Ilana Kloss and me on our first family vacation to Provincetown, Massachusetts, in 2003 with Ilana’s mother, Ruth; sister, Merle; Merle’s husband, Richard Blackman; and their children, Josh and Lara.
This keepsake photo was taken backstage the night the U.S. National Tennis Center was named after me in 2006, proving it wasn’t an out-of-body experience—it really did happen! Left to right: Franklin Johnson and Arlen Kantarian, two of the USTA executives who sponsored the renaming effort; Jimmy Connors; Chrissie Evert; New York mayor Michael Bloomberg; me; Ilana; Venus Williams; Mary Carillo; and John McEnroe.
Fireworks explode overhead during the naming ceremony for the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on opening night at the 2006 U.S. Open. One of the many reasons the honor meant so much to me is that the national tennis center sits on forty-six-and-a-half acres of public-park land, and I was a public-park kid.
Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton and I share a laugh during our appearance at a New York town hall hosted by Women for Hillary in June 2007.
Meeting President Nelson Mandela with Ilana in 2008 at his office in Houghton, Johannesburg, was a dream of a lifetime. Ilana helped make the unforgettable meeting happen. To me, Mandela taught and reinforced the great lessons in life, starting with forgiveness, resilience, and his unshakable belief that love transcends hate.
When President Obama presented me in 2009 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., for being an “agent of change,” I thought about everyone who helped me along the way.
I remember watching Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953 at my friend Judy Wallick’s house. Her family was the first in our neighborhood to have a TV. I would never have imagined that forty-seven years later I’d be in England and meet Her Majesty the Queen at Wimbledon.
The Donnelly Awards have provided scholarships to young players living with diabetes since 1998. The inspirations for the awards were my friends and WTT colleagues Diane Donnelly Stone and her sister, Tracey Donnelly Maltby. This photo is from the 2011 awards ceremony. Back row, left to right: Diane, her daughter Danielle, scholarship winner Elizabeth Profit, me, an unidentified Novo Nordisk representative, award winner Nicole Selvaggio, and Tracey. Front row, left to right: Diane and Tracey’s children, Nick Stone, Christo Maltby, and Susanna Maltby.
Ilana and I instantly fell in love with taking cruises with family and friends. Here, a bunch of us are pictured on a Mediterranean trip that was also the last cruise we were able to take with our mothers, Ruth and Betty.
My brother, Randy, Ilana, and I are flanked by Randy’s daughters and their families. Left to right: James and Alysha Gosse (holding son, Derek); and Miranda and her husband, Rusty Harrah, with their son, Cason (plaid shirt). Standing in front of me are their other children, Evan Harrah and Byron Gosse.
Former and current tennis players, including nearly every retired or active No. 1–ranked player since the Women’s Tennis Association was founded, gathered at the WTA's fortieth-anniversary celebration at the All England Club on June 30, 2013.
Our friend Anne Guerrant had the idea to have a tennis round robin—what else?—as part of my seventieth-birthday festivities in Las Vegas in 2013. I love celebrating this way, because my birthdays always feel like a reunion.
Members of our wonderful World TeamTennis staff over the years gathered in Las Vegas to help me celebrate my seventieth birthday at Caesar’s Palace. We’re still one big extended family. Many of us have worked together for decades.
Every time we go on a cruise we play tennis at each stop where we disembark. Here we’re shown on our 2014 trip to the Mexican Riviera to celebrate the marriage of Rosie Casals and Connie Spooner.
I love every chance to catch up with former player Ingrid Löfdahl Bentzer (red jacket) and her children Helene (far left) and Jake (far right). Ilana and I were thrilled when Ingrid asked us to be their godparents. In front are Annie and Max, Helene’s children.
Our friend and business partner Mark Walter introduced Ilana and me to the crowd at Dodger Stadium after we became part of the Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group in September 2018. (One perk of ownership: I later exchanged this shirt for one that actually fit me. Ha!)
When Wimbledon started later than usual in 2018, Ilana and I were excited to be able to attend our first NYC Pride March and I was asked to be one of the grand marshals. We had a blast riding the parade route in a convertible, experiencing the vibrant sense of community, and waving back at the enthusiastic crowds that were celebrating the day.
Former New York mayor David Dinkins always told Ilana and me, “If you two ever get married, I’m your guy!” Until the writing of this book, David’s wife, Joyce (shown here), and one of their aides were the only people who knew we quietly tied the knot at the Dinkinses’ Upper East Side apartment on October 18, 2018. This photo was taken that day.
In November 2018, the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative hosted a spectacular party for my seventy-fifth birthday that helped raise funds for my archive collection and its home, the New-York Historical Society. The unforgettable celebration featured live entertainment by numerous friends, including Emma Stone, Alan Cumming, Kate Clinton, Nona Hendryx, Cyndi Lauper, and Sarah Bareilles.
I’ve always loved meeting the adorable first-grade students of the Billie Jean King Namesake Classroom at the Girls Prep Lower East Side School in New York. This photo of our hug lineup was taken in 2019.
The people of Long Beach made me who I am. Now, my hope for the Billie Jean King Main Library, which opened with this ribbon-cutting ceremony in September 2019, is that our state-of-the-art facilities and programs will help more city residents chase their dreams. Flanking me that day was Councilmember Jeannine Pearce (white dress) and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, at right.
Members of our current team at the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative and Billie Jean King Enterprises gathered at the 2019 U.S. Open for a BJKLI event hosted by our advisory board member Christiane Amanpour, the groundbreaking newswoman whose global work I admired long before we became friends.
It’s been inspiring to see subsequent generations of WTA players use the platform of tennis to fight for social justice. Here, Naomi Osaka of Japan walks out before her first-round match at the 2020 U.S. Open wearing a mask in honor of the late Breonna Taylor. Osaka went on to win the championship, and wore different names on her masks before each of her next six matches to highlight the violent deaths of six other Black Americans: Elijah McClain, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, Philando Castile, and Tamir Rice.
I’m a happy camper here because I’m wearing my beloved lavender dress that the designer Ted Tinling nicknamed my “Madame Superstar” outfit, and my blue suede shoes. I’m about to hit a serve at the 1974 U.S. Open at Forest Hills, where I defeated Evonne Goolagong in the final in one of the best matches I ever played.
My New York Apples teammates and I celebrate our 1977 World TeamTennis championship. Left to right: Linda Siegelman, Ray Ruffels, Virginia Wade, Fred Stolle, team owner Sol Berg, Sandy Mayer, me, and Lindsey Beaven.
I could finally exhale after I beat Bobby Riggs, 6–4, 6–3, 6–3, and tossed my racket into the air at the Houston Astrodome. An estimated 90 million people watched the match worldwide, 50 million of them in the U.S. I felt I had to win to protect and advance the hard-won progress women were making everywhere by then, not just in tennis.
Acknowledgments
I am fortunate to have a supportive family that gave me the space to be who I am, the confidence to lead, and the love to keep me moving forward. Ilana Kloss, my partner of more than four decades, is my love and my rock in life, my partner in business, and my true soulmate. My parents, Bill and Betty Moffitt, gave me love, s
upport, discipline, and faith; in doing so, they gave me the foundation that allowed me to be me. My brother, Randy Moffitt, truly understands me and makes me laugh. R.J. is the very best brother I could ever have. Our bond is unbreakable. Ilana and I are blessed to have a large immediate and extended family, each of whom is an important and valued part of our lives. I send my heartfelt thanks to them, and to our friends and family from Ilana’s South African homeland who have opened their homes and their hearts to us over the years.
Writing a book like this is a labor of love. I am forever grateful to those who helped us get started right and finish strong. I have trusted them with my life story. Johnette Howard brought her rich writing talents, journalistic sense, and valuable perspective on her life and mine to this project and I am grateful to her for seeing this endeavor through to the end. Maryanne Vollers is a beautiful writer who framed our story in the beginning and is very much a big part of this book. Jonathan Segal, my exceptional editor at Knopf, provided much-needed direction, expertise, and support to make sure that this story is told right and is something readers will enjoy. Thank you to Jonathan and to everyone involved at Knopf. My literary agent, David Black, gave us indispensable advice and surehanded guidance and care throughout this project. Helen Russell, my decades-long friend and dedicated researcher, put in countless hours and added valuable perspective to the text and photographs in this book. The peerless Donn Gobbie helped to ensure that the key moments of the birth of women’s professional tennis were accurate by sharing his seminal academic research with us.
Success is best measured by the character of those around you, and Ilana and I have been very blessed to have an extended family of friends who enrich our lives and push us to be the best we can be. Larry King played an enormous role in my life and career and remains a dear and generous friend whose recollections helped greatly in the telling of this story. Ilana and I send boundless gratitude and love to Merle and Richard Blackman, who are family first but have also been a constant source of support and counsel for us in life, finance, and business matters since the early 1990s. My cousin, Donna Lee Chavez, was an extraordinary help in piecing together significant parts of our family history. Ilana and I have enjoyed traveling and cruising to far-flung places for the past twenty-five years with our close-knit, fun-loving core group of Rosie Casals, Connie Spooner, Victoria Salinas Wright, and J.R. Wright. To them and our family of friends all over the world, Ilana and I say thank you. We cherish the times we share, the memories we have made, and the future we have together.
Without the love and support of the people of Long Beach when I was a child and the backing they gave me later in life, I may never have had this journey. Everyone comes from somewhere, but I know I am so fortunate to have the people of Long Beach in my corner. Susan Williams Catherwood introduced me to tennis and changed my life. Jerry Cromwell and I spent our formative years practicing together to make our tennis dreams come true. Clyde Walker first showed me how to be a champion and my other coaches and teachers gave me the confidence to go for it. Without Long Beach, especially the Long Beach Tennis Patrons and the Long Beach Century Club, who knows where my journey would have gone. My deepest gratitude also goes out to all the Long Beach citizens and officials involved in the Billie Jean King Main Library, the breathtaking new facility the city opened in 2019.
One of the best parts of having a long career in tennis is being part of a team. I had some of the best team experiences, especially early in my career. To Rosie, Owen Davidson, Carole Caldwell Graebner, Karen Hantze Susman, Barbara Browning, Kathy Chabot, and Pam Davis, and all of my doubles partners and teammates, thank you for making tennis fun for me. Most people think tennis is an individual sport, but I see it as a community of lifelong friends. Sincerest thanks to the host families who opened their homes to young players like me over the years and helped make our tennis travels possible, especially Barbara and Jack Clark. Nowhere in my life is the phrase “Relationships are everything” more important and meaningful than the connection I share with my tennis family. We could never have changed our sport without the courage of Gladys Heldman and the Original 9: Rosie, Valerie Ziegenfuss, Kristy Pigeon, Judy Tegart Dalton, Kerry Melville Reid, Peaches Bartkowicz, Nancy Richey, and Julie Heldman. Women’s tennis would have never achieved success as a business enterprise without the support of Joseph Cullman 3rd, Ellen Merlo, and our other allies at the Virginia Slims brand. They gave us everything we needed to be stars and to change our sport. It was an honor to stand with all of them and write our own history.
In 1973, with our sport still divided into two women’s pro tours, more than sixty players heeded a call to gather at the Gloucester Hotel in London and form the Women’s Tennis Association to advocate for our interests as a group. I thank those women who set us on our historic course, and the exceptional executive directors, CEOs, trustees, and presidents I was privileged to work with at the WTA. Thank you to the incomparable Peachy Kellmeyer for your lifetime of service, wisdom, and incalculable contributions to the WTA and all of women’s sports. Thank you to Chrissie Evert and Martina Navratilova for taking our game to new heights and making so many personal sacrifices, including missing some majors, for the betterment of our tour and World TeamTennis. Today our legacy and the WTA lives on alongside the other major stakeholders in the sport—the Association of Tennis Professionals, the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and the four major tournaments, the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open.
Special thanks to everyone at the USTA, which has been at the forefront of equality since 1973, and had a huge impact on my life. We’d have never succeeded without the tournament owners, promoters, staffers, and volunteers around the world who believed in women’s tennis and ensured we had places to play. Thank you to the International Tennis Hall of Fame for preserving our history and ensuring our stories continue to be told.
The Women’s Sports Foundation was started in 1974 with a vision to protect and grow women’s sports and Title IX. Thanks to the committed people who have worked and contributed to the foundation over the years, our dream is very much alive today and positioned well for tomorrow.
For more than four decades World TeamTennis was one of the biggest parts of my life and a concrete example of my vision for a world in which everyone’s contributions are valued equally, regardless of our differences or gender. The Philadelphia Freedoms, my first WTT home, holds a special place in my heart because of my long association with the city and team as a player, coach, and owner. Thanks to all of you past and present, from the professional ranks to the WTT Junior Nationals to the community level, for keeping the ball in play.
The Cal State L.A. community will forever be part of my life and legacy. They championed me and have celebrated me and are forever committed to the growth of students and student athletes.
Over the years I have been blessed to work with some of the greatest writers, broadcasters, photographers, producers, editors, and network executives in the world. My best years in broadcasting were spent working with Seth Abraham, Ross Greenburg, Rick Bernstein, and the crew at HBO Sports, which was at the forefront of chronicling women’s sports. Thank you to Christiane Amanpour and Robin Roberts, two groundbreaking newswomen whose extraordinary work and push for diversity, fairness, and inclusion earned my deepest respect long before I was fortunate enough to count them as friends.
I have been fortunate over the years to have an “A Team” of agents, attorneys, doctors, and healthcare professionals working on my behalf. These people are the best in the business, and I appreciate all you do and all you have done for me. So many people have believed in our game, invested in our vision, and helped us make a difference in the lives of others. You have given me the opportunity, access, and an open invitation to be part of your team. For that I am forever grateful.
My personal team is led by the friends and colleagues that keep Team BJK, Billie Jean King Enterprises, and the Bi
llie Jean King Leadership Initiative running and moving forward. Thank you Marjorie Gantman, Therese O’Higgins, Barbara Perry, Kristi Gaylord, and Nancy Falconer. Tip Nunn has been by my side for more than thirty years as my superb publicist, loyal friend, organizer extraordinaire, and sounding board. Thank you to Dianne Donnelly, my dear friend and assistant whom I’ve known for more than three decades. Diane and her sister, Tracy Donnelly Maltby, were the inspiration for the Donnelly Awards, which since 1998 have provided scholarships to young players living with diabetes. All of you are there for us 365 days a year, 24/7, and Ilana and I greatly appreciate you and everything you do. You feel like family.
The New-York Historical Society has been the home of my personal archives since 2016, and I could not have partnered with a better place or group of people. Thank you to everyone at the N-YHS and to members of our BJKLI advisory board who have devoted themselves to helping us chart a course for future generations, particularly when it comes to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
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