Billie Jean King’s victory in the exhibition against Bobby Riggs gave immense media emphasis on the disparity of the conditions between female and male tennis. Even today Billie Jean King is an upholder of feminism and of world tennis.
One of the greatest cultural legacies of the seventies is the women’s liberation movement. Tennis also had its fairy godmother: Billie Jean King (maiden name: Moffitt). The great champion from Long Beach, California, ended her career with 12 Grand Slam titles in singles, 27 between doubles and mixed, which consisted of 20 Wimbledon titles. She started winning at barely seventeen years of age, displaying an unusual character in female sport at that time, and having crystal clear ideas about the path that she had to take as a professional tennis player in the ‘Open Era’. Up until her battles, the prize money of female tournaments was much less than the males. The Women’s Lib went crazy as King formed what the media called ‘The Women’s Lob’.
After having won the U.S Open in 1972, she declared that she would no longer play until the prizes were equal. The key episode arrived in this momentous context: the ex Wimbledon champion Bobby Riggs declared that the women’s world number one wouldn’t be able to beat him at 55 years old. Margaret Court tried but she lost badly, So King rised to the challenge. At the Astrodome of Houston on the 20th September 1973, there were more than 30, 000 spectators and another 50 million in front of screens in 37 countries. The sponsors and the TV company created an ‘American style’ event, which was tacky and exaggerated but the essence was there. King won 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, in what became known as the Battle of the Sexes. The triumph was a turning-poing for women’s tennis as proceedings changed forever.
The WTA was born, the female professionals association, and the prize money of the world circuit tournaments will be equally divided between men and women. And Billie Jean, intertwining an affair with her secretary Marilyn, that then became a scandal, closed the circle and became a universal symbol of feminism.
By Allira Hanczakowski, a student from the University of Western Australia.
