Billie Jean King was everywhere in 2024.
She kicked off the year in Toronto, attending the inaugural Professional Women’s Hockey League game — a personal passion project years in the making. King made appearances at three of the four Grand Slams, served as a BBC commentator at Wimbledon, attended the Paris Olympics (where she gave a memorable interview with Snoop Dogg) and celebrated the Los Angeles Dodgers’ season, from their Korea opener to their World Series win.
As a Dodgers part-owner, King joined the festivities alongside her commitments to other sports, including the WNBA Finals and, of course, the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Malaga, Spain.
Other 2024 highlights included:
- Attending the U.S. President’s State of the Union Address with her partner, Ilana Kloss
- Celebrating the Women’s Sports Foundation’s 50th anniversary with Vice President Kamala Harris
- Giving the commencement address at USC’s Annenberg School
- Receiving the Congressional Gold Medal, the first individual woman athlete to earn the honor
- Being recognized at the Hispanic Star Gala alongside Rosie Casals
- Unveiling a statue of herself at California State, Los Angeles
- Taping a fashion segment for Naomi Osaka’s production company
- Appearing on “Jeopardy! Masters”
Did we mention that King recently turned 81?
“When people tell me about all the things we’re doing, I go, `Wow, that’s pretty good,’” King said recently from her home in Chicago. “And 81 is really good, I guess. But I don’t think of it like that.”
No, she’d rather not talk about the past — she thinks and acts almost exclusively in the present with an eye to the future. Mostly, and this will not come as a shock to any of her fans, about how to further improve the surging state of women’s athletics.
In King’s mind, her greatest achievement was taking women’s tennis from the dark ages of amateur competition to cashing checks as professionals. She was the critical factor in the formation of the Women’s Tennis Association more than a half-century ago, a feat — with the financial backing of entrepreneur Mark Walter — she has replicated with the PWHL.
It began with a call from Kendall Coyne, the U.S. national hockey team captain and 2018 Olympic gold medalist.
“We need a proper professional hockey league — we need it for the future,” she told King and Kloss in their New York apartment.”
King, despite tennis’ individual nature, has always been a team-sport enthusiast. She grew up playing on basketball and school tennis teams and built World Team Tennis around that premise.
“Can you guys stick together through thick and thin — because it’s going to get thin sometimes?” King asked Coyne. “Her answer was yes. It’s the first time that women hockey players had any semblance of a real pro league. Somebody carries their equipment, they get all these things they’ve never had, so it’s really exciting. It’s a huge investment, but women’s sports needs it — so here we go.”
And then King is off like a bolt of lightning to the next topic that needs addressing.
Since her beginnings in tennis, King has been a mentor for Chris Evert, who said just being around her can sometimes be exhausting.
“She has so much energy,” Evert said. “She’s just always been excited about life. A passion for life. When she was, what, nine years old she said, `I want to be No.1 — and I’m going to be No.1.’ I had just finished coloring when I was nine.
“Billie was born a leader, a very special individual. These tennis players today should be so grateful that she was in our sport. If she’d been a golfer, we would have been in the background. How lucky are we that she was a tennis player?”
`As good as it gets’
Martina Navratilova and the WTA came along at precisely the same time, and the Czech player became one of the tour’s brightest stars. Navratilova understands her debt to King and her fellow pioneers.
“She put women’s tennis on the map,” Navratilova said from her Miami home. “By leading the way with the Virginia Slims Tour. And then she kind of took it to a whole other level by beating Bobby Riggs [in 1973]. That was the extravaganza in Houston. Billie took it beyond tennis — it cut across all sports.
“That’s the legacy, urging women to strive for more. That’s as good as it gets. The true champions, they spill over into areas beyond their specific expertise — to the world. Billie Jean did that.”
Said King, “I mean, we went through hell, staying up until 4 in the morning, having meetings. No one will ever see it — but we know it. That’s what it took to provide opportunities for women athletes.”
Today’s players, she said, could be more curious about how the system that rewards them so handsomely actually works.
“I asked a player at a [WTA Tour] 500,” King said. “I said `Did you get paid?’ And the player said of course. I said, `Did you ask the promoter or owner how he or she did?’ And she got this blank look on her face.
“I said, `Those are the people who work all year so you can have one week. And they might have lost a lot of money. You got your check. Did you ever ask them if they had a good week?’ The answer is always no.”
King, battling a virus, laid relatively low toward the end of 2024. But she’s already gearing up for another whirlwind year in 2025. She and Kloss have even taken to the court again after a 20-year hiatus, rekindling their love of hitting tennis balls.
“I’d forgotten how happy it makes me,” King admitted.
With the new season approaching, King is ready to dive back into her global advocacy efforts. Organized as always, she’ll hit the road armed with her signature style — including a box of 16 different-colored custom glasses to coordinate with her outfits.
It’s no surprise King isn’t slowing down. The PWHL is now looking to expand. Executives have confirmed plans to add as many as two franchises for the 2025-26 season, with no restrictions on which North American markets they’ll consider.
“Growth is critical for the future of women’s sports,” King said.
A mantra she’s lived by for decades.
First appeared on www.wtatennis.com