Billie Jean King: Still living & loving the game

Billie Jean King is now 72 years old, but her passion for the game remains as strong as it was in 1970 when, frustrated at being treated as an insignificant sideshow at tournaments where all the attention was focused on the men’s event, she and eight others – including Australia’s Judy Dalton and Kerry Melville – established the WTA.

Now, more than 40 years later, she continues to sell the game to anyone who will listen, while making sure that the rising stars of today don’t take what they have for granted. Either through naivety or self-interest those younger players often, she says, have no concept of what it takes to stage a tournament.

“Look at how many people are involved in these events,” she says. “Can you imagine the administrative work? There are umpires and linespeople. Transportation, security. I try to explain to the players. I try to get so basic. How do the towels get to the locker room for you to have a towel or soap even? Somebody had to take it.

“How did the umpire’s chair get out on court? How did they put the court down? Somebody had to put it down. Somebody had to make the racquet. Somebody had to make the strings in the racquet.

“I try to get them to expand and think about all the people that help them in their lives that get them to this point. You don’t do it alone. I think in tennis, especially singles, they get so much attention unfortunately that it makes a player more and more self-centred.”

And it is not just about the here and now, appreciating what they have. It is about the future, building on the vision that BJK had all those years ago.

“I keep telling them, now it’s your turn to shape the game and the future. How would you like the sport to look five, 10 years from now? Your generation, you’re responsible for that now. I’m not. We did our thing. Now it’s up to you to shape the future. They just look at me, because most of the time they have never thought about that at all.

“So my job I think is to just awaken them a little, let them go away and think, try to plant seeds of thought that maybe they’ll take away. And then (let them) try to figure out also who may be a leader, a future leader in the organisation, like Venus for instance stepping up and really helping with equal prize money. Very few players have the energy or the thoughts about really stepping up and being a leader.”

And, for Billie Jean, it needn’t even stop with what they do on the tennis court. The single-mindedness that took them to the top of tennis can be carried over into life off the court. If they have the vision.

“I try to make them think of what they could do, what’s possible. Just think of all the greater things they could do when they’re finished with tennis. You have a platform that very few people in the world ever experience. I would hope that you would want to make a difference in somebody’s life, some youngster’s life.

“Just like you coming up in the sport in your whatever, town, your village, become mayor of your town. I don’t know. Run for president, prime minister, whatever. There are all kinds of things you can do in your life. I would hope they would want to make a difference in some way and not only through their performance. Although, believe me, performance takes a lot of work.”

While equal prize money for men and women has largely been achieved, there is still considerable opposition to it. People argue that the men are stronger and therefore provide a better show, that men’s matches are more competitive. Billie Jean says there is a half-truth in that.

“The men are better than we are because of androgens. They are. There is no question. Their hormones. Testosterone, all that. No question. So that’s not the argument. We’ve never argued we’re better than the guys. We think we are as entertaining if not more entertaining at times. It depends on each match by match, point by point.

“I know when we started we didn’t say we’re better than the guys. Did the media try to get us to say that? Every single day. But as far as entertainment value, we can be just as good. And when you think about it, in some ways we have to be better.

“The court dimensions stay the same (but) we don’t have the androgens that the guys have, so in some ways we have to be technically better. I think the guys, they can use more brawn than we can. I think you have to appreciate each situation for what it is.

“It’s difficult. You know, sports are a microcosm of society, so it teaches you how the world still perceives gender inequality. It’s not fun. It’s really sad actually. I find men who have daughters are much more understanding. If they have a boy and a girl, for instance, they want both of their children to have equal opportunity.”

And Billie Jean believes that equal opportunity should go both ways, with the men having on-court coaching. She says it’s all part of the show.

“I think they should have coaching for the men and the women. And I think they should be able to signal, because they do anyway, from the stands. I’m trying to think of a world sport. In football, soccer, they signal from the sidelines all the time. They can talk any time.

“I think that’s what we should do. I don’t think we should have to wait even between sets. And I think the men should do it. You know why? There’s more to talk about. There’s more content. I think any time we can get more content, that’s good. So I just think coaching is fantastic. I think we should have more of it. I would like them to be able to say it from the stands or signal from the stands.

“What’s really hurting is we don’t have enough women coaches. I think it’s still they think guys are better and guys can hit with them. The best women need people to hit with. But today they have everything. They have a hitting coach, a coach coach, whatever you want. I think that’s not a good argument anymore. At the top anyway.

“You don’t have as much money at the lower. I always think they could use a friend or a player to help coach them if they don’t have the money down at the lower ranking. That’s fine. We used to help each other when we didn’t have any money back in the old days, and we were the best players in the world.

“I just think it would be helpful if we had more women coaches. Any time you hurt that human capital, only have half of it, you’re missing out on a lot. You just are.”

Barry Wood has reported on the game for over 35 years, attending his first Australian Open at Kooyong before going on to interview almost every top player as well as many others for numerous publications.