What is Billie Jean King's greatest achievement?
Trophies on one side, a union and a lawsuit on the other. The hardest part is deciding whether the tennis or the paperwork mattered more.
1Beating Bobby RiggsThe 1973 Battle of the Sexes, won in straight sets in front of about 50 million American viewers.1000pts
2Congressional Gold MedalAwarded in 2024, an honour Congress has given fewer than 200 times in its history.808pts
3Founding the WTAIn 1973 she and eight other players created the women's tour that still runs the sport.636pts
4Thirty-nine majors in totalTwelve in singles, sixteen in women's doubles and eleven in mixed, across nine seasons of peak form.621pts
5Twenty Wimbledon titlesSix singles, ten doubles and four mixed, a Wimbledon record she shares with Martina Navratilova.538pts
6Presidential Medal of FreedomAwarded in 2009, the first female athlete to receive the country's highest civilian honour.538pts
7The $1 contractsThe 1970 Houston boycott, signed for a dollar each, that began the women's professional circuit.323pts
8Carrying on after 1981Outed by a lawsuit, she lost every endorsement inside a day and kept playing and organising anyway.323pts
9The tennis center's nameThe USTA's home in Flushing Meadows was named after her in 2006, the first major sports venue named for a woman.323pts
10Twelve singles majorsA dozen Grand Slam singles titles between 1966 and 1975, taken from every surface then in use.179pts
11Equal prize money in 1973Her campaign made the US Open the first major to pay its men's and women's champions the same.179pts
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