Ask Nureyev to stop dancing, ask Sinatra to stop singing, then you can ask me to stop playing.
BILLIE JEAN KINGIf your partner wants to be private, you have to respect that.
More Billie Jean King Quotes
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When I was outed, it was like, That’s done.
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I would love to be a player today. I had the right personality for it.
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Champions adjust and pressure is a privilege.
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Pressure is a privilege – it only comes to those who earn it.
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No one changes the world who isn’t obsessed.
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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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Every generation I think gets better usually [in tennis].
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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.
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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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We have, or have had women presidents or prime ministers in Liberia, Chile, Germany, Great Britain…and yet the US of A still hasn’t had a women president. It’s just beyond my thinking. Look at Congress.
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Champions take responsibility.
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It’s important to try to get people to think about women’s wellness.
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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.
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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.
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I like entrepreneurial people; I like people who take risks.
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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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At 62 you want to keep moving; that’s important.
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There is no life for girls in team sports past Little League. I got into tennis when I realized this, and because I thought golf would be too slow for me, and I was too scared to swim.
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Don’t be afraid to hit the ball.
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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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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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It’s very important to take tennis to the people. For young people, they get to see the best in the world.
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You have got to want to be the best before you can even begin to reach for that goal, and you have got to be prepared to sacrifice a lot to get there.
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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.
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A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.
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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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