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 KINGYou’ve got to win in sports – that’s talent – but you’ve also got to learn how to remind everybody how you did win, and how often. That comes with experience.
More Billie Jean King Quotes
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I was always in the tennis business-from 1968. I was in tournaments and also on World Team Tennis teams as well.
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I think one of the concerns, anytime you’re in the human business, like sports, it’s a very high – risk endeavor.
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Pressure is a privilege … it’s what you do with it that matters.
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In 1973, women got 59 cents on the dollar; now we are getting 74 cents on the dollar. In the area of finance and business, we are at 68 cents on the dollar.
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Being Number One isn’t everything to me, but for those few hours on the court it’s way ahead of whatever’s in second place.
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Reputation is what others think about you. What’s far more important is character, because that is what you think about yourself.
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I like putting money back into what made my life, and tennis has been great to me.
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I think if you’re put on a team as a child, like you are in soccer and other sports, I think the children are going to stay in the sport and have more fun if they’re on a team. They want to play with their friends and have fun.
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You’ve got to win in sports – that’s talent – but you’ve also got to learn how to remind everybody how you did win, and how often. That comes with experience.
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A girl didn’t get an athletic scholarship until the fall of 1972 for the very first time.
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When they take surveys of women in business, of the Fortune 500, the successful women, 80% of them, say they were in sports as a young woman.
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Bobby Riggs was one of my heroes. I admired him. That’s one of the reasons I beat him – because I respected him.
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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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Men still get a lot more opportunity. It is still a big part of the old boy network… They have more companies they can get money from.
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You just know where to put the ball. You just feel it. It has been computed into your brain so many times it is there.
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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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Ladies, here’s a hint. If you’re up against a girl with big boobs, bring her to the net and make her hit backhand volleys. That’s the hardest shot for the well-endowed.
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When you oppress people either by gender, by race, by sexual orientation, when you do that and the doors become ajar, they will fly open and they will come and they have.
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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 think younger players probably just think they are who they are-they don’t think about coming out. Unless you’re number one in the world, nobody cares, usually.
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Don’t be afraid to hit the ball.
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Everyone has people in their lives that are gay, lesbian or transgender or bisexual. They may not want to admit it, but I guarantee they know somebody.
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I 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.
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It’s really impossible for athletes to grow up. On the one hand, you’re still a child, still playing a game. But on the other hand, you’re a superhuman hero that everyone dreams of being. No wonder we have such a hard time understanding who we are.
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Champions adjust and pressure is a privilege.
BILLIE JEAN KING