Tennis icon Billie Jean King makes history as first sportswoman on Hollywood Walk of Fame
Over 40 years after she played in her last professional match, American tennis legend and social rights activist Billie Jean King has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to women’s sports. She is the first to achieve this honour.
Previously, the Hollywood Walk of Fame was limited to successful celebrities in the cinema, television, radio, theatre, and music industries. But in 2023, a new category was unveiled to include significant contributors to sports entertainment, and Billie Jean was announced as the first to receive a star, making hers the 2,807th to be installed on the Walk of Fame.
This new accomplishment also earned her another Guinness World Records title, for first woman to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for sports.
The 81-year-old was present for the ceremony in Los Angeles on 7 April, which introduced her as a generational athlete and the first to be entered in the sports entertainment category.
Her star was presented to her by actress Jaime Lee Curtis and basketball icon Magic Johnson, who said Billie Jean was not just “one of the greatest tennis players who has ever played”, but also an inspiring figure who “used her platform to bring about change”.
“Words cannot express how honoured and grateful I am to receive this star,” Billie Jean said in an Instagram post after the occasion. “I may be the first woman to be awarded a star in this category, but I'm certainly not going to be the last.”
After first picking up a racket in the 5th grade, Billie Jean’s tennis career was defined by her talent and her grit.
Native to Long Beach, California, she first started competing professionally in 1959, but she didn’t receive domestic acclaim until 1961, when she and Karen Hantze Susman became the youngest pair to win the Wimbledon women’s doubles title.
From that point onwards, Billie Jean’s wins came more and more frequently. By 1966, she was ranked #1 in the world at women’s tennis, a title she would hold five more times (between 1967-1968, 1971-1972, and 1974).
Over the span of her career, she would collect 39 Grand Slam titles in singles and doubles – 20 of which from Wimbledon – to make her one of the most decorated tennis players in history.
But perhaps her most famous tennis match came in 1973 with ‘The Battle of the Sexes’, a showdown that pitted 29-year-old Billie Jean against 55-year-old tennis champion and self-declared chauvinist Bobby Riggs.
Viewed by over 90 million people worldwide, Billie Jean dominated Riggs 6-4, 6-3, and 6-3. The match was considered a milestone in women’s sports, which led to increased respect and funding for Title IX initiatives that prohibit sexual discrimination in sports.
And off the court, Billie Jean has remained committed to women’s and LGBTQ rights, and helped grow women's sports at a grassroots level.
After being outed publicly as a lesbian in 1981, Billie Jean has adamantly supported LGBTQ rights, including serving the Honorary Lifetime President of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, and as a past member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition.
She founded the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) to create governing bodies for women’s sports, and helped get sponsors for women’s tennis tournaments around the country. She was also instrumental in lobbying for equal prize money for male and female tennis players, in an attempt to level the playing field.
Since she was elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987, she’s received numerous honours for her athleticism and activism: such as the first woman athlete to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal, and France’s highest order of merit, the Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur.
Named also one of the “100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century” by Life magazine, Billie Jean also held Guinness World Records titles for most Wimbledon titles won by a woman (20), oldest seeded Wimbledon Ladies’ singles player (she was 39 years 210 days in 1983), and largest attendance at a tennis match (30,472 people saw the Battle of the Sexes live).
And in 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center in New York – where the US Open is held – was rededicated as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. This renaming caught on again in 2020 when the Fed Cup, the world cup of women’s tennis, was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup, making it the first global team competition to be named after a woman.
Now, Billie Jean continues her quest for representation in women’s sports on an international level, as a speaker, author, and athlete. She’s a part owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Angel City FC, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL).
She lives with her long-term partner and tennis peer Ilana Kloss, and the pair still attend events on behalf of women’s sports, most recently at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final.
Header image: Alamy