Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight. I’m Ruby Jones.
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And I’m Joshua Leo. Spotlight uses a special English Method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
When Billy Jean King was a young girl, she loved playing sports. She joined a softball team. She was very good at the game. But Billy’s parents thought that she needed to play a different sport. They did not think softball was a game for girls. They encouraged her to find a more girl–friendly sport. Billy’s father encouraged her to play tennis. Billy looks back at this moment as one that changed her life.
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“I knew after my first time learning the sport, what I wanted to do with my life.”
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Billy saved up her own money to buy a tennis racket. She used it to practice hitting balls as hard as she could. She slept with her racket and dreamed of being the best tennis player in the world. Billy kept improving her skills. Her trainer saw that Billy was very skilled at tennis. Soon Billy was competing in state and national tournament games. In 1959, she played in her first major competition – the United States Grand Slam tournament. She was only fifteen years old! She played well. But she was beaten in her first game of the competition. However, she continued to compete. Two years later Billy played in the Wimbledon championship in London. This tennis event is the most famous of all tennis events. Billy played in a doubles match. She played with another woman in game against two other women. Billy and her teammate won the match and people started to see Billy as a star tennis player.
Voice 1
But when Billy was not playing tennis matches, she still had to work a normal job back in California. She worked at a playground where children played outside. She did not make very much money at this job. At that time tennis tournaments were split between amateurs and professionals. Amateur athletes are people who play sports mainly for fun, not for money. Professional athletes play sports as their job. These professionals were managed by groups. But only amateurs were able to play in popular tournaments. Billy was an amateur.
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But there was a problem. Billy noticed that some of the amateur tennis players were secretly receiving money for playing games. This meant that even though they were being paid, they were still considered amateurs. Billy believed that this was unfair. So Billy called the press together to discuss this issue. Billy wanted the amateur and professional groups to join together.
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Billy did not think that tennis received the respect in America that it deserved. She said that in the United Kingdom, even the queen cheers tennis players. And in Europe, they enjoy widespread public support. But Billy said that in America, people did not care about tennis players. Billy wanted to change this.
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Other people and companies also started to encourage tennis organizations to open the game to both amateurs and professionals. In 1968 the tennis authorities declared the game of tennis open to both amateurs and professionals. All tennis players could now make a living for themselves by earning money for playing. This is called the “Open Era” of tennis.
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Professionals and amateurs began to play together. When an athlete would win a tennis tournament, they got more than the honor of being the winner. They won prize money. But Billy noticed a problem. Male tennis players won more money than female tennis players. Many people saw women’s tennis as humorous. They did not think women’s tennis was a serious sport.
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The association of Tennis Professionals, or ATP, held tournaments through the year. In 1971 the organizers decided to include women in a tournament. The organizers said that the prize for the woman winner would be seventy five hundred dollars [$7,500]. But the men’s prize would be fifty thousand dollars. When Billy heard about this she was very angry. She encouraged other women tennis players to avoid this tournament. Gladys Heldman was the publisher of World Tennis magazine. She agreed with Billy and did something more. She helped to create a separate tournament for women.
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Many tennis groups did not approve of this tournament at first. But two years later, the United States Lawn Tennis association took control the women’s tournament. In 1973, the US Open tournament offered equal prize money to both women and men. This was a big step for female athletes.
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Billy Jean continued playing tennis and she continued winning tournaments. She became one of the best female tennis players in the world. She became the first female athlete to win one hundred thousand dollars in prize money in one year.
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But not all people thought that Billy was so great. Some people still believed that women’s tennis was not as difficult as men’s tennis. One of these people was Bobby Riggs. Bobby Riggs was a tennis star who became famous in the 1940’s. In the 1960’s and 1970’s Bobby made money by betting money on himself. He would ask tennis players to play a game against him. If Bobby won, then he would receive some money.
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In 1973, Bobby challenged a female tennis player. He asked to play a game against Margaret court to a match. At that time she was the best female tennis player in the world. Bobby said that even though he was fifty–five years old, he could still beat the best woman tennis player. And he did just that. Bobby beat Margaret Court. But his challenge against women did not stop there. Next he challenged Billy Jean King. Billy agreed to play Bobby.
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The media named the match “The Battle of the Sexes”. The game was shown on television and Billy was worried. She knew that this was an important match. She remembers:
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“I thought it would return women’s tennis to the state it was in fifty years ago if I did not win It would ruin the women’s tour, and affect all women’s opinion of themselves.”
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The match started. The two players battled against each other. Billy won the first round, then the second, and finally the third. The crowd cheered. It was a historical moment. The game meant a lot for Billy but also all women athletes in the world. Billy Jean King had shown the world that women are equal athletes to men and that they deserved equal money.
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