When I was outed, it was like, That’s done.
BILLIE JEAN KINGI will tell you King’s First Law of Recognition: You never get it when you want it, and then when it comes, you get too much.
More Billie Jean King Quotes
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You do have to get players every year. You have to deal with calendar. You have to deal with all kinds of things in our sport, like every sport does.
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In business, everything starts with integrity. Otherwise it falls apart, though it does take time to find out who has integrity.
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When I was playing, we didn’t have to compete against everybody in the world. Now it’s a truly global sport, so the competition’s much greater, just like it is for our children in every other area, whether it be in science or technology or whatever you talk about.
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The main thing is to care. Care very hard, even if it is only a game you are playing.
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The old boy network is still very strong and very true. Just look at the stock exchange and how many men and women are there. It is still very much run by men.
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I always listen, I ask children, I even ask adults in tennis, “What are your children playing?” And most of the time it’s not tennis. It’s pathetic.
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I have a lot to say, and if I’m not No. 1, I can’t say it.
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I would just never out anybody. I think everyone has to find it in their own way and their own time.
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Women’s sports is still in its infancy. The beginning of women’s sports in the United States started in 1972, with the passage of Title 9 for girls to finally get athletic scholarships.
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Trust and respect is something you earn, not something that is given.
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As far as U.S. tennis, we need new stars coming up in the pipeline, but I don’t know if we have it.
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If you have one gay experience, does that mean you’re gay? If you have one heterosexual experience, does that mean you’re straight? Life doesn’t work quite so cut and dried.
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Don’t go into debt and don’t spend a lot. It’s not how much money you make, it’s how much you spend.
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The trouble with being number one in the world – in anything- is that it takes a certain mentality to attain that position, and that is something of a driving, perfectionist attitude, so that once you do achieve number one, you don’t relax and enjoy it.
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I feel that tennis is an art form that is capable of moving the players and the audience – at least a knowledgeable audience-in almost sensual ways.
BILLIE JEAN KING







