Quotes By Billie Jean King

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

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.

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

No one changes the world who isn't obsessed.

I think it's impossible to judge whether another person should come out. You just hope they will on their own time and their own terms.

A girl didn't get an athletic scholarship until the fall of 1972 for the very first time.

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.

When they take surveys of women in business, of the Fortune 500, the successful women, 80% of them, say they were in sports as a young woman.

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.

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.

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

I always wanted to help make tennis a team sport.

I always liked co-ed events best so we have two men and two women on each team.

Sports are a microcosm of society.

Martina's gone with people who don't want to be out, and it drives her crazy because she'd rather be open.

I like putting money back into what made my life, and tennis has been great to me.

I think younger players probably just think they are who they are-they don't think about coming out. Unless you're number one in the world, nobody cares, usually.

I didn't really care if I had a coach that much, me personally, because I was brought up to think for myself.

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.

Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever.

Women's sports is still in its infancy. The beginning of women's sports in the United States started in 1972, with the passage of Title 9 for girls to finally get athletic scholarships.

I wanted to use sports for social change.

I was always in the tennis business-from 1968. I was in tournaments and also on World Team Tennis teams as well.

In 1973, women got 59 cents on the dollar; now we are getting 74 cents on the dollar. In the area of finance and business, we are at 68 cents on the dollar.

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

If your partner wants to be private, you have to respect that.

They're not put on earth to be martyrs; they have to want to come out. It depends on your culture, where you work, where you live. Each person's circumstances are unique.

Champions keep playing until they get it right.

I would love to be a player today. I had the right personality for it.

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