Monday, August 28, 2006

Billie Jean King Honored by Having a U.S. Tennis Center Bear Her Name

For those who are not tennis buffs like I am, Billie Jean King is awesome. She has been an advocate for recognition and respect for women's tennis for her entire career, and has also been an activist against sexism and for women's rights off the court. Her greatest claim to fame is whipping Bobby Riggs' ass after he made a number of sexist comments and claimed that he could beat most of the top women even though he was a 55-year-old man.

She now has a tennis center named after her. A ceremony was held tonight, with tennis greats like Venus Williams, John McEnroe, Chris Evert, and Jimmy Connors. It was pretty neat. I'm very glad that she has gotten this recognition, as she has contributed greatly to women's tennis and tennis in general. I hope this will lead to even more recognition for women in the sport, and in sports in general. As we all know, Wimbledon has still yet to pay men and women equally.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Billie Jean King is awesome. But the only reason I know about her is because of I Love the 70's or maybe 80's on VH1. Which is saying something sad about myself and society because she SHOULD be remembered more with memorials like this.