Billie Jean King Quotes

Champions keep playing until they get it right.

I have often been asked whether I am a women or an athlete. The question is absurd. Men are not asked that. I am an athlete. I am a women.

Pressure is a privilege - it only comes to those who earn it.

Sports teaches you character, it teaches you to play by the rules, it teaches you to know what it feels like to win and lose-it teaches you about life.

I think self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards being a champion.

Men can have a huge turnover of sponsorship and still survive a lot better than the women. But the women's ratings are better, at least at home in the United States than in the men's tennis.

Natural talent only determines the limits of your athletic potential. It's dedication and a willingness to discipline your life that makes you great.

The main thing is to care. Care very hard, even if it is only a game you are playing.

Reputation is what others think about you. What's far more important is character, because that is what you think about yourself.

My whole life has been about equal rights and opportunities. For me it really goes back to the health of mind, body and soul.

Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn't allowed in a photo because I wasn't wearing a tennis skirt, I knew that I wanted to change the sport.

Pressure is a privilege ... it's what you do with it that matters.

A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.

In the seventies we had to make it acceptable for people to accept girls and women as athletes. We had to make it okay for them to be active. Those were much scarier times for females in sports.

Don't let anyone define you. You define yourself.

When you oppress people either by gender, by race, by sexual orientation, when you do that and the doors become ajar, they will fly open and they will come and they have.

You have got to want to be the best before you can even begin to reach for that goal, and you have got to be prepared to sacrifice a lot to get there.

I was always in the tennis business-from 1968. I was in tournaments and also on World Team Tennis teams as well.

It's just really important that we start celebrating our differences. Let's start tolerating first, but then we need to celebrate our differences.

No one changes the world who isn't obsessed.

Don't worry about what people say.

For me, losing a tennis match isn't failure, it's research.

Champions adjust and pressure is a privilege.

Tennis is a perfect combination of violent action taking place in an atmosphere of total tranquillity.

When they take surveys of women in business, of the Fortune 500, the successful women, 80% of them, say they were in sports as a young woman.

Be bold. If you're going to make an error, make a doozy, and don't be afraid to hit the ball.

I always listen, I ask children, I even ask adults in tennis, "What are your children playing?" And most of the time it's not tennis. It's pathetic.

I like entrepreneurial people; I like people who take risks.

Some people do have softer boundaries.

Women's sports is still in its infancy. The beginning of women's sports in the United States started in 1972, with the passage of Title 9 for girls to finally get athletic scholarships.

When people tell you not to believe in your dreams, and they say “Why?”, say “Why not?

Women get the attention when we get into the men's arena, and that's sad.

I think younger players probably just think they are who they are-they don't think about coming out. Unless you're number one in the world, nobody cares, usually.

It is very hard to be a female leader. While it is assumed that any man, no matter how tough, has a soft side... and female leader is assumed to be one-dimensional.

Create your legacy, and pass the baton.

I wanted to use sports for social change.

I will tell you King's First Law of Recognition: You never get it when you want it, and then when it comes, you get too much.

In business, everything starts with integrity. Otherwise it falls apart, though it does take time to find out who has integrity.

Winning comes down to who can execute under pressure.

Sports are a microcosm of society.

Winning is very tangible, it's very exciting, it's very pleasing, but it's momentary. If you can do things that last, that each generation can build upon, then that's when you're cooking.

I would just never out anybody. I think everyone has to find it in their own way and their own time.

I knew after my first lesson what I wanted to do with my life.

In 1973, a woman could not get a credit card without her husband or father or a male signing off on it.

Victory is fleeting. Losing is forever.

That is where the power, opportunity, and choice come from-when you have money. Money equals opportunity. There is no question.

I would love to be a player today. I had the right personality for it.

The old boy network is still very strong and very true. Just look at the stock exchange and how many men and women are there. It is still very much run by men.

Marriage isn't a 50-50 proposition very often. It's more like 100-0 one moment and 0-100 the next.

I love to promote our sport. I love grass-roots tennis. I love coaching. I love all parts of the sport. I love the business side.