Top 119 Quotes & Sayings by Billie Jean King
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American tennis player Billie Jean King.
Last updated on December 21, 2024.
I have a lot to say, and if I'm not No. 1, I can't say it.
Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn't allowed in a photo because I wasn't wearing a tennis skirt, I knew that I wanted to change the sport.
Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquillity.
Women's sports is still in its infancy. The beginning of women's sports in the United States started in 1972, with the passage of Title 9 for girls to finally get athletic scholarships.
Everyone has people in their lives that are gay, lesbian or transgender or bisexual. They may not want to admit it, but I guarantee they know somebody.
I think younger players probably just think they are who they are-they don't think about coming out. Unless you're number one in the world, nobody cares, usually.
There is no life for girls in team sports past Little League. I got into tennis when I realized this, and because I thought golf would be too slow for me, and I was too scared to swim.
Men can have a huge turnover of sponsorship and still survive a lot better than the women. But the women's ratings are better, at least at home in the United States than in the men's tennis.
Women get the attention when we get into the men's arena, and that's sad.
When we reach the point where the women athletes are getting their pick of dates just as easily as the men athletes, then we've really and truly arrived. Parity at last!
I will tell you King's First Law of Recognition: You never get it when you want it, and then when it comes, you get too much.
When they take surveys of women in business, of the Fortune 500, the successful women, 80% of them, say they were in sports as a young woman.
I would love to be a player today. I had the right personality for it.
In 1973, women got 59 cents on the dollar; now we are getting 74 cents on the dollar. In the area of finance and business, we are at 68 cents on the dollar.
I always liked co-ed events best so we have two men and two women on each team.
When I was outed, it was like, That's done.
Martina's gone with people who don't want to be out, and it drives her crazy because she'd rather be open.
I think it's impossible to judge whether another person should come out. You just hope they will on their own time and their own terms.
It is very hard to be a female leader. While it is assumed that any man, no matter how tough, has a soft side... and female leader is assumed to be one-dimensional.
That is where the power, opportunity, and choice come from-when you have money. Money equals opportunity. There is no question.
I always wanted to help make tennis a team sport.
I would just never out anybody. I think everyone has to find it in their own way and their own time.
Champions keep playing until they get it right.
I was always in the tennis business-from 1968. I was in tournaments and also on World Team Tennis teams as well.
Sports teaches you character, it teaches you to play by the rules, it teaches you to know what it feels like to win and lose-it teaches you about life.
A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.
I used to be told if I talked about my sexuality in any way that we wouldn't have a tennis tour.
In the seventies we had to make it acceptable for people to accept girls and women as athletes. We had to make it okay for them to be active. Those were much scarier times for females in sports.
I like putting money back into what made my life, and tennis has been great to me.
A girl didn't get an athletic scholarship until the fall of 1972 for the very first time.
If your partner wants to be private, you have to respect that.
I like entrepreneurial people; I like people who take risks.
I knew after my first lesson what I wanted to do with my life.
Be bold. If you're going to make an error, make a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball.
It's fun to meet people from throughout the world who you don't have to explain yourself to.
I wanted to use sports for social change.
The main thing is to care. Care very hard, even if it is only a game you are playing.
I love to promote our sport. I love grass-roots tennis. I love coaching. I love all parts of the sport. I love the business side.
I think self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards being a champion.
Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever.
They're not put on earth to be martyrs; they have to want to come out. It depends on your culture, where you work, where you live. Each person's circumstances are unique.
No one changes the world who isn't obsessed.
Martina and I went through a very bad five years. Everything's very good between us now, but it was a long haul.
Any therapist will tell you that when you're ready, you will come out. To be outed means you weren't ready.
In 1973, a woman could not get a credit card without her husband or father or a male signing off on it.
At 62 you want to keep moving; that's important.
The old boy network is still very strong and very true. Just look at the stock exchange and how many men and women are there. It is still very much run by men.
Sports are a microcosm of society.
I didn't really care if I had a coach that much, me personally, because I was brought up to think for myself.
Men still get a lot more opportunity. It is still a big part of the old boy network. They have more companies they can get money from.
It's just really important that we start celebrating our differences. Let's start tolerating first, but then we need to celebrate our differences.
Reputation is what others think about you. What's far more important is character, because that is what you think about yourself.
Pressure is a privilege ... it's what you do with it that matters.
For me, losing a tennis match isn't failure, it's research.
Natural talent only determines the limits of your athletic potential. It's dedication and a willingness to discipline your life that makes you great.
I have often been asked whether I am a women or an athlete. The question is absurd. Men are not asked that. I am an athlete. I am a women.
Don't let anyone define you. You define yourself.
When you oppress people either by gender, by race, by sexual orientation, when you do that and the doors become ajar, they will fly open and they will come and they have.
My whole life has been about equal rights and opportunities. For me it really goes back to the health of mind, body and soul.
Pressure is a privilege - it only comes to those who earn it.
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