Billie Jean King

I think I remember this news story and being impressed that the world of tennis did this. But, 50 years ago? Just one more thing that makes me feel old :)

BY JAMES MARTINEZ Updated 9:28 PM PDT, August 28, 2023 Share NEW YORK (AP) — After a rousing tribute from former first lady Michelle Obama, Billie Jean King on Monday celebrated the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Open becoming the first sporting event to offer equal prize money to female and male competitors, promising never to stop fighting to maintain that hard-won progress. “While we celebrate today, our work is far from done,” King said in a speech to a packed Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd between night matches. Echoing a quote from Coretta Scott King, she said: “Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won. You earn it and you win it in every generation.” Obama introduced the 79-year-old tennis legend by recalling how King, the U.S. Open champion in 1972, rallied her fellow women players to threaten a boycott of the next year’s tournament unless women got the same pay as men. It was announced that summer that the women’s champion’s paycheck would increase $15,000 so that both men’s and women’s champions would each receive $25,000.