Photos: Celebrating Billie Jean King's 80th birthday
Commemorating Billie Jean King's 80th birthday with photos from her trailblazing life.
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Many happy returns to WTA trailblazer Billie Jean King, who celebrates her 80th birthday today, Nov. 22, 2023.
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One of the greatest players of all time, King won 129 singles titles throughout her career, including 12 Grand Slam singles titles. She completed the career Grand Slam in singles when she won Roland Garros in 1972.
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King’s singles success was matched by her incredible doubles accomplishments. Within a 30-year doubles career, King won 16 Grand Slam titles in women’s doubles (seen here with Rosie Casals at 1973 Wimbledon) and an additional 11 Slams in mixed doubles.
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King made women’s equality her defining off-court mission. King, with the other members of the Original 9, spearheaded the inception of the all-women Virginia Slims Circuit in 1970. (Pictured: the Original 9's Tennis Hall of Fame induction in 2021.)
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The momentum led to King founding the WTA in London in 1973. In 2023, King and other former players returned to London to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Hologic WTA Tour (pictured here).
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King, seen here during her iconic victory over Bobby Riggs in 1973’s Battle of the Sexes (watched on television by an estimated 90 million people globally), was the prime mover toward attaining equal prize money for women at that year’s US Open.
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2023 marked the 50th anniversary of equal prize money at the US Open, which was saluted by Michelle Obama in an on-court ceremony on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
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In the midst of that active 1973, King was still able to pull off the Triple Crown at Wimbledon, winning the singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles titles. She is the only player to win the Triple Crown at Wimbledon during the Open Era.
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Representing the United States, King was a member of 10 Federation Cup-winning teams, seven as a player and three more as captain. In 2020, the prestigious women’s tennis team event was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup in her honor.
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Each year, the singles champion at the season-ending WTA Finals receives the Billie Jean King Trophy (pictured here). Her name also graces the grounds of the US Open, which was renamed the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in 2006.
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King, seen here with wife Ilana Kloss, remains a vocal proponent of equity around the world. In 2014, King and Kloss founded the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to promoting and celebrating workplace diversity and inclusion.
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King was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 (pictured). King was one of Sports Illustrated’s 1972 Athletes of the Year and one of Time Magazine’s 1975 Persons of the Year.
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