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I always wanted to help make tennis a team sport.

Billie Jean King

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Billie Jean King
Age: 80
Born: 1943
Born: November 22
Sports Commentator
Tennis Coach
Tennis Player
Long Beach
California
Billie Jean Moffitt
Sports
Help
Helping
Wanted
Make
Always
Tennis
Sport
Team

More quotes by Billie Jean King

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When people tell you not to believe in your dreams, and they say “Why?”, say “Why not?
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Pressure is a privilege - it only comes to those who earn it.
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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.
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Every generation I think gets better usually [in tennis].
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It's very important to take tennis to the people. For young people, they get to see the best in the world.
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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
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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
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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
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I wanted to use sports for social change.
Billie Jean King
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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
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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.
Billie Jean King
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A girl didn't get an athletic scholarship until the fall of 1972 for the very first time.
Billie Jean King
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Women get the attention when we get into the men's arena, and that's sad.
Billie Jean King
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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
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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
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If your partner wants to be private, you have to respect that.
Billie Jean King
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Champions adjust and pressure is a privilege.
Billie Jean King
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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
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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
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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