The Courage to Demand: Billie Jean King's Blueprint for Women's Sports Dominance

Billie Jean King isn’t just a tennis icon—she’s a blueprint for how women actually get what they deserve in sports. Over five decades, she’s transformed the industry through one simple formula: no guts, no glory. And the results speak for themselves.

From Historic Wins to Systemic Change

When King defeated Bobby Riggs in the legendary “Battle of the Sexes” in 1973, over 90 million people worldwide witnessed more than a tennis match—they saw a watershed moment. That victory became the cultural foundation for everything that followed. King didn’t stop at winning; she weaponized her platform, co-founding the Women’s Tennis Association and pushing until the U.S. Open became the first Grand Slam to mandate equal prize money across all genders.

But here’s what King emphasizes now: winning on the court meant nothing without winning off it. The real game wasn’t tennis—it was power dynamics.

The “Ask” That Changes Everything

King attributes much of women’s progress in sports to one underrated skill: the willingness to ask. Growing up with a father who believed in her as much as he did her younger brother, King learned early that the gatekeepers of opportunity rarely volunteer. You have to demand your seat at the table.

She recounts how NBA Commissioner David Stern was skeptical about the WNBA’s viability until King herself sat down with him in the U.S. Open president’s box and asked him directly: don’t let this league fail. He listened. He backed it. The WNBA survived.

Similarly, hockey legend Kendall Coyne Schofield possessed exactly what King calls the rare quality most women lack—the audacity to show up and ask for help. Schofield approached King and her wife Ilana Kloss with an impossible dream: launch a professional women’s hockey league. Result? The Professional Women’s Hockey League played its first game in 2024.

“Most girls don’t have the guts to even ask,” King reflected. “But now we have a league because she asked.”

The Unfinished Work: Uniting Tennis

While men’s and women’s tennis players collaborate more than ever, King’s ultimate vision remains unfulfilled: a unified ATP and WTA structure. It’s her prayer for the future—a complete dismantling of the separate-but-equal framework that still fragments professional tennis.

The infrastructure exists. The talent exists. What’s missing is the collective will to merge systems that have operated independently for decades.

Playing the Long Game

Now, King approaches aging as an extension of her advocacy: more years mean more opportunity to push for change. She and her wife play tennis three times weekly, and she’s committed to the sport that research suggests can add nearly a decade to a lifespan.

Unlike the pickleball boom sweeping older demographics, King remains a purist. “I don’t love the sound,” she said of the sport gaining mainstream popularity. Tennis remains where her magic happens—in the precise moment the ball meets the strings.

At its core, King’s message transcends sports: real change requires courage, strategy, and the willingness to demand what you deserve. No guts, no glory isn’t just a catchphrase; it’s the operating principle that built modern women’s sports.