Sports are a microcosm of society. — Billie Jean King

I always wanted to help make tennis a team sport. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

I wanted to use sports for social change. — Billie Jean King

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 was always in the tennis business–from 1968. I was in tournaments and also on World Team Tennis teams as well. — Billie Jean King

It’s fun to meet people from throughout the world who you don’t have to explain yourself to. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

No one changes the world who isn’t obsessed. — Billie Jean King

For me, losing a tennis match isn’t failure, it’s research. — Billie Jean King

I used to be told if I talked about my sexuality in any way that we wouldn’t have a tennis tour. — Billie Jean King

Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquility. — Billie Jean King

I have a lot to say, and if I’m not No. 1, I can’t say it. — Billie Jean King

Women get the attention when we get into the men’s arena, and that’s sad. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

In 1973, a woman could not get a credit card without her husband or father or a male signing off on it. — Billie Jean King

I always liked co–ed events best so we have two men and two women on each team. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

The pursuit of equality is a marathon not a sprint, and this lawsuit has generated a meaningful conversation about The treatment of women in sports, one ruling does not diminish its impact. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

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! — Billie Jean King

A girl didn’t get an athletic scholarship until the fall of 1972 for the very first time. — Billie Jean King