Billie Jean King’s push for equal prize money in 1973 will be celebrated at US Open
When Billie Jean King won the US Open in 1972, she didn’t make the usual remarks about hoping to win again. Instead, she threatened to not play at all the next year — and added that no other women would, either.
That’s because she earned USD 10,000 for her championship, USD 15,000 less than what Ilie Nastase won for his.
“I said: This really stinks,’” King recalled Thursday. “And, of course, deep down in my heart of hearts, in my brain, I’m going, I haven’t talked to them yet. You sure you’re doing the right thing here?’ This is the other voice in my head: What if they don’t agree with you on this? I think they do because we talk about it all the time, but we didn’t talk about this move.’ And so I said, The heck with it. I don’t think we’ll be back.’”
That led the US Tennis Association ...