{"id":247134,"date":"2025-11-06T10:47:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T10:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/247134\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T10:47:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T10:47:15","slug":"billie-jean-king-still-learning-and-inspiring-at-81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/247134\/","title":{"rendered":"Billie Jean King still learning, and inspiring, at 81"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n In theory, Billie Jean King<\/a> should have nothing left to prove.\n <\/p>\n

\n A glittering haul of 39 grand slam titles across singles, doubles and mixed doubles is one of the greatest tennis careers of all time, but it was for her uncompromising pursuit of equality that she transcended the game.\n <\/p>\n

\n King, the founder of the Women\u2019s Tennis Association<\/a> who campaigned for equal pay, is a champion for marginalized communities. She\u2019s been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal<\/a>, and the women\u2019s Federation Cup now bears her name.\n <\/p>\n

\n King is revered as an icon, but she still has unfinished business. At the age of 81, she\u2019s gone back to college and hopes to graduate in May.\n <\/p>\n

\n As an octogenarian, she\u2019s a senior in more ways than one.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn those days, women didn\u2019t have many opportunities on what to major in, but I do love history,\u201d she told CNN Sports<\/a>. \u201cI think you really need to understand history. That\u2019s how you shape the future.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In the 1960s, King studied the first three years of a history degree at what\u2019s now known as California State University, Los Angeles, but she quit to write her own chapter into the history books.\n <\/p>\n

\n Now she\u2019s back to finish the job.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019m loving the experience, I love reading, I like goals,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt\u2019s very interesting how women in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th century survived. I think our professors are trying to have us realize everyone has some sort of power, no matter what the level.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n King says she had to quit school if she wanted to become the number one tennis player in the world, even if there wasn\u2019t much money in it back then.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI used to make $18 a day when I was winning Wimbledon,\u201d she said. \u201cNow they\u2019re making millions.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"King<\/p>\n

\n King alluded to the WTA Finals happening this week, in which the singles champion could win up to $5.235 million<\/a>. \u201cThat gives you an idea of how things have evolved,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n

\n But it\u2019s not just her own academic career that is a work in progress. King\u2019s personality is typically upbeat and vibrant, but she pulls no punches about the world she lives in.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t even had a woman president in the Unites States yet,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, that\u2019s pathetic. We\u2019ve come a long way, but we still have so far to go.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Now in her ninth decade of life \u2013 she\u2019ll turn 82 on November 22 \u2013 King shows no sign of slowing down. She said she feels \u201cfantastic\u201d because she hits tennis balls \u201call the time\u201d and she\u2019s taking her classes remotely because her busy travel schedule would make it almost impossible to attend on campus in Los Angeles.\n <\/p>\n

\n She\u2019s also excited about music.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMy first love was piano,\u201d she said. \u201cI realized that God had given me more talent in sports, but I\u2019d like to start piano lessons again. That would be really fun.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n She holds up both hands, explaining that the mental stimulation of playing will hopefully stave off dementia, which has tormented other members of her family.\n <\/p>\n

\n King dressed for the interview in a vibrant Los Angeles Dodgers jacket, basking in the afterglow of their stunning World Series victory<\/a> against the Toronto Blue Jays. A minority owner of the team, she described it as the best series she\u2019s ever seen but still expressed sympathy for the losing side.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s just got to be very painful,\u201d she said. \u201cBeing an athlete, I understand both sides.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"King<\/p>\n

\n Being able to see both sides has been the key to her success in life and the power of her legacy. King\u2019s partnership with the e.l.f. Beauty cosmetics brand focuses on the advancement of women in sports and gender equality in the corporate world.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI give an elf about women on the field, and in the boardroom,\u201d she says in a new campaign ad. \u201cI don\u2019t think you can understand inclusion, really, until you\u2019ve been excluded,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Women\u2019s sports like basketball and soccer are booming in popularity, and King continues to lead from the front. Billie Jean King Enterprises<\/a> owns minority stakes in the Los Angeles Sparks WNBA team and Angel City FC in the National Women\u2019s Soccer League. In 2024, she was instrumental in launching the Professional Women\u2019s Hockey League.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe have billionaires who want to invest in us, and that is huge,\u201d she said with a smile, \u201cso I think women\u2019s professional sports is going to keep going forward.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI think it\u2019s really important for women to believe in themselves. We\u2019re not taught to believe in ourselves as much as boys. I think boys have been socialized to be brave, which I don\u2019t think is fair to them because no one\u2019s brave all the time, and girls are taught to be perfect. No one\u2019s perfect all the time. That\u2019s one of the reasons, I think, girls\u2019 self-confidence isn\u2019t as high.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n King confesses that she can be too idealistic at times, but she can\u2019t help emphasizing the value of acceptance.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBe good to each other and be thoughtful,\u201d she said. \u201cMake sure you tell people you see them, you know, \u2018I see you, I see you.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Whatever happens next, and there may well be a lot more still to come in the life of this extraordinary woman, King\u2019s legacy has long been cemented. She says she feels gratitude for her status, but also a continuing sense of responsibility.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019m just very thankful every single day I\u2019ve had this life,\u201d she said. \u201cI know I\u2019m one of the luckiest ones in the world.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In theory, Billie Jean King should have nothing left to prove. A glittering haul of 39 grand slam…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[101,118,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-247134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}