31 Go-Get-Em Quotes From Tennis Legend Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King began playing tennis when she was 11 years old, and for all intents and purposes was hooked from the start. As she later told the Harvard Business Review, despite the fact that professional tennis didn't exist when she was a kid in the 1950s, the lessons she took at her local country club helped orient her toward her destiny.
King was always more than simply a tennis player both on and off the court. As a staunch advocate for women's equality in sports and for LGBTQ+ inclusion, she has paved the way for generations of women who have come after her and succeeded in both tennis and beyond.
In fact, it's difficult to imagine where women's tennis might be today without the work of King and her allies. As she told the Review, she always saw tennis as a medium through which she could do the most good for the most people. Here are 31 quotes from legendary tennis player Billie Jean King about fighting for equality, playing tennis and following the money.
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31 Billie Jean King Quotes
1. "Fast-forward to me at 12 years old, playing tournaments at the Los Angeles Tennis Club, which is the mecca of tennis in Southern California, and realizing that tennis was all white: white shoes, socks, clothes, even white balls at that time, and everybody who played. I remember wondering: Where is everybody else? I already knew that girls were second-class citizens, not listened to as much as boys. And my sisters of color had it much worse. That’s when I decided to fight for equality."
2. "My parents made me earn the money for my first racket. I went to neighbors to plead my case, and they were so sweet to me. After that first session with [my first coach] Clyde, when my mom picked me up, I told her that I’d found what I wanted to do with my life: be the top tennis player in the world."
3. "Tennis was played around the world, and I thought that if I could become No. 1, I would have an opportunity to make it a better place using tennis as a platform."
4. "I was not the poster girl for tennis. I was not the No. 1 junior in Southern California. I had doubts about whether I would make it. It was a long and winding road. But people championed me and gave me faith that I could make it."
5. "We wanted any girl in the world, if she was good enough, to have a place to compete and be appreciated for her accomplishments, not her looks."
6. "Some people already assumed that if you were a girl in sports, you were a lesbian, and the reporters, who were mostly men, would ask us about our sexuality. They would never do that to a male player, but with us women it was free game. As players, we never talked about it with one another. Looking back, it’s interesting how under the carpet everything was. There was a real fear."
7. "The court was where I had some sanctuary, where nobody but the umpire could ask me questions."
8. "I want more women in ownership positions in sports. Women are not taught to follow the money. I want us to follow the money, understand it, and learn from it."
9. "I am going to fight the good fight with my last breath."
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10. "I feel like most of the athletes do not understand the business side of things. Athletes say, What should I do? What should I learn about? I go, 'Learn the other side of the story—learn the business side.'"
11. "In the beginning, usually sports that people were interested in were where girls don’t wear that many clothes. Men control the media. That has a lot to do with it. I think they still get away with a lot of that."
12. "One thing I want to stress here is that, when a woman leads, she leads for everyone. What people do to us is, when a woman leads, we lead only for women, for change just for women—that’s what people say."
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13. "The more you know about history, the more you know about yourself—and, most important, you know what can shape the future. I knew all about the history of tennis, and I understood the politics of tennis."
14. "The goal was that any girl born in this world, if she’s good enough, would have a place to compete. No. 2, she would be appreciated for accomplishments, not only her looks. And No. 3, the most important one, was to be able to make a living playing tennis."
15. "One thing I try to tell young people, particularly, is: Don’t take anything personally. It’s not too hard for me. I mean, it is sometimes, and I can sound bitter, when I talk about things, to a point. But then I tell myself, O.K., stop it. What good is it going to do?"
16. "Sometimes I think we get going too much nowadays because you need social media every single day. Sometimes that’s good news, bad news. It’s good because you can get it out quickly. The bad news is it’s forgotten twenty-four hours later."
17. "Great athletes, the people who truly win, are the ones who are emotionally better and stronger and know how to handle situations. They talk about, Oh, they’re mentally stronger. No, they’re emotionally stronger. Mental is what you think. And these guys, they’re all good enough thinkers to win, but it’s who can handle it when the pressure’s on, and that’s emotional."
18. "I visualize everything. I visualize how I want tennis to look. I visualize how I want the world. I try to get women to follow the money. I want women to understand that money’s powerful, and it’ll help them have more choices in life, more mobility, take better care of your kids. I mean, come on. It’s, like, Follow the darn money."
19. "Therapy helps to understand who you are, how you are. A lot of the challenges the players have stem from their emotional self and what they feel about themselves. I know a lot of players lose because they don’t think they deserve to win."
20. Whatever you care about, you can make a difference. You really can. Don’t ever underestimate yourself. Do not underestimate the human spirit."
21. "I like the fact we’ve helped other sports, too, because we’re teeing up a culture of women’s sports. I know we started it. We’re the ones. I don’t know how long we’ll be the leaders, but we’re still the leaders."
22. "Every time a ball comes to me, I have to make a decision. Every single ball I hit, there’s a consequence."
23. "They have proven now with data that if you have more women on your board in business, net profits go up to 16 percent more. Also, you want to hear different ideas, so you should have different cultures and you should have women."
24. "When I was a kid, tennis was what gave me confidence when I felt like I didn’t fit in."
25. "Here’s what happens a lot with a job. A job will have ten points to it, and the girl will look at nine and go, ‘I can’t do that tenth one.’ A guy will look at it and go, ‘I knew five out of ten, and I’ll bluff my way through the other five.’ She doesn’t have to be perfect. If she can do six or seven or five, she is fine—go for it."
26. "When I was 9, I just remember looking out on the field, and my heart sank because for the first time I realized, I'm a girl, I can't play baseball."
27. "Think about your potential—what you’ve been given. Practice your strengths. Know your strengths because just like in sports, we practice our strengths every single day and we make our weaknesses adequate. If you have a strength, go for it."
28. "Sports teach us resilience. We bounce back."
29. "In tennis, I take it one ball at a time, staying in the now, staying in the process. In every single sport and in life, being in the moment—when you’re in the zone, when your head and your heart and your gut are integrated—that’s when we do our best."
30. "We know how tough it is to be an athlete. But pressure is a privilege if you want to be a professional athlete. That’s a choice. You do not have to be a professional athlete."
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31. "You’re always getting feedback from whatever experience you have in life, whether it’s good or sad or difficult, you keep learning. You’ve got to keep learning."