Billie Jean King

b. 1943 · 39-time Grand Slam champion, equality advocate

Billie Jean King (born 22 November 1943, Long Beach, California) is an American tennis champion who won 39 Grand Slam titles and beat Bobby Riggs in the 1973 Battle of the Sexes. A lifelong advocate for equal pay and women’s sport, she is famous for pithy competitive maxims — most reliably “pressure is a privilege,” the title of her 2008 book. Her genuine phrasing is well documented; this particular line is not.

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“Champions keep playing until they get it right”

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