Bobby Riggs was one of my heroes. I admired him. That’s one of the reasons I beat him – because I respected him.
BILLIE JEAN KINGIf 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.
More Billie Jean King Quotes
-
-
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.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
As far as U.S. tennis, we need new stars coming up in the pipeline, but I don’t know if we have it.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
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.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
I must keep my sights on the final goal, to win, win, win-and with more love and passion than the world has ever witnessed in any performance.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
You can’tbuy that. It’s about making decisions, corrections, choices. I don’t think it’s so much about becoming a tennis player. It’s about becoming a person.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
I always respect right off the bat because we are human, but then over time you learn who the person truly is, just like they learn about you.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
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.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
Sports are a microcosm of society.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
I always liked co-ed events best so we have two men and two women on each team.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
Any therapist will tell you that when you’re ready, you will come out. To be outed means you weren’t ready.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
That is where the power, opportunity, and choice come from-when you have money. Money equals opportunity. There is no question.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn’t allowed in a photo because I wasn’t wearing a tennis skirt, I knew that I wanted to change the sport.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
Sports teaches you character, it teaches you to play by the rules, it teaches you to know what it feels like to win and lose-it teaches you about life.
BILLIE JEAN KING -
When we reach the point where the women athletes are getting their pick of dates just as easily as the men athletes, then we’ve really and truly arrived. Parity at last!
BILLIE JEAN KING