Billie Jean King Quotes

A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.

Champions keep playing until they get it right.

Champions take responsibility. When the ball is coming over the net, you can be sure I want the ball.

Champions keep playing until they get it right.

Be bold. If you are going to make an error, make a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball.

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.

That is where the power, opportunity, and choice come from-when you have money.

Money equals opportunity. There is no question.

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!

It's very important to take tennis to the people.

For young people, they get to see the best in the world.

It's important to try to get people to think about women's wellness.

The trouble with being number one in the world - in anything- is that it takes a certain mentality to attain that position, and that is something of a driving, perfectionist attitude, so that once you do achieve number one, you don't relax and enjoy it.

I knew after my first lesson what I wanted to do with my life.

You want people to feel like they belong to something.

And not be elitist. You don't want us to be elitist.

I think self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards being a champion.

You've got to win in sports - that's talent - but you've also got to learn how to remind everybody how you did win, and how often. That comes with experience.

I hate being called a homosexual because I don't feel that way.

It really upsets me ... Being gay can happen in any walk of life, in any world. If you have one gay experience, does that mean you're gay? If you have one heterosexual experience, does that mean you're straight? Life doesn't work quite so cut and dried.

Bobby Riggs was one of my heroes. I admired him. That's one of the reasons I beat him - because I respected him.

For me, losing a tennis match isn't failure, it's research.

When people tell you not to believe in your dreams, and they say “Why?”, say “Why not?

Don't worry about what people say.

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.

No one changes the world who isn't obsessed.

I always listen, I ask children, I even ask adults in tennis, "What are your children playing?" And most of the time it's not tennis. It's pathetic.

When I was playing, we didn't have to compete against everybody in the world.

Now it's a truly global sport, so the competition's much greater, just like it is for our children in every other area, whether it be in science or technology or whatever you talk about.

I think if you're put on a team as a child, like you are in soccer and other sports, I think the children are going to stay in the sport and have more fun if they're on a team. They want to play with their friends and have fun.

It's about learning your craft. That's a wonderful thing--especially with today's consumerism and instant gratification. You can'tbuy that. It's about making decisions, corrections, choices. I don't think it's so much about becoming a tennis player. It's about becoming a person.

I feel that tennis is an art form that is capable of moving the players and the audience - at least a knowledgeable audience-in almost sensual ways. When I'm performing at my absolute best, I think that some of the euphoria I feel must be transmitted to the audience.

Trust and respect is something you earn, not something that is given.

Don't go into debt and don't spend a lot. It's not how much money you make, it's how much you spend.

I got to see the best players in the world every year the week after the U.

S. Nationals, which is now known as the US Open, in Los Angeles. That made a huge difference in my life.

Tennis is a game of angles. You never have time to figure the angles. It's practiced. It's so practiced that it becomes an instinct. You just know where to put the ball. You just feel it. It has been computed into your brain so many times ­ it is there.

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.

In business, everything starts with integrity.

Otherwise it falls apart, though it does take time to find out who has integrity.

Pressure is a privilege ... it's what you do with it that matters.

Our love one's are never gone, they have just popped into another room.

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.

In the complete overall history of tennis, I figure I'll be worth a sentence or two.... That's why my place in the all-time rankings means so very little to me, because I know I won't be anybody's number one, and it's that same old thing: if you're not number one, then what does it really matter?

Women get the attention when we get into the men's arena, and that's sad.

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.

Create your legacy, and pass the baton.

Champions take responsibility.

I always respect right off the bat because we are human, but then over time you learn who the person truly is, just like they learn about you. Hope it works out really well, and you hope that builds a stronger connection over time. You can't be friends with everybody.

I grew up in team sports. I think I understand the psyche of America. I think when children sign up to play, it's got to be team.

Love, light & blessings be On this day I wish to say 'Health & Happiness to come your way' Happy Birthday

We have, or have had women presidents or prime ministers in Liberia, Chile, Germany, Great Britain...and yet the US of A still hasn't had a women president. It's just beyond my thinking. Look at Congress.

I would just never out anybody. I think everyone has to find it in their own way and their own time.

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.

Ask Nureyev to stop dancing, ask Sinatra to stop singing, then you can ask me to stop playing.

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.