Tennis legend Billie Jean King has shared her thoughts on transgender people’s participation in sport, imploring people to “listen” to the transgender community.
Speaking to British newspaper The Telegraph ahead of this year’s Wimbledon competition, King said “the whole things a nightmare”.
“I don’t think people have any idea of how hard it is for trans people. Just listen to their stories. Listen – not tell them,” King said.
“Everyone is unique. Make them feel included because you really don’t know.”
The tennis champion called for more empathy and less toxicity in the discussion.
“With every person I meet, I try to start with a blank. Ask questions. If I weren’t doing this interview with you, I’d be bugging you with a lot of questions.”
King was a World Number 1 tennis player who won 39 Grand Slam titles during her playing career. In 1973 at the age of 29 she famously won the ‘Battle of the Sexes’ tennis match against 55-year-old Bobby Riggs.
She was born Billie Jean Moffitt, but took her husband’s name when she wed in 1964. A few years into their marriage she realised that she was attracted to women.
In 1971 she began an affair with her secretary Marilyn Bennett. In 1981 Bennett brought a palimony suite against the tennis player, which revealed to the world that King was a lesbian. King acknowledged the relationship, making her the first high profile tennis player to publicly come out.
1987 when she fell in love with her doubles partner Ilana Kloss, the couple were married in 2018.
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