91+ Billie Jean King Quotes On Equality, Tennis

Billie Jean King was an American tennis player who won 39 Grand Slam titles during her career, including 12 singles, 16 women's doubles, and 11 mixed doubles titles. She was a prominent advocate for gender equality in sports and became the first female athlete to earn more than $100,000 in prize money. She is also known for her famous "Battle of the Sexes" match against Bobby Riggs in 1973. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Billie Jean King on equality, tennis, equality.

Top 10 Billie Jean King Quotes

1. A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.
2. 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.
3. Pressure is a privilege - it only comes to those who earn it.
4. Champions keep playing until they get it right.
5. I think self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards being a champion.
6. Natural talent only determines the limits of your athletic potential. It's dedication and a willingness to discipline your life that makes you great.
7. Reputation is what others think about you. What's far more important is character, because that is what you think about yourself.
8. 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.
9. My whole life has been about equal rights and opportunities. For me it really goes back to the health of mind, body and soul.
10. Pressure is a privilege ... it's what you do with it that matters.

Billie Jean King Image Quotes

Pressure is a privilege - it only comes to those who earn it. — Billie Jean King

Champions keep playing until they get it right. — Billie Jean King

Pressure is a privilege ... it's what you do with it that matters. — Billie Jean King

Billie Jean King Short Quotes

• Don't let anyone define you. You define yourself.
• No one changes the world who isn't obsessed.
• Don't worry about what people say.
• When people tell you not to believe in your dreams, and they say “Why?”, say “Why not?
• Women get the attention when we get into the men's arena, and that's sad.
• Create your legacy, and pass the baton.
• Winning comes down to who can execute under pressure.
• I knew after my first lesson what I wanted to do with my life.
• I try to perfect my strong points and make my weaknesses adequate.
• I have a lot to say, and if I'm not No. 1, I can't say it.

Billie Jean King Quotes About Tennis

Ladies, here's a hint. If you're up against a girl with big boobs, bring her to the net and make her hit backhand volleys. That's the hardest shot for the well-endowed. — Billie Jean King

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

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. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever. — Billie Jean King

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. — 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

It's very important to take tennis to the people. For young people, they get to see the best in the world. — Billie Jean King

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? — Billie Jean King

Billie Jean King Quotes About Ball

Be bold. If you're going to make an error, make a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball. — Billie Jean King

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

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

Don't be afraid to hit the ball. — Billie Jean King

Tennis taught me so many lessons in life. One of the things it taught me is that every ball that comes to me, I have to make a decision. I have to accept responsibility for the consequences every time I hit a ball. — Billie Jean King

Billie Jean King Famous Quotes And Sayings

Pressure is a privilege - it only comes to those who earn it. — Billie Jean King

Champions keep playing until they get it right. — Billie Jean King

Pressure is a privilege ... it's what you do with it that matters. — Billie Jean King

No matter how tough, no matter what kind of outside pressure, no matter how many bad breaks along the way, I must keep my sights on the final goal, to win, win, win-and with more love and passion than the world has ever witnessed in any performance. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

Winning is very tangible, it's very exciting, it's very pleasing, but it's momentary. If you can do things that last, that each generation can build upon, then that's when you're cooking. — Billie Jean King

I would love to be a player today. I had the right personality for it. — Billie Jean King

The most important words that have helped me in life, when things have gone right or when things have gone wrong are 'accept responsibility.' — 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

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. — Billie Jean King

Ask Nureyev to stop dancing, ask Sinatra to stop singing, then you can ask me to stop playing. — Billie Jean King

I've never cared that much for cementing my place in history. Sports is so transitory, so ephemeral. It just seems like so much nonsense comparing me to Helen Wills Moody or Suzanne Lenglen or anybody else from some other time. One lesson you learn from sports is that life goes on without you. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

People say, "Do you know how much a million dollars is?" I don't have a clue. How many Big Macs will it buy me? — Billie Jean King

It's really impossible for athletes to grow up. On the one hand, you're still a child, still playing a game. But on the other hand, you're a superhuman hero that everyone dreams of being. No wonder we have such a hard time understanding who we are. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

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

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

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. — Billie Jean King

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

In business, everything starts with integrity. Otherwise it falls apart, though it does take time to find out who has integrity. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

Trust and respect is something you earn, not something that is given. — Billie Jean King

Martina and I went through a very bad five years. Everything's very good between us now, but it was a long haul. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

As far as U.S. tennis, we need new stars coming up in the pipeline, but I don't know if we have it. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

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

I think it's really important to have portion control. I don't believe in losing weight quickly. — Billie Jean King

Sports are a microcosm of society. It just shows how much more competition there is in the world. — Billie Jean King

If your partner wants to be private, you have to respect that. — Billie Jean King

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

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. — Billie Jean King

Marriage isn't a 50-50 proposition very often. It's more like 100-0 one moment and 0-100 the next. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

You have got to want to be the best before you can even begin to reach for that goal, and you have got to be prepared to sacrifice a lot to get there. — Billie Jean King

When a child signs up for tennis, he or she is put on a team. I put them in a circle and then I make sure they name their own team. I would have them do their skill drills as a team and their fun drills together as a team, then they have to have a match at the end of every week. They can't just have what they call a lesson today every week. — Billie Jean King

Some people do have softer boundaries. — Billie Jean King

It's your birthday today, so what would you say, if we turned that frown upside down — Billie Jean King

Champions adjust and pressure is a privilege. — Billie Jean King

I always think it's best to pretend you're in a tenuous position. Just as a player, you always want to stay in the now and work hard but also have goals for the future. There's no promises in any entrepreneurial business. You have to really work hard every year and also try to envision where you want to go in the future at the same time. — Billie Jean King

You want people to feel like they belong to something. And not be elitist. You don't want us to be elitist. — 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

Each point I play is in the now moment. The last point means nothing, the next point means nothing. — Billie Jean King

Every generation I think gets better usually [in tennis]. — Billie Jean King

I like to see what future generations are thinking about. — Billie Jean King

It's important to try to get people to think about women's wellness. — Billie Jean King

The main thing is not a matter of wanting to win; the main thing is being scared to lose. — 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

That is where the power, opportunity, and choice come from-when you have money. Money equals opportunity. There is no question. — 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

Being Number One isn't everything to me, but for those few hours on the court it's way ahead of whatever's in second place. — Billie Jean King

I think one of the concerns, anytime you're in the human business, like sports, it's a very high - risk endeavor. You do have to get players every year. You have to deal with calendar. You have to deal with all kinds of things in our sport, like every sport does. — Billie Jean King

Champions take responsibility. — Billie Jean King

Female athletes are stereotyped by the general population--and usually as homosexuals. — Billie Jean King

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. — Billie Jean King

Life Lessons by Billie Jean King

1. Billie Jean King's life is a testament to the power of hard work and determination. She overcame sexism and prejudice to become one of the greatest athletes of all time, and her legacy is a reminder to never give up on your dreams.
2. She also demonstrated the importance of standing up for what you believe in and fighting for equality. Her activism helped to revolutionize the sports world and she was a pioneer in the fight for gender equality.
3. Finally, Billie Jean King's story is a reminder that everyone has the potential to make a difference, no matter how small. She showed that one person can make a huge impact in the world.