Four months after Margaret Court’s disappointment, another tennis star avenges her: the American Billie Jean King (29 years old) Riggs terrace 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 at the end of the most famous “Battle of the Sexes” of the history of tennis.
Played in Houston (Texas) in front of more than 30,000 people and followed by more than 90 million television viewers, the match on September 20, 1973 was a huge spotlight for the female players, who were demanding to win as much money as their male counterparts.
Billie Jean King is the leading figure of this movement for parity and has just founded the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association).
Three years earlier, BJK and eight other players — nicknamed the “Orignial Nine” — had defied the tennis authorities by creating the Virginia Slims Series, a professional and autonomous women’s circuit with higher prize pools than traditional tournaments.
“It would have taken us back 50 years if I hadn’t won that match.“, judges the American after her victory against Riggs.
“More than for glory, it was important to beat him for social change and for the way the public and the sport saw the players.“, she adds.
In 2017, a film inspired by this duel (“Battle of the Sexes“) sees the light of day, with Emma Stone in the role of Billie Jean King and Steve Carell in that of Riggs.
