Editing Billie Jean King (section)

=====Battle of the Sexes=====
{{Main|Battle of the Sexes (tennis)}}
[[File:Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs 1973.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973]]
In 1973, King defeated [[Bobby Riggs]] in an exhibition match, winning $100,000 ($707,000 in 2024 terms<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1973?amount=1|title=$1 in 1973 → 2024 &#124; Inflation Calculator|website=www.in2013dollars.com}}</ref>).

Riggs had been a top men's player in the 1930s and 1940s in both the amateur and professional ranks. He won the Wimbledon men's singles title in 1939, and was considered the World No. 1 male tennis player for 1941, 1946, and 1947. He then became a self-described tennis "hustler" who played in promotional challenge matches. Claiming that the women's game was so inferior to the men's game that even a 55-year-old like himself could beat the current top female players, he challenged and defeated [[Margaret Court]] 6–2, 6–1. King, who previously had rejected challenges from Riggs, then accepted a lucrative financial offer to play him for $100,000 in a winner-takes-all match.

Dubbed "the Battle of the Sexes", the Riggs–King match took place at the [[Houston Astrodome]] in Texas on September 20, 1973. The match garnered huge publicity. In front of 30,492 spectators and a television audience estimated at 50 million people (U.S.), and 90&nbsp;million in 37 countries, 29-year-old King beat the 55-year-old Riggs 6–4, 6–3, 6–3. The match is considered a significant event in developing greater recognition and respect for women's tennis. as King said to author and photographer [[Lynn Gilbert]] in her book ''Particular Passions: Talks with Women who Have Shaped Our Times'', "I thought it would set us back 50 years if I didn't win that match. It would ruin the women's tour and affect all women's self-esteem,"<ref name="ESPN-BillieJean">{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00016060.html|title=Billie Jean Won for All Women|last=Schwartz|first=Larry|access-date=February 15, 2007}}</ref> and that "to beat a 55-year-old guy was no thrill for me. The thrill was exposing a lot of new people to tennis."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gilbert |first=Lynn |title=Particular Passions: Billie Jean King |url=http://particularpassions.com/Excerpts.htm |series=Women of Wisdom Series |edition=1st |date=December 10, 2012 |publisher=[[Lynn Gilbert Inc.]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0517545942}}</ref>