At 82, the tennis icon who changed women's pay still competes hard, reflecting on coming out, her gratitude habit and finally earning a college degree.
Billie Jean King is 82 and has lost none of her competitive fire. The former world No 1, whose push for equal prize money changed the game for women, is looking back on a life in tennis with the same drive that powered her on court. She talks about sexuality, tenacity and a milestone she reached this year: finally graduating from college.
Every day, King builds a mental "gratitude list" of the people who have shaped her life. On the day of this conversation, it included her nephew and her wife, Ilana Kloss, herself a decorated former tennis player. One name is always on it: Susan Williams, her fifth-grade classmate in Long Beach, California.
Williams is the reason King ever picked up a racket. At 11, she asked King if she wanted to play tennis, and King had to ask what it even was. Her answer came down to running, jumping and hitting a ball, which King realised were three of her favourite things. She was already a sporty kid, with basketball a big part of her early years.
Her family helped too. For the era, her parents were unusually supportive of her athletic ambitions, backing her as firmly as they backed her brother, who went on to pitch in Major League Baseball. That early belief set up a career defined by speaking up, from the fight over pay to the decision to tell her own truth about who she is.
More than half a century after she began shaking up the sport, King is still pushing, still grateful and still competing.
