Editing Billie Jean King (section)

===Prime competitive years: 1966–1975===

====Overview====

Six of King's Grand Slam singles titles were at Wimbledon, four were at the U.S. Championships/Open, one was at the French Open, and one was at the Australian Championships. King reached the final of a Grand Slam singles tournament in 16 out of 25 attempts and had a 12–4 win–loss record in those finals. In the nine tournaments that she failed to reach the final, she was a losing semi-finalist twice and a losing quarter finalist five times. From 1971 through 1975, she won seven of the ten Grand Slam singles tournaments she played. She won the last seven Grand Slam singles finals she contested, six of them in straight sets and four of them against [[Evonne Goolagong Cawley|Evonne Goolagong]]. All but one of her Grand Slam singles titles were on [[grass court|grass]].

King's Grand Slam record from 1966 through 1975 was comparable to that of Margaret Court, her primary rival during these years. One or both of these women played 35 of the 40 Grand Slam singles tournaments held during this period, and together they won 24 of them. During this period, Court won 31 of her career 64 Grand Slam titles, including 12 of her 24 Grand Slam singles titles, 11 of her 19 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and eight of her 21 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Court reached the final of a Grand Slam singles tournament in 14 out of 25 attempts and had a 12–2 win–loss record in those finals. Court won seven of the 12 Grand Slam finals she played against King during these years, including 2–1 in singles finals, 4–1 in women's doubles finals, and 1–3 in mixed doubles finals.

King was the year-ending World No. 1 in six of the ten years from 1966 through 1975. She was the year-ending World No. 2 in three of those years and the World No. 3 in the other year.

King won 97 of her career 129 singles titles during this period and was the runner-up in 36 other tournaments.

====1966====
[[File:USA_Fed_Cup_1966_Turin.jpg|right|thumb|upright=.7|From left to right: the United States national team tenniswomen Carole Caldwell Graebner, Julie Heldman and Billie Jean King in Turin, Italy, holding the Federations Cup 1966 won against West Germany women's national tennis team]]
In 1966, King defeated Dorothy "Dodo" Cheney (then 49 years old) for the first time in five career matches, winning their semi-final at the Southern California Championships 6–0, 6–3. King also ended her nine-match losing streak to Margaret Court by defeating her in the final of the South African Tennis Championships. She also won the women's singles in the [[Ojai Tennis Tournament]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theojai.net/tournament-info/|title=Tournament Facts}}</ref> At the Wightman Cup just before [[1966 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]], King defeated Virginia Wade and Ann Haydon-Jones. After thirteen unsuccessful attempts to win a Grand Slam singles title from 1959 through 1965, King at the age of 22 finally won the first of her six singles titles at Wimbledon and the first of twelve Grand Slam singles titles overall, defeating Court in the semi-finals 6–3, 6–3 and [[Maria Bueno]] in the final. King credited her semi-final victory to her forehand down the line, a new shot in her repertoire.<ref name = "Starr-BillieJean" /> She also said that the strategy for playing Court is, "Simple. Just chip the ball back at her feet."<ref>{{cite news |author=Lovesey, John |url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1966/07/11/manolo-is-king-and-a-king-is-queen/ |title=Manolo is king, and a King is queen |publisher=[[Sports Illustrated]] |date=July 11, 1966 |access-date=July 4, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209092229/http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1078753/index.htm |archive-date=December 9, 2008 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> At the U.S. Championships, an ill King was upset by [[Kerry Melville]] in the second round.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.elementfx.com/1966-tennis.html |title=News Archive; 1966: Tennis |publisher=News.elementfx.com |access-date=July 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303220250/http://news.elementfx.com/1966-tennis.html |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

====1967====
King successfully defended her title at the South African Tennis Championships in 1967, defeating Maria Bueno in the final. She played the French Championships for the first time in her career,<ref>King claims that the United States Lawn Tennis Association prohibited her from playing the French Championships earlier in her career because the association needed her to play grass court tournaments in the United States to draw crowds. {{cite book |author1=Starr, Cynthia |author2=King, Billie Jean |title=We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |year=1988 |page=[https://archive.org/details/wehavecomelongwa00king/page/114 114] |isbn=0-07-034625-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/wehavecomelongwa00king/page/114 }}</ref> falling in the quarterfinals to [[Annette Van Zyl]] of South Africa. At the Federation Cup one week later in West Germany on [[clay court|clay]], King won all four of her matches, including victories over DuPlooy, Ann Haydon-Jones, and [[Helga Niessen]]. King then successfully switched surfaces and won her second consecutive [[1967 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]] singles title, defeating Virginia Wade in the quarterfinals 7–5, 6–2 and Jones. At the Wightman Cup, King again defeated Wade and Jones. King won her second Grand Slam singles title of the year when she won the U.S. Championships for the first time and without losing a set, defeating Wade, Van Zyl, [[Françoise Dürr]], and Jones in consecutive matches. Jones pulled her left hamstring muscle early in the final and saved four match points in the second set before King prevailed.<ref>"Aussie, Billie Jean Capture U.S. Titles", ''Oakland Tribune'', September 11, 1967, page 40-E</ref> King won the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles titles at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships, the first woman to do that since [[Alice Marble]] in 1939.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.elementfx.com/1967-tennis.html |title=News Archive; 1967: Tennis |publisher=News.elementfx.com |access-date=July 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233137/http://news.elementfx.com/1967-tennis.html |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> King then returned to the Australian summer tour in December for the first time since 1965, playing seven events there and [[Judy Tegart]] in six of those events (winning four of their matches). King lost in the quarterfinals of the [[Medibank International|New South Wales Championships]] in Sydney to Tegart after King injured her left knee in the second game of the third set of that match.<ref>Injury May Force King Out Of Tennis Tourney", ''Florence Morning News'', November 25, 1967, page 6</ref> However, King won the Victorian Championships in Melbourne the following week, defeating Dalton, Reid, and [[Lesley Turner Bowrey|Lesley Turner]] in the last three rounds. At a team event in [[Adelaide]], King won all three of her singles and doubles matches to help the U.S. defeat Australia 5–1. To finish the year, King lost to Tegart in the final of the South Australian Championships in Adelaide.

====1968====
In early 1968, King won three consecutive tournaments to end her Australian tour. In [[Perth]], King won the Western Australia Championships, defeating Margaret Court in the final. In [[Hobart, Tasmania|Hobart]], King won the [[Tasmania]]n Championships by defeating [[Judy Tegart-Dalton]] in the final. King then won the Australian Championships for the first time, defeating Dalton in the semi-finals and Court in the final. King continued to win tournaments upon her return to the United States, winning three indoor tournaments before Nancy Richey Gunter defeated King in the semi-finals of the [[Madison Square Garden]] Challenge Trophy amateur tournament in New York City before 10,233 spectators.<ref>{{cite news|last=Anderson |first=Dave |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F15F8345D147493C2AA1788D85F4C8685F9 |title=Miss Richey Upsets Mrs. King, 4–6, 7–5, 6–0, to Gain Garden Tennis Final |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 30, 1968 |access-date=July 4, 2011}}</ref> The match started with Gunter taking a 4–2 lead in the first set, before King won 9 of the next 10 games. King served for the match at 5–1 and had a match point at 5–3 in the second set; however, she lost the final 12 games and the match 4–6, 7–5, 6–0.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.elementfx.com/1968-tennis.html |title=News Archive; 1968: Tennis |publisher=News.elementfx.com |access-date=July 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304115624/http://news.elementfx.com/1968-tennis.html |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> King then won three consecutive tournaments in Europe before losing to Ann Haydon-Jones in the final of a professional tournament at Madison Square Garden. Playing the French Open for only the second time in her career and attempting to win four consecutive Grand Slam singles titles (a "non-calendar year Grand Slam"), King defeated Maria Bueno in a quarterfinal before losing to Gunter in a semi-final 2–6, 6–3, 6–4. King rebounded to win her third consecutive [[1968 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]] singles title, defeating Jones in the semi-finals and Dalton in the final. At the [[1968 U.S. Open – Women's singles|US Open]], King defeated Bueno in a semi-final before being upset in the final by Virginia Wade. On September 24, she had surgery to repair cartilage in her left knee<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/09/24/archives/mrs-king-undergoes-successful-surgery.html |title=Mrs. King Undergoes Successful Surgery |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 3, 2011 |access-date=July 4, 2011}}</ref> and did not play in tournaments the remainder of the year. King said that it took eight months (May 1969) for her knee to recover completely from the surgery.<ref>{{cite news|title=Surgery for Billie Jean|work=Independent Press-Telegram|location=Long Beach, California |date=July 11, 1970 |page=C-1}}</ref> In 1977, King said that her doctors predicted in 1968 that her left knee would allow her to play competitive tennis for only two more years.<ref>{{cite news|title=King Will Resume Singles Competition|work=The Pocono Record| location=Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania |date=January 20, 1977 |page=14}}</ref>

====1969====
King participated in the 1969 Australian summer tour for the second consecutive year. Unlike the previous year, King did not win a tournament. She lost in the quarterfinals of the Tasmanian Championships and the semi-finals of the New South Wales Championships. At the Australian Open, King defeated 17-year-old Evonne Goolagong in the second round 6–3, 6–1 and Ann Haydon-Jones in a three-set semi-final before losing to Margaret Court in a straight-sets final. The following week, King lost in the semi-finals of the New Zealand Championships. Upon her return to the United States, King won the Pacific Coast Pro and the Los Angeles Pro. King then won two tournaments in South Africa, including the South African Open. During the European summer clay court season, King lost in the quarterfinals of both the [[Rome Masters|Italian Open]] and the French Open. On grass at the Wills Open in [[Bristol]], United Kingdom, King defeated Virginia Wade in the semi-finals (6–8, 11–9, 6–2) before losing to Court. At [[1969 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]], King lost only 13 points while defeating [[Rosemary Casals]] in the semi-finals 6–1, 6–0;<ref>"Mrs. King Crushes Foe", ''Abilene (Texas) Reporter-News'', July 3, 1969, page 12-A</ref> however, Jones upset King in the final and prevented King from winning her fourth consecutive singles title there. The week after, King again defeated Wade to win the Irish Open for the second time in her career. In the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, King lost in the quarterfinals of the [[1969 U.S. Open – Women's singles|US Open]] to Nancy Richey Gunter 6–4, 8–6. This was the first year since 1965 that King did not win at least one Grand Slam singles title. King finished the year with titles at the Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles, the [[Stockholm]] Indoors, and the [[Midland, Texas|Midland (Texas)]] Pro. She said during the Pacific Southwest Open, "It has been a bad year for me. My left knee has been OK, but I have been bothered by a severe tennis elbow for seven months. I expect to have a real big year in 1970, though, because I really have the motivation now. I feel like a kid again."<ref>Billie Jean, Pancho Gain Pacific Southwest Finals", ''Independent Press-Telegram'', Long Beach, California, September 28, 1969, page S-6</ref>

====1970====
[[File:Billie_Moffitt-King_en_1970.jpg|right|thumb|upright=.7|Billie Jean King in 1970]]
In 1970, Margaret Court won all four Grand Slam singles tournaments and was clearly the World No. 1. King lost to Court three times in the first four months of the year, in Philadelphia, Dallas, and [[Johannesburg]] (at the South African Open). Court, however, was not totally dominant during this period as King defeated her in Sydney and [[Durban]], South Africa. Where Court dominated was at the Grand Slam tournaments. King did not play the Australian Open. King had leg cramps and lost to Helga Niessen Masthoff of West Germany in the quarterfinals of the French Open 2–6, 8–6, 6–1.<ref>{{cite news |author=Katz, Michael |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/06/04/archives/mrs-king-hobbled-by-leg-cramps-loses-to-miss-niessen-in-french.html |title=Mrs. King, Hobbled by Leg Cramps, Loses to Miss Niessen in French Tennis |newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 4, 1970 |access-date=July 4, 2011}}</ref> At [[1970 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]], Court needed seven match points<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wimbledon2000/fans_guide/769768.stm |title=Classic women's singles finals |publisher=BBC News |date=June 11, 2000 |access-date=July 4, 2011}}</ref> to defeat King in the final 14–12, 11–9 in one of the greatest women's finals in the history of the tournament.<ref>[http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/about/history/margaret_court.html Margaret Court/Smith (Wimbledon official website)] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515135547/http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/about/history/margaret_court.html |date=May 15, 2009 }}</ref> On July 22,<ref>"Billie Jean Has Knee Surgery", ''Wisconsin State Journal'', July 23, 1970, section 2, page 3</ref> King had right knee surgery, which forced her to miss the [[1970 U.S. Open – Women's singles|US Open]]. King returned to the tour in September, where she had a first round loss at the [[Virginia Slims]] Invitational in Houston and a semi-final loss at the [[Pacific Coast Championships]] in [[Berkeley, California]]. To close out the year, King in November won the [[Virginia Slims of Richmond|Virginia Slims Invitational]] in [[Richmond, Virginia]] and the Embassy Indoor Tennis Championships in London. During the European clay court season, King warmed-up for the French Open by playing in [[Monte Carlo]] (losing in the semi-finals), winning the [[1970 Italian Open (tennis)|Italian Open]] (saving three match points against Virginia Wade in the semi-finals),<ref>"Billie Jean King, Julia Heldman score victories", ''Winona (Minnesota) Daily News'', April 26, 1970, page 7b</ref> playing in [[Bournemouth]] (losing to Wade in the quarterfinals), and playing in [[Berlin, Germany|Berlin]] (losing to Masthoff in the semi-finals). The Italian Open victory was the first important clay court title of King's career. Along the way, she defeated Masthoff in a three-set quarterfinal and Wade in a three-set semi-final, saving two match points at 4–5 in the second set. The twelfth game of that set (with King leading 6–5) had 21 deuces and lasted 22 minutes,<ref>{{cite book |author=Tingay, Lance |title=The Guinness Book of Tennis Facts & Feats |publisher=Guinness Superlatives |location=Enfield, Middlesex |year=1983 |page=26 |isbn=0-85112-268-X }}</ref> with Wade saving seven set points and holding sixteen game points before King won. In Wightman Cup competition two weeks before Wimbledon but played at the [[All England Club]], King defeated both Wade and Ann Haydon-Jones in straight sets.
Many things bothered King concerning her advocacy for women's rights in sports. Among these concerns, she sought better pay for female tennis players, given the substantial differences in budgets between male and female players. In September 1970, there was the Pacific Southwest Open which was a tennis tournament. The prize money for men and women varied significantly, with the top prize for men being $12,500 and for women, a mere $1,500. Women's expenses were not covered unless they made the quarterfinals. This had bothered King and was the final straw for her. King and other 8 women did not play because of the budgets which they were willing to take the risk of expulsion from the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association. King and the other women organized the women-only Houston Virginia Slims invitational and this helped launch the series of women-only tournaments.<ref name="jstor.org">Pappano, Laura. “Women Win On and Off Court.” The Women’s Review of Books, vol. 28, no. 3, 2011, pp. 7–9. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41331726. Accessed 1 Oct. 2023.</ref>

====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"/>

====1972====
King won three Grand Slam singles titles in 1972, electing not to play the Australian Open despite being nearby when she played in New Zealand in late 1971. King said, "I was twenty-eight years old, and I was at the height of my powers. I'm quite sure I could have won the Grand Slam [in] ... 1972, but the Australian was such a minor-league tournament at that time.... More important, I did not want to miss any Virginia Slims winter tournaments. I was playing enough as it was."<ref>{{cite book |author1=Deford, Frank |author2=King, Billie Jean |title=Billie Jean |publisher=Viking |location=New York City |year=1982 |page=[https://archive.org/details/billiejean00king/page/20 20] |isbn=0-670-47843-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/billiejean00king/page/20 }}</ref> Her dominance was aided by rival [[Margaret Court]]'s absence from the tour due to childbirth during most of the 1972 season.

At the beginning of the year, King failed to win eight of the first ten tournaments she played. She won the title in San Francisco in mid-January. But then King lost in Long Beach to Françoise Dürr (although King claimed in her 1982 autobiography that she intentionally lost the match because of an argument with her husband<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/93 93] |isbn=0-670-47843-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/billiejean00king/page/93 }}</ref>) and in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]] on [[clay court|clay]] to Chris Evert 6–1, 6–0. The inconsistent results continued through mid-April, in [[Oklahoma City]] (losing in the quarterfinals); Washington, D.C. (losing in the second round); and Dallas (losing to Nancy Richey Gunter after defeating Evert in the quarterfinals 6–7(4–5), 6–3, 7–5 and Evonne Goolagong in the semi-finals 1–6, 6–4, 6–1).<ref>For a description of the Dallas tournament in 1972, see [http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1085895/2/index.htm the ''Sports Illustrated'' article "Shoot-Out at the T Bar M"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209092234/http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1085895/2/index.htm |date=December 9, 2008 }}</ref> King won the title in Richmond; however, one week later, King lost in the semi-finals of the tournament in San Juan. This was followed in successive weeks by a loss in the [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]] final to [[Marie Pinterová|Marie Neumannová Pinterová]] and in a St. Petersburg semi-final to Evert (6–2, 6–3).

King did not lose again until mid-August, winning six consecutive tournaments. She won the tournaments in [[Tucson, Arizona|Tucson]] and Indianapolis. King then won the French Open without losing a set and completed a career Grand Slam. She defeated Virginia Wade in the quarterfinals, Helga Niessen Masthoff in the semi-finals, and Goolagong in the final.<ref>After winning the French Open in 1972, King stayed away from the tournament for seven consecutive years and, in fact, played the tournament only twice more during her career, in 1980 and 1982.</ref> On grass, King then won the Wimbledon warm-up tournaments in [[Nottingham]] and Bristol and won [[1972 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]] itself for the fourth time. She lost only one set during the tournament, to Wade in the quarterfinals. That was followed by straight set wins over Rosemary Casals and Goolagong. When the tour returned to the United States, King did not win any of the three tournaments she played before the [[1972 U.S. Open – Women's singles|US Open]], including a straight sets loss to Margaret Court in [[Newport, Rhode Island|Newport]]. At the US Open, however, King won the tournament without losing a set, including a quarterfinal win over Wade, a semi-final defeat of Court, and a final win over Kerry Melville Reid. King finished the year by winning the tournaments in Charlotte and Phoenix (defeating Court in the final of both), a runner-up finish in [[Oakland]] (losing to Court), and a semifinal finish at the year-end championships in [[Boca Raton, Florida|Boca Raton]] (losing to Evert).

====1973====
[[File:Fig4-Billie-Jean-Kings-dress-by-Ted-Tinling-1973.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|The dress worn by King in 1973 during the Battle of the Sexes match. The [[National Museum of American History]]]]
1973 was Margaret Court's turn to win three Grand Slam singles titles, failing to win only Wimbledon, and was the clear world No. 1 for the year; this was her first full season since winning the Grand Slam in 1970, as she had missed significant portions of 1971 and 1972 due to childbirth. As during the previous year, King started 1973 inconsistently. She missed the first three Virginia Slims tournaments in January because of a wrist injury.<ref>"King bows in, on courts", ''Daily Review'', [[Hayward, California]], February 8, 1973, page 30</ref> She then lost in the third round at the Virginia Slims of Miami tournament but won the Virginia Slims of Indianapolis tournament, defeating Court in the semi-finals 6–7, 7–6, 6–3 and Rosemary Casals in the final. The semi-final victory ended Court's 12-tournament and 59-match winning streaks,<ref>{{" '}}Sweetie' upset for Billie Jean", ''Oakland Tribune'', February 26, 1973, page E27</ref> with King saving at least three match points when down 5–4 (40–0) in the second set. Indianapolis was followed by five tournaments that King failed to win (Detroit, [[1973 Virginia Slims of Boston|Boston]], Chicago, [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]], and the inaugural [[Family Circle Cup]] in [[Hilton Head, South Carolina]]). King lost to Court in two of those tournaments. After deciding not to defend her French Open singles title, King won four consecutive tournaments, including her fifth [[1973 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]] singles title when she defeated Kerry Melville Reid in the quarterfinals, Evonne Goolagong in the semi-finals on her eighth match point,<ref>"Evert Shatters Court, Sets Up American Finals", ''Abilene (Texas) Reporter-News'', July 5, 1973, page 2-C</ref> and Chris Evert in the final. King lost only nine points in the 6–0 bageling of Evert in the first set of their final.<ref>{{cite news |author=Jares, Joe |url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1973/07/16/a-bloomin-winner/ |title=A Bloomin' Winner |publisher=[[Sports Illustrated]] |date=July 16, 1973 |access-date=July 4, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090625151702/http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1087561/index.htm |archive-date=June 25, 2009 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

King also completed the [[Triple Crown (tennis)|Triple Crown]] at Wimbledon (winning the singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles titles in the same year), thus becoming the first, and only, player to do so at Wimbledon in the Open Era. In none of the preceding tournaments, however, did King play Court. Their rivalry resumed in the final of the Virginia Slims of [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]] tournament, where Court won for the third time in four matches against King in 1973. (This was the last ever singles match between those players, with Court winning 21 and King 13 of their 34 matches.) Three weeks later at the [[1973 U.S. Open – Women's singles|US Open]], King retired from her fourth-round match with Julie Heldman while ill<ref>{{cite book |author1=Starr, Cynthia |author2=King, Billie Jean |title=We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |year=1988 |page=[https://archive.org/details/wehavecomelongwa00king/page/144 144] |isbn=0-07-034625-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/wehavecomelongwa00king/page/144 }}</ref> and suffering from the oppressive heat and humidity. When Heldman complained to the match umpire that King was taking too long between games, King reportedly told Heldman, "If you want the match that badly, you can have it!"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hollander |first1=Zander |last2=Collins |first2=Bud |author-link1=Zander Hollander |title=Bud Collins' Modern Encyclopedia of Tennis |publisher=Visible Ink Press |location=Detroit, Michigan |year=1994 |page=[https://archive.org/details/budcollinsmodern00coll/page/196 196] |isbn=0-8103-9443-X |url=https://archive.org/details/budcollinsmodern00coll/page/196 }}</ref> The Battle of the Sexes match against Bobby Riggs was held in the middle of the Virginia Slims of Houston tournament. King won her first and second round matches three days before playing Riggs, defeated Riggs, won her quarterfinal match the day after the Riggs match, and then lost the following day to Casals in the semifinals 7–6, 6–1. According to King, "I had nothing left to give."<ref>{{cite book |author1=Starr, Cynthia |author2=King, Billie Jean |title=We Have Come a Long Way: The Story of Women's Tennis |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |year=1988 |page=[https://archive.org/details/wehavecomelongwa00king/page/145 145] |isbn=0-07-034625-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/wehavecomelongwa00king/page/145 }}
</ref> To end the year, King won tournaments in Phoenix, Hawaii, and Tokyo and was the runner-up in [[Baltimore]].

=====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>

====1974====
King won five of the first seven tournaments she contested in 1974. She won the Virginia Slims of San Francisco, defeating Nancy Richey Gunter in the semi-finals and Chris Evert in the final. The following week in [[Indian Wells, California]], King again defeated Gunter in the semi-finals but lost to Evert in the final. King then won tournaments in [[Fairfax, Virginia]] and Detroit before losing a semi-final match to Virginia Wade in Chicago. King won both tournaments she played in March, defeating Gunter in the [[Akron, Ohio]] final and Evert at the [[US Indoors|U.S. Indoor Championships]] final. [[Olga Morozova]] then upset King in her next two tournaments, at Philadelphia in the final and at [[1974 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]] in a quarterfinal 7–5, 6–2. Afterward, King did not play a tour match until the [[1974 US Open – Women's singles|US Open]], where she won her fourth singles title and third in the last four years. She defeated Rosemary Casals in a straight sets quarterfinal, avenged in the semi-finals her previous year's loss to Julie Heldman, and narrowly defeated Evonne Goolagong in the final. King did not reach a tournament final during the remainder of the year, losing to Heldman in an [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]] semi-final, Wade in a Phoenix semi-final, and Goolagong in a semi-final of the tour-ending [[WTA Tour Championships|Virginia Slims Championships]] in Los Angeles.

====1975====
In 1975, King played singles only half the year, as she retired (temporarily, as it turned out) from tournament singles competition immediately after winning her sixth [[1975 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles|Wimbledon]] singles title.

She began the year in San Francisco, defeating Françoise Dürr and Virginia Wade before losing to Chris Evert in the final. The following week, King won the [[Sarasota, Florida]] tournament, defeating Evert in the final 6–3, 6–2. Evert said immediately after the final, which was her thirteenth career match with King, "I think that's the best that Billie Jean has ever played. I hit some great shots but they just kept coming back at me."<ref>"Billie Jean Dumps Evert at Sarasota", ''Daily Times-News'', [[Burlington, North Carolina]], January 20, 1975, page 5B</ref> Looking back at that match, King said, "I probably played so well because I had to, for the money. Out of frustration comes creativity. Right?"<ref name="Mrs. Billie Jean King!" /> Two months later, Wade defeated King in the semi-finals of the Philadelphia tournament. At the [[Austin, Texas]], tournament in April, King defeated Evonne Goolagong 6–1, 6–3 before losing to Evert in the final. As King was serving for the match at 6–5 in the third set, a disputed line call went in Evert's favor. King said after the match that she was cheated out of the match and that she had never been angrier about a match.<ref>"Cool Chris Edges Angry Billie Jean", ''Star-News'', [[Pasadena, California]], April 21, 1975, page B-2</ref>

King played only one of the Wimbledon warm-up tournaments, defeating Olga Morozova in the [[The Hastings Direct International Championships|Eastbourne]] semi-finals before losing to Wade in the final. Seeded third at Wimbledon, King defeated seventh seeded Morozova in the quarterfinals (6–3, 6–3) and then top seeded Evert in the semi-finals (2–6, 6–2, 6–3) after being down 3–0 (40–15) in the final set.<ref name="Deford, Frank; King, Billie Jean 1982 95">{{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/95 95] |isbn=0-670-47843-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/billiejean00king/page/95 }}</ref> Evert blamed her semifinal defeat on a loss of concentration when she saw [[Jimmy Connors]], her former fiancé, escorting [[Susan George (actress)|Susan George]] into Centre Court. King, however, believes that the match turned around because King planned for and totally prepared for Wimbledon that year and told herself when she was on the verge of defeat, "Hey, Billie Jean, this is ridiculous. You paid the price. For once, you looked ahead. You're supposed to win. Get your bahoola in gear."<ref name="Deford, Frank; King, Billie Jean 1982 95" /> King then defeated fourth seeded Goolagong Cawley in the second most lopsided women's final ever at Wimbledon (6–0, 6–1). King called her performance a "near perfect match" and said to the news media, "I'm never coming back."<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/99 99] |isbn=0-8225-4959-X |url=https://archive.org/details/billiejeankingte00lann/page/99 }}</ref>