Circuit: A Bold Breakaway

Frustrated by the lack of progress within the established structures, King took a radical step that would reshape women’s sports forever. In September 1970, she joined eight other women—dubbed the “Original Nine”—to form a breakaway professional circuit sponsored by Virginia Slims cigarettes. The Original Nine included King, Rosie Casals, Nancy Richey, Kerry Melville Reid, Peaches Bartkowicz, Kristy Pigeon, Judy Dalton, Valerie Ziegenfuss, and Julie Heldman. Each player signed a symbolic $1 contract with promoter Gladys Heldman, committing themselves to an unsanctioned tournament series that defied the USLTA’s authority. At the time, this was an enormous financial gamble. The USLTA had threatened to suspend any player who participated in unsanctioned events, potentially ending their careers. The Virginia Slims Circuit was designed to give female players consistent, professional tournaments with prize money that, while not equal to the men’s tour, was far better than the scraps offered elsewhere. The circuit’s first event, the Houston Women’s Invitational in 1970, offered a total purse of $7,500—modest by modern standards but a powerful statement of intent.

King’s role extended far beyond that of a player; she acted as strategist, organizer, and chief negotiator. She leveraged her growing fame—she had won Wimbledon five times by 1975 and the US Open four times—to attract sponsors and build media interest. She negotiated directly with tournament directors, demanding better prize money, improved scheduling, and professional conditions. She was crystal clear about the ultimate goal: equal prize money was not a distant ideal but a near-term objective that could be achieved through determined advocacy. She famously declared, “Everyone thinks women should be thrilled when we get crumbs, and I want women to have the cake, the icing, and the cherry.” The Virginia Slims Circuit grew rapidly, expanding from eight events in its first year to more than twenty within three years, with tournaments across the United States and later internationally. It provided a platform for emerging talents like Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, who would go on to dominate the sport and become champions in their own right. The circuit also built a dedicated fanbase that proved the naysayers wrong, demonstrating that women’s tennis could draw crowds, generate revenue, and sustain a professional tour without relying on men’s events for validation.

The Battle of the Sexes: A Cultural Flashpoint

No single event did more to amplify King’s fight for equal prize money than the “Battle of the Sexes” match on September 20, 1973. Bobby Riggs, a 55-year-old former men’s champion who had won Wimbledon in 1939 and the US Open in 1939 and 1941, had been taunting female players in the media. He claimed that even at his advanced age, he could defeat any top woman player, arguing that women’s tennis was inherently inferior and that the disparity in prize money was justified. He first defeated Margaret Court, the top-ranked women’s player, in a May 1973 match that generated a media frenzy and was dubbed the “Mother’s Day Massacre.” Court’s loss emboldened Riggs and intensified public fascination with the idea of a gender showdown. King, wary of the circus atmosphere but acutely aware of the stakes, accepted the challenge after careful consideration. She understood that the match was about far more than tennis—it was a referendum on women’s athletic ability and, by extension, women’s equality in society at large.

The match was held at the Houston Astrodome, a cavernous venue that filled with 30,472 spectators, and it was broadcast in prime time on ABC. An estimated 90 million viewers tuned in worldwide, making it one of the most-watched sporting events in history. King entered the stadium carried aloft on a litter by four bare-chested men in a spectacle that was part pageantry, part circus. She later admitted she felt immense pressure, knowing that the hopes of women’s sports advocates rested on her performance. She won in straight sets, 6–4, 6–3, 6–3, demonstrating not just technical superiority but also physical and mental dominance. The victory was a symbolic repudiation of the idea that women’s sports were inferior or that female athletes lacked the competitive drive or skill to compete at the highest levels. In the aftermath, King used the platform to reiterate her demands for equal prize money in tournaments, speaking directly to reporters, sponsors, and tournament organizers. Importantly, earlier that same year—in July 1973—she had already achieved a major breakthrough at the US Open. The Battle of the Sexes cemented public attention and made it politically untenable for other tournaments to ignore the issue of pay equity. The match validated her arguments with empirical evidence and helped sustain momentum for the broader equal rights movement in sports.

Equal Prize Money at the US Open: The First Domino

The US Open’s decision to offer equal prize money in 1973 was not a spontaneous act of generosity but the result of years of persistent lobbying by King and her allies. In 1972, the US Open offered $10,000 to the men’s champion and $6,000 to the women’s champion—a gap of 40 percent that King found unacceptable. She threatened to boycott the 1973 event unless the prize money was equalized, and she was not bluffing. With the support of fellow players and media allies, she pressured the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to act. The USTA relented, announcing that the 1973 US Open would pay $25,000 to both the men’s and women’s singles champions—a move that was widely hailed as historic. This was the first time a Grand Slam tournament had committed to pay equity, and it set a powerful precedent for the rest of the sport. The decision was not without controversy; some male players and officials argued that women’s matches did not deserve equal pay, but King’s threat to boycott had made the status quo untenable. The US Open’s move demonstrated that change was possible when players organized, leveraged their collective power, and refused to accept less than what they were worth.

Founding the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)

King understood that structural change required institutional power beyond individual advocacy or one-time victories. On June 20, 1973—just weeks after the Battle of the Sexes and before the US Open decision—she founded the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in a meeting at the Gloucester Hotel in London during Wimbledon. The WTA became the governing body for women’s professional tennis, giving female players a unified voice in negotiations with tournaments, sponsors, and governing bodies. King served as the first president, guiding the organization through its formative years. The WTA’s founding constitution explicitly listed equal prize money as a core objective, along with professional standards for scheduling, prize distribution, and player representation. In subsequent decades, the WTA led collective bargaining efforts, legal actions, and public campaigns that pushed for parity across the sport. The organization’s very existence shifted the balance of power, forcing tournaments and Grand Slam bodies to negotiate with a single, cohesive entity rather than divide and conquer individual players. King’s vision was that “a player is a player,” regardless of gender, and that tournament organizers should assess value based on market demand, television ratings, and ticket sales rather than outdated gender hierarchies. The WTA’s formation was arguably King’s most enduring institutional achievement, providing a lasting framework for advocacy that continues to serve women’s tennis today.

Ripple Effects: Other Grand Slams and the Wider Sports World

The US Open’s move in 1973 spurred a slow but determined shift across the other Grand Slam tournaments. The Australian Open equalized prize money in 1984, but only for singles events; it took additional years for doubles and mixed doubles to achieve parity. The French Open gradually increased women’s purses over time but did not reach full equality until 2006, and even then, some scheduling disparities persisted. Wimbledon, the most traditional and conservative of the Grand Slams, held out the longest, citing a “different product” argument that claimed women’s matches were inherently less valuable than men’s. King and other players, including Venus Williams, Serena Williams, and Maria Sharapova, campaigned relentlessly against Wimbledon’s position year after year. In 2007, Wimbledon finally announced equal prize money for men and women at all rounds, bringing the total prize fund into parity. King was present at the press conference alongside Venus Williams and other advocates, and she received a standing ovation from the assembled media. The achievement was the culmination of 34 years of advocacy that began with her threat to skip the US Open in 1973, demonstrating that persistence, public pressure, and institutional organization could overcome even the most entrenched resistance.

Beyond tennis, King’s fight for equal prize money became a template for gender equality in other sports. Her advocacy inspired athletes in soccer, golf, basketball, and other disciplines to demand equal pay and better conditions. The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team’s fight for equal pay, which culminated in a $24 million settlement and a commitment to equal compensation in 2022, draws a direct line back to King’s work in the 1970s. Professional golfers like Annika Sörenstam and Michelle Wie West have cited King as an inspiration for their own advocacy. King’s influence also extended into broader civil rights activism, including work for LGBTQ+ equality, Title IX enforcement in educational sports programs, and the broader fight against discrimination in all its forms. She has been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, in recognition of a lifetime of advocacy that transformed sports and society.

Key Achievements: The WTA’s Institutional Push

  • 1970: Co-created the Virginia Slims Circuit with the Original Nine, establishing dedicated professional tournaments for women and creating a platform for the women’s game to grow independently.
  • 1973: Secured equal prize money at the US Open—a historic first at a Grand Slam and a model for other tournaments to follow.
  • 1973: Founded the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), providing permanent institutional representation and a unified voice for female players in negotiations and advocacy.
  • 1973: Won the Battle of the Sexes against Bobby Riggs, shifting public opinion on women’s sports and demonstrating the commercial viability of women’s tennis to a global audience.
  • 1984–2007: Consistently lobbied the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon, along with allies in the WTA, until all Grand Slam tournaments achieved equal prize money across all events.
  • 2006: Received the French Open’s commitment to equal prize money, closing a gap that had persisted for decades.
  • 2007: Wimbledon finally equalized prize money, with King present to celebrate a 34-year campaign’s culmination.

Legacy and Continuing Challenges

Today, all four Grand Slam tournaments offer equal prize money for men and women in all rounds and events, including singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. The WTA Tour has achieved near parity in prize money at combined events and has closed the gap significantly at standalone tournaments. The total prize fund for women’s tennis has grown from a few thousand dollars in the early 1970s to over $200 million annually across the WTA Tour, representing a transformation that few sports have matched. King’s legacy is that she normalized the conversation; equality is no longer a radical demand but an industry expectation that tournament organizers, sponsors, and governing bodies must address openly. The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, home of the US Open, bears her name as a permanent reminder that one person’s courage can change an entire system. The facility hosts hundreds of thousands of fans each year, and its name serves as an ongoing tribute to the player who refused to accept inequality.

Yet the fight is not over. Non-major tournaments, particularly some Premier-level events and smaller WTA tournaments, still have disparities in prize money compared to men’s events at similar levels. The prize money gap in other sports—including soccer, basketball, and golf—remains large, with women often earning a fraction of what men earn at the same level of competition. King’s work continues through the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative, which advocates for equality in all fields, and through her ongoing public speaking and advocacy. She has also been a vocal supporter of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in educational programs, including sports, and has worked to ensure its full implementation. The broader fight for pay equity across sports and industries remains unfinished, but King’s example provides a clear roadmap: organize, use data, leverage public attention, and never accept less than what you are worth.

For more on her life and career, refer to the official Billie Jean King website, which details her biography, advocacy work, and ongoing initiatives. The WTA official site documents the history of the organization and its continuing advocacy for player compensation and equality. The US Open’s historical records highlight the 1973 equal prize money decision at USOpen.org, and the International Tennis Hall of Fame provides a comprehensive overview of King’s career at their official site.

Billie Jean King’s fight was never just about tennis. It was about the dignity of women’s labor, the recognition of female athletes as professionals deserving of equal respect, and the fundamental principle that skill, effort, and market value should determine compensation—not outdated prejudices about gender. She made the sport a level playing field, and that is a victory that still echoes every time a female player steps onto Centre Court at Wimbledon, onto Arthur Ashe Stadium at the US Open, or onto any court where women’s tennis is valued for what it is: world-class athletic competition at the highest level.