Editing Billie Jean King (section)

====1971====
Although King won only one Grand Slam singles title in 1971, this was the best year of her career in terms of tournaments won (17). According to the [[International Tennis Hall of Fame]], she played in 31 singles tournaments and compiled a 112–13 win–loss record.<ref name="ITHF biography" />

She started the year by winning eight of the first thirteen tournaments she played, defeating Rosemary Casals in seven finals. King's five losses during this period were to Françoise Dürr (twice), Casals (once), Ann Haydon-Jones (once), and Chris Evert (in [[St. Petersburg, Florida|St. Petersburg]]). At the time, King said that retiring from the match with Evert after splitting the first two sets was necessary because of leg cramps. But in early 1972, King admitted that cramps associated with an abortion caused the retirement.<ref>"Tennis Pro Favors Abortion", ''Tucson (Arizona) Daily-Citizen'', February 23, 1972, page 16.</ref>

At the tournament in early May at [[Hurlingham Club|Hurlingham]], United Kingdom, King lost a second round match to an old rival, Christine Truman Janes (now 30 years old), 6–4, 6–2; but King recovered the next week to win the [[Qatar Telecom German Open|German Open]] in Hamburg on [[Clay court|clay]]. Four weeks later at the [[Queen's Club]] tournament in London, King played Margaret Court for the first time in 1971, losing their final. At [[1971 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]], King defeated Janes in the fourth round (6–2, 7–5) and Durr in the quarterfinals before losing unexpectedly to Evonne Goolagong in the semi-finals 6–4, 6–4. Two weeks after Wimbledon, King won the [[Rothmans North of England Championships]] on grass in [[Hoylake]], United Kingdom, beating Virginia Wade, Court, and Casals in the last three rounds. She then played two clay court tournaments in Europe, winning neither, before resuming play in the United States.

In August, King won the indoor [[Houston]] tournament and the U.S. Women's Clay Court Championships in [[Indianapolis]]. King then switched back to grass and won the [[1971 U.S. Open – Women's singles|US Open]] without losing a set, defeating Evert in the semi-finals (6–3, 6–2) and Casals in the final. King then won the tournaments in [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]], [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]], and London (Wembley Pro). King and Casals both defaulted at 6–6 in the final of the Pepsi Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles in September when their request to remove a lineswoman was denied, eventually resulting in the [[United States Lawn Tennis Association]] fining both players US$2,500.<ref>"Female tennis stars 'even{{' "}}, ''The Idaho Free Press'', January 5, 1972, page 12</ref> To end the year, King played two tournaments in New Zealand but did not win either. She lost in [[Christchurch]] to Durr and in [[Auckland]] to Kerry Melville Reid.
In 1971, King was the first female tennis  player to earn $100,000 a year. Being  one of her greatest accomplishments, this earned her congratulatory phone call from President Richard M. Nixon.<ref name="jstor.org"/>