Five decades on, Billie Jean King says birth of WTA among her greatest moments

PARIS – For trailblazer Billie Jean King, her leading role in forming the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in 1973 ranks above the many successes she enjoyed on court as her life’s standout moment.

King, 79, was the leader of nine players – the “Original Nine” – who formed the Virginia Slims Circuit in 1970 and three years later she spearheaded the formation of the WTA, which became the first truly global professional sports tour for women.

After a meeting of around 60 players in a conference room in London’s Gloucester Hotel on June 21, 1973, she emerged as the new organisation’s president and began her push for equal prize money for women at the Grand Slams.

“It was pretty exciting. It was probably one of the most exciting days for me,” King said during the French Open.

“Are you kidding? We finally had this. We had one voice. We had power and we were all together.

“I was so happy, because I didn’t know if anybody was going to show up (for the meeting) except the usual characters.”

King won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and a further 27 in women’s and mixed doubles but said the exhilaration of the early days of the WTA was unmatched by her considerable successes on court.

“Everyone thinks about what you win. That’s third or fourth on the line,” she said.

“I was getting no sleep, but I was so happy. It gave me so much buoyancy and adrenaline that every day I woke up I was like... ‘We have a WTA. God, now we can really make things happen’.

“That was just step one. I’ve got the vision... we still had so much to do, (but) I knew that it was going to happen.”

The WTA has gone from strength to strength over the last 50 years, with circuit restructures and bringing major worldwide sponsors on board helping drive growth. In 2023, it announced a commercial partnership with private equity fund CVC Capital Partners worth US$150 million (S$202 million).

King said it was vital for the governing body to use that investment to grow the game.

“CVC coming on board was helpful,” she said. “Anytime you get a lot of money in something and you use it properly, that really helps push your support forward.

“It shows a sign of belief in us as well, which I think is really important psychologically.”

In the past decade, only four women have ranked in the top 50 of the Forbes list of the highest-paid athletes. All were tennis players.

All four Grand Slams now offer equal prize money for men and women, as do many of the other big tournaments, but King’s campaigning for pay equity was by no means finished.

She said she hoped to one day see a unified governing body for men’s and women’s tennis amid increased cooperation between the ATP and the WTA in recent years.

“I want us all together,” she said. “The guys think they’re giving up something if they do something with us. But how are we ever going to be equal if we don’t have more attention, more money, more everything?

“This year I realised it’s been 50 years (of the WTA)... but let’s think of the future to try to shape the future.” REUTERS