Editing Billie Jean King (section)

===The later years: 1976–1990===

====1976====
Except for five Federation Cup singles matches that she won in straight sets in August, King played only in doubles and mixed doubles events from January through September. She partnered [[Phil Dent]] to the mixed doubles title at the US Open. She lost to [[Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat]] in both of the singles tournaments she played the remainder of the year. Looking back, King said, "I wasted 1976. After watching Chris Evert and Evonne [Goolagong] Cawley play the final at [[1976 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]] I asked myself what I was doing. So, despite my age and the operations, the Old Lady came back...."<ref>{{cite book |author1=Brace, Reginald |author2=King, Billie Jean |title=Play Better Tennis: With Billie Jean King and Reginald Brace |publisher=Octopus |year=1981 |page=16 |isbn= 0-7064-1223-0 }}</ref> King had knee surgery for the third time on November 9,<ref>"Billie Jean Undergoes Knee Surgery", ''Tyrone (Pennsylvania) Daily Herald'', November 10, 1976, page 12</ref> this time on her right knee,<ref>"King Will Resume Singles Competition", ''The Pocono Record'', Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, January 20, 1977, page 14</ref> and did not play the remainder of the year.

====1977====
King spent the first three months of the year rehabilitating her right knee after surgery in November 1976.<ref>"King to Command McFarlin Spotlight", ''San Antonio Light'', March 21, 1977, page 1-B</ref>

In March 1977, King requested that the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) exercise its right to grant a wild card entry to King for the eight-player Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Margaret Court, who finished in sixth place on the Virginia Slims points list, had left the tour due to her fourth pregnancy and thus failed to qualify for the tournament because she did not play enough Virginia Slims tournaments leading up to the championships. This left a spot open in the draw, which the WTA filled with [[Mima Jaušovec]]. King then decided to play the Lionel Cup tournament in [[San Antonio]], Texas, which the WTA harshly criticized because tournament officials there had allowed [[Renée Richards]], a [[Transgender people in sports|transgender athlete]], to enter.<ref>"Billie Jean King returns to tennis action", ''The Independent Record'', Helena, Montana, March 23, 1977, page 10.</ref> Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and [[Betty Stöve]] (president of the WTA) criticized King's decision because of Richards's unresolved and highly controversial status on the women's tennis tour. Evert said she was disappointed with King and that until Richards's status was resolved, "all of the women should stick together." Navratilova said, "Billie Jean is a bad girl pouting. She made a bad decision. She's mad because she could not get what she wanted." Stöve said that if King had wanted the competition, "[T]here are plenty of men around here she could've played with. She didn't have to choose a 'disputed' tournament."<ref>"Gals Continue to Snap at King", ''San Antonio Light'', March 25, 1977, page 4-E</ref> The draw in San Antonio called for King to play Richards in the semi-finals had form held; however, Richards lost in the quarterfinals. King eventually won the tournament.

At the clay court Family Circle Cup in late March, King played for the last time her long-time rival Nancy Richey Gunter in the first round. King won 0–6, 7–6, 6–2. She defeated another clay court specialist, [[Virginia Ruzici]], in the second round before winning only one game from Evert in the final.

At [[1977 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]] in the third round, King played Maria Bueno for the last time, with King winning 6–2, 7–5. In the quarterfinals, Evert defeated King for the first time at a Grand Slam singles tournament and for the first time on grass 6–1, 6–2 in just 46 minutes. Evert said it was the best match she had ever played on grass up to that point in her career,<ref>"Evert Thrashes Former Queen, King With 6–1, 6–2 Win at Wimbledon", ''Galveston (Texas) News'', June 28, 1977, page B1</ref> and King said, "No excuses. Let's forget knees, ankles, toes, everything else. She just played beautiful tennis. I don't think many players would've beaten her today."<ref>{{cite web | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19770628&id=XJguAAAAIBAJ&pg=1064,2757618 | title=Evert Demolishes Billie Jean | newspaper=The Gazette | location=Montreal, Quebec, Canada | date=June 28, 1977 | access-date=August 26, 2017 | page=18}}</ref> King also said after the match, "Maybe I can be happy being number eight instead of number one. At this stage, just playing, that's winning enough for me."<ref>{{cite book | author=Lannon, Joanne | title=Billie Jean King: Tennis Trailblazer | publisher=Lerner Publications Company | location=Minneapolis | year=1999 | page=[https://archive.org/details/billiejeankingte00lann/page/101 101] | isbn=0-8225-4959-X | url=https://archive.org/details/billiejeankingte00lann/page/101 }}</ref> But when asked about retirement, King said, "Retire? Quit tournament tennis? You gotta be kidding. It just means I've got a lot more work. I've got to make myself match tough ... mentally as well as physically. I gotta go out and kill myself for the next six months. It's a long, arduous process. I will suffer. But I will be back."<ref>"Tennis' Joe Frazier", ''Idaho State Journal'', Pocatello, Idaho, June 28, 1977, page A6</ref> There was a small historic note at Wimbledon 1977 in that it was the first time ever that King competed at the championships that she did not reach a final. From her debut in 1961 until 1976, she had played in the final of one of the three championship events for women every year. Perhaps there was irony in this in that as the Wimbledon champion with the most titles in its history, the event was celebrating its centenary in the year King failed to make a final for the first time. The only other years she competed at the championship and did not feature in a final were 1980 and 1982. In her entire Wimbledon career of 22 competitions, King never failed to be a semi-finalist in at least one event every year.<ref>Barrett, John. Wimbledon: The Official History. Vision Sports Publishing, 2014 (revised edition). {{ISBN|978-1-909534-23-0}}</ref>

Evert repeated her Wimbledon quarterfinal victory over King at the clay court [[1977 U.S. Open – Women's singles|US Open]], winning 6–2, 6–0. This loss prompted King to say, "I better get it together by October or November or that's it. I'll have to make some big decisions. I'm not 20-years-old and I can't just go out and change my game. It's only the last four weeks I haven't been in [knee] pain. [But if] I keep using that as a copout, I shouldn't play."<ref>"Comeback Soon Over for King?", ''News Tribune'', Fort Pierce, Florida, September 8, 1977, page 10</ref>

The remainder of the year, King's win–loss record was 31–3, losing to only Evert, Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat, and [[Michelle Tyler]]. King won five of the eight tournaments she entered plus both of her Wightman Cup matches. She defeated Navratilova all four times they played, including three times in three consecutive weeks, and beat Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade twice. Beginning September 26, King played seven consecutive weeks. She lost to Tyler in the second round in [[Palm Harbor, Florida]], and Fromholtz Balestrat in the semi-finals in [[Atlanta]]. She then won three hard court tournaments in three consecutive weeks. She defeated Navratilova and [[Wendy Turnbull]] to win in Phoenix, losing only four points to Turnbull in the third set of the final.<ref>"King Wins 1st Major Tourney in 2 Years", ''Raleigh Register'', Beckley, West Virginia, October 17, 1977, page 8</ref> The next week, she defeated Navratilova, Fromholtz Balestrat, and Wimbledon runner-up Stöve to win in [[São Paulo, Brazil|São Paulo]]. The third week, she defeated Ruzici, Stöve, and [[Janet Newberry]] Wright to win in San Juan. In November, Evert snapped King's 18-match winning streak in the final of the Colgate Series Championships in [[Mission Hills, Los Angeles|Mission Hills, California]]. King then won her Wightman Cup matches, defeated Navratilova to win the tournament in Japan, and beat Wade to win the Bremar Cup in London. King said, "I have never had a run like this, even in the years when I was Wimbledon champion. At 34, I feel fitter than when I was 24."<ref>"King, Wade London Finalists", ''Star-News'', Pasadena, California, December 11, 1977, page D-7</ref>

====1978====
[[File:Billie Jean King ©Lynn Gilbert 1978.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|King in 1978 photographed by [[Lynn Gilbert]] (1978)]]

King played ten singles tournaments during the first half of 1978, limiting herself to doubles after Wimbledon.

To start the year, King was the runner-up in Houston and [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] (losing to Martina Navratilova in both) and in Philadelphia (losing to Chris Evert). At the Virginia Slims Championships, King lost her first round robin match to Virginia Wade and defaulted her two remaining round robin matches because of a leg injury sustained during the first match.

At [[1978 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]], King played with a painful heel spur in her left foot and lost to Evert in the quarterfinals for the second consecutive year 6–3, 3–6, 6–2. The match was on-serve in the third set with King serving at 2–3 (40–0) before Evert won five consecutive points to break serve. King won a total of only two points during the last two games. King said after the match, "I don't think my mobility is very good and that's what I need to beat her. Physically, she [Evert] tears your guts apart unless you can stay with her. I'm really disappointed. I really wanted to play well. I just couldn't cut it because of my heel."<ref>"Evert Enters Grudge Match With Wade", ''Galveston (Texas) Daily News'', July 5, 1978, page 1-B</ref> King and her partner [[Ray Ruffels]] lost in the final of mixed doubles in straight sets.

King teamed with Navratilova to win the women's doubles title at the US Open, King's fourth women's doubles title at that tournament and fourteenth Grand Slam women's doubles title overall. To end the year, King was undefeated in five doubles matches (four with Evert and one with Rosemary Casals) as the U.S. won the Federation Cup in Melbourne, Australia. She also teamed with [[Tracy Austin]] in the [[1978 Wightman Cup]] against Great Britain, beating [[Anne Hobbs]] & [[Sue Mappin]] in the best of seven rubbers, despite the US losing the Cup 3–4. During the Federation Cup competition, King hinted at retirement from future major singles competitions and said that she was "sick and tired of continued surgery" in trying to get fit enough for those events.<ref>"U.S. wins Federation Cup opener", ''European Stars and Stripes'', November 29, 1978, page 28</ref> Nevertheless, King had foot surgery on December 22 in an attempt to regain mobility for a return to the tennis tour.<ref>"Surgery for King", ''Valley Independent'', Monessen, Pennsylvania, December 22, 1978, page 9</ref>

====1979====
During the first half of 1979, King played only one event – doubles in the Federation Cup tie against Spain – because of major surgery to her left foot during December 1978.

King returned to singles competition at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in [[Chichester Tennis Tournament|Chichester]]. She defeated the reigning Wimbledon champion, Martina Navratilova, in a 48-minute quarterfinal 6–1, 6–2<ref>"Sports Shorts", ''The Capital'', Annapolis, Maryland, June 16, 1979, page 25</ref> before losing to Evonne Goolagong Cawley in the semi-finals 1–6, 6–4, 10–8. Seeded seventh at [[1979 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]], King defeated [[Hana Mandlíková]] in the fourth round before losing the last six games<ref>{{Cite news|last=Radosta| first=John S.|author-link=John S. Radosta | title=Tracy Austin Ousts Mrs. King, 6–4, 6–7, 6–2 | newspaper=The New York Times | date=July 3, 1979}}</ref> of the quarterfinal match with fourth-seeded [[Tracy Austin]] 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–2. King partnered with Navratilova at Wimbledon to win King's 20th and final Wimbledon title, breaking [[Elizabeth Ryan]]'s longstanding record of 19 Wimbledon titles just one day after Ryan collapsed and died at Wimbledon.<ref>"Ryan dies at Wimbledon", ''The News'', Frederick, Maryland, July 7, 1979, page D-2</ref>

At the [[1979 U.S. Open – Women's singles|US Open]], the ninth-seeded King reached the quarterfinals without dropping a set, where she upset the fourth-seeded Virginia Wade 6–3, 7–6(4). Next up was a semi-final match with the four-time defending champion and top-seeded Chris Evert; however, with King hampered by a neck injury sustained during a bear hug with a friend the day before the match, Evert won 6–1, 6–0, including the last eleven games and 48 of the last 63 points.<ref name = "Amdur-19790908">{{Cite news| last=Amdur| first=Neil| title=Injured Mrs. King Is Routed By Mrs. Lloyd in Semi-finals|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 8, 1979}}</ref> This was Evert's eighth consecutive win over King, with Evert during those matches losing only one set and 31 games and winning four 6–0 sets.<ref name = "Amdur-19790908" /> Evert said after the match, "Psychologically, I feel very confident when I ... play her."<ref name = "Amdur-19790908" />

The following week in Tokyo, King won her first singles title in almost two years, defeating Goolagong Cawley in the final. In November in Stockholm, King defeated Betty Stöve in the final after Stöve lost her concentration while serving for the match at 5–4 in the third set.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Brace, Reginald |author2=King, Billie Jean |title=Play Better Tennis: With Billie Jean King and Reginald Brace | publisher=Octopus |year=1981 |page=46 |isbn= 0-7064-1223-0}}</ref> Three weeks later in Brighton, King lost a semi-final match with Navratilova 7–5, 0–6, 7–6(3) after King led 6–5 in the third set.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Navratilova-Lloyd Final|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 25, 1979}}</ref> She ended the year with a quarterfinal loss in Melbourne (not the Australian Open), a second round loss in Sydney, and a three-set semi-final loss to Austin in Tokyo.

====1980–1981====
King won the tournament in Houston that began in February, snapping Martina Navratilova's 28-match winning streak in the straight-sets final.<ref name=advance>Martina and Billie advance", ''Daily Press'', Escanaba, Michigan, March 20, 1980, page 3-B</ref>

At the winter series-ending Avon Championships in March, King defeated Virginia Wade in her first round robin match 6–1, 6–3. After Wade held serve at love to open the match, King won nine consecutive games and lost only nine points during those games.<ref name=advance/> King then lost her second round robin match to Navratilova and defeated Wendy Turnbull in an elimination round match, before losing to Tracy Austin in the semi-finals

King played the 1980 French Open, her first time since she won the event in 1972 and completed a career singles Grand Slam.<ref>{{Cite book |last=King |first=Billie Jean |url=http://archive.org/details/autobiographyofb0000king |title=The autobiography of Billie Jean King |date=1982 |publisher=London; New York : Granada |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-246-11792-2}}</ref>{{Citation needed|date=September 2017}} She was seeded second but lost in the quarterfinals to fifth-seeded [[Dianne Fromholtz]] Balestrat of Australia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/Archive/Draws/1980/903.pdf|title=WTA Tournament Archives|website=WTA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424043911/http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/Archive/Draws/1980/903.pdf|archive-date=April 24, 2016|access-date=September 23, 2017}}</ref>

At [[1980 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]], King defeated [[Pam Shriver]] in a two-hour, forty minute fourth round match after King saved a match point in the second set and recovered from a 4–2 (40–0) deficit in the third set with Shriver serving.<ref>"This Is a Wimbly to Remember for Veteran King", ''Abilene (Texas) Reporter-News'', July 1, 1980, page 1-C</ref> In a quarterfinal that took two days to complete, King lost to two-time defending champion and top-seeded Navratilova 7–6, 1–6, 10–8. The beginning of the match was delayed until late afternoon because of rain. Because she wore glasses, King agreed to start the match then on condition that tournament officials immediately suspend the match if the rain resumed. During the first set, drizzle began to fall; however, the chair umpire refused to suspend the match. King led in the tiebreaker 5–1 before Navratilova came back to win the set, whereupon the umpire then agreed to the suspension. When the match resumed the next day, King won 20 of the first 23 points to take a 5–0 lead in the second set and lost a total of seven points while winning the set in just 17 minutes. In the third set, Navratilova broke serve to take a 2–0 lead before King broke back twice and eventually served for the match at 6–5. King then hit four volley errors, enabling Navratilova to break serve at love and even the match. King saved three match points while serving at 6–7 and three more match points while serving at 7–8. During the change-over between games at 8–9, King's glasses broke for the first time in her career. She had a spare pair, but they did not feel the same. King saved two match points before Navratilova broke serve to win the match. King said, "I think that may be the single match in my career that I could have won if I hadn't had bad eyes."<ref>{{cite book |author1=Deford, Frank |author2=King, Billie Jean |title=Billie Jean |publisher=Viking |location=New York, N.Y. |year=1982 |page=[https://archive.org/details/billiejean00king/page/82 82] |isbn=0-670-47843-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/billiejean00king/page/82 }}</ref><ref>"Navratilova downs veteran King", ''Daily Intelligencer'', Doylestown, Pennsylvania, July 2, 1980, page 21</ref><ref>"Martina Edges King; Borg, Connors Win", ''Syracuse (New York) Herald-Journal'', July 2, 1980, page C-1</ref>

King teamed with Navratilova to win King's 39th and final Grand Slam title at the US Open. Navratilova then decided she wanted a new doubles partner and started playing with Shriver but refused to discuss the change directly with King. She finally confronted Navratilova during the spring of 1981, reportedly saying to her, "Tell me I'm too old ... but tell me something." Navratilova refused to talk about it.<ref>{{cite book |author=Lannin, Joanne |title=Billie Jean King: Tennis Trailblazer |publisher=Lerner Publications Co |location=Minneapolis |year=1999 |page=[https://archive.org/details/billiejeankingte00lann/page/103 103] |isbn=0-8225-4959-X |url=https://archive.org/details/billiejeankingte00lann/page/103 }}</ref>

King had minor knee surgery on November 14 in San Francisco to remove adhesions and cartilage.<ref>"Surgery for King", ''Valley Independent'', Monessen, Pennsylvania, November 15, 1980, page 6</ref>

====1982–1983====
In 1982, King began a comeback, winning the Wimbledon warm-up tournament the [[1982 Edgbaston Cup]] in Birmingham, her first singles title in more than two years. King was 38 years old and the twelfth-seed at [[1982 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]]. In her third round match with [[Tanya Harford]] of South Africa, King was down 7–5, 5–4 (40–0) before Harford's apparent winner was deemed 'not up' by the umpire, something the South African protested vehemently. King then saved the next two match points<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925571-2,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209080405/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925571-2,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 9, 2008 |title=Wimbledon Under the Weather |magazine=Time |date=July 12, 1982 |access-date=July 4, 2011}}</ref> to win the second set 7–6(2) and then the third set 6–3. King said in her post-match press conference, "I can't recall the previous time I have been so close to defeat and won. When I was down 4–5 and love–40, I told myself, 'You have been here 21 years, so use that experience and hang on.{{' "}}<ref>Associated Press, June 27, 1982</ref> In the fourth round, King upset sixth-seeded Australian Wendy Turnbull in straight sets. King then upset third-seeded Tracy Austin in the quarterfinals 3–6, 6–4, 6–2 to become the oldest female semi-finalist at Wimbledon since [[Dorothea Lambert Chambers|Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers]] in 1920. This was King's first career victory over Austin after five defeats and reversed the result of their 1979 Wimbledon quarterfinal. King said in her post-match press conference, "Today, I looked at the scoreboard when I was 2–0 in the third set and the '2' seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. In 1979, when I was up 2–0 at the same stage, I was tired and didn't have anything left. But today I felt so much better and was great mentally."<ref>Associated Press, July 1, 1982</ref> Two days later in the semi-finals, which was King's 250th career match at Wimbledon in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles,<ref>Knight-Ridder Wire, July 3, 1982</ref> the second-seeded Chris Evert defeated King on her fifth match point 7–6(4), 2–6, 6–3. King was down a set and 2–1 in the second set before winning five consecutive games to even the match.<ref>Associated Press, July 3, 1982</ref> King explained that she actually lost the match in the first set by failing to convert break points at 15–40 in the second and fourth games.<ref>''Dallas Morning News'', "Lloyd spoils King's hopes", July 3, 1982, pages 1B, 9B</ref><ref>''Dallas Times Herald'', "Evert stops King rally in Wimbledon replay", July 3, 1982, page B-7</ref> Having started the year in retirement, King finished 1982 ranked 14 in the world.

In 1983, she reached the semi-finals in her final appearance at [[1983 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]], losing to [[Andrea Jaeger]] 6–1, 6–1 after beating [[Kathy Jordan]] in the quarterfinals, seventh-seeded Wendy Turnbull in the fourth round, and Rosemary Casals, her longtime doubles partner, in the third round. Jaeger claims that she was highly motivated to defeat King because King had defeated Turnbull, a favorite of Jaeger's, and because King refused a towel from an attendant just before her match with Jaeger, explaining, "I'm not going to sweat in this match."

King became the oldest WTA player to win a singles tournament when she won the [[1983 Edgbaston Cup|Edgbaston Cup]] grass court tournament in Birmingham at 39 years, 7 months and 23 days after a straight-sets victory in the final against [[Alycia Moulton]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Billie Jean King retained the $90,000 Edgbaston Women's Tennis...|url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/12/Billie-Jean-King-retained-the-90000-Edgbaston-Womens-Tennis/5479424238400/|work=UPI|date=June 12, 1983}}</ref> Her tally of 20 Wimbledon titles remained when partnered with [[Steve Denton]] and the no.1 seeds in the [[1983 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed doubles|mixed doubles]], they lost 6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–5), 7–5 to [[John Lloyd (tennis)|John Lloyd]] & [[Wendy Turnbull]] in the final, King being the only player to drop her service in the final game. At her final appearance at the [[1983 US Open (tennis)|US Open]] later in 1983, King didn't play singles, but partnered [[Sharon Walsh]] in the [[1983 US Open – Women's doubles|women's doubles]], reaching the semi-finals and [[Trey Waltke]] in the [[1983 US Open – Mixed doubles|mixed doubles]], losing in the second round. The final official singles match of King's career was a second round loss to [[Catherine Tanvier]] at the [[1983 Australian Open – Women's singles|1983 Australian Open]].

====1984 to present====
King played doubles sporadically from 1984 through 1990. She and [[Vijay Amritraj]] were seeded sixth for the [[1984 Wimbledon Championships – Mixed doubles|Wimbledon mixed doubles 1984]], but they withdrew before the tournament began. She retired from competitive play in doubles in March 1990. In her last competitive doubles match, King and her partner, [[Jennifer Capriati]], lost a second round match to [[Brenda Schultz-McCarthy]] and [[Andrea Temesvári]] 6–3, 6–2 at the Virginia Slims of Florida tournament.

King became the captain of the United States Fed Cup team and coach of its women's Olympic tennis squad. She guided the U.S. to the Fed Cup championship in 1996 and helped [[Lindsay Davenport]], [[Gigi Fernández]], and [[Mary Joe Fernández]] capture Olympic gold medals.

In 2002, King dismissed Capriati from the Fed Cup team, saying Capriati had violated rules that forbade bringing along and practicing with personal coaches.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-apr-27-sp-capriati27-story.html|title=King Dismisses Capriati From Fed Cup|last=Dillman|first=Lisa|date=April 27, 2002|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=October 15, 2017|issn=0458-3035}}</ref> Opinion was sharply divided, with many supporting King's decision but many feeling the punishment was too harsh, especially in hindsight when [[Monica Seles]] and [[Lisa Raymond]] were defeated by lower-ranked Austrians [[Barbara Schett]] and [[Barbara Schwartz (tennis)|Barbara Schwartz]]. The following year, [[Zina Garrison]] succeeded King as Fed Cup captain.