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.
— Billie Jean King
I have a lot to say, and if I'm not No. 1, I can't say it.
The main thing is to care. Care very hard, even if it is only a game you are playing.
I knew after my first lesson what I wanted to do with my life.
No one changes the world who isn't obsessed.
When I was outed, it was like, That's done.
That is where the power, opportunity, and choice come from-when you have money. Money equals opportunity. There is no question.
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.
Martina and I went through a very bad five years. Everything's very good between us now, but it was a long haul.
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 would love to be a player today. I had the right personality for it.
I wanted to use sports for social change.
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.
I like entrepreneurial people; I like people who take risks.
I always liked co-ed events best so we have two men and two women on each team.
A girl didn't get an athletic scholarship until the fall of 1972 for the very first time.
I think self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards being a champion.
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!
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.
Women get the attention when we get into the men's arena, and that's sad.
Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It's just really important that we start celebrating our differences. Let's start tolerating first, but then we need to celebrate our differences.
In 1973, a woman could not get a credit card without her husband or father or a male signing off on it.
I would just never out anybody. I think everyone has to find it in their own way and their own time.
I used to be told if I talked about my sexuality in any way that we wouldn't have a tennis tour.
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 didn't really care if I had a coach that much, me personally, because I was brought up to think for myself.
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.
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.
Champions keep playing until they get it right.
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 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.
A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.
At 62 you want to keep moving; that's important.
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.
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.
Martina's gone with people who don't want to be out, and it drives her crazy because she'd rather be open.
It's fun to meet people from throughout the world who you don't have to explain yourself to.
If your partner wants to be private, you have to respect that.
I was always in the tennis business-from 1968. I was in tournaments and also on World Team Tennis teams as well.
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.
I like putting money back into what made my life, and tennis has been great to me.
I always wanted to help make tennis a team sport.
Any therapist will tell you that when you're ready, you will come out. To be outed means you weren't ready.
Be bold. If you're going to make an error, make a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball.
