Billie Jean King shares powerful message as 50 years marked since equal prize money at US Open

Billie Jean King has been one of the earliest tennis players to advocate for equal prize money and her efforts ultimately led to the creation of the WTA as an organisation.

Her legacy in tennis is tremendous with contributions both on and off the court. Many would argue that her contributions off the court are far more important to the sport and women's sports in general. This year marks 50 years since the US Open opted to distribute the same amount of prize money to both winners which wasn't the case before that.

It started a revolution with eventually all four of the grand slam following suit but it would have probably happened much later if King didn't raise the issue following her 1972 triumph. She called out the event for giving the men's champion 15.000 more. To mark the anniversary, King penned a letter:

"Equality has been a huge part of my life since I was 12 years old. I had been playing tennis for about a year and I was sitting at the Los Angeles Tennis Club, daydreaming. I looked around and everyone who was playing was wearing white clothes, played with white balls, and everyone who played was white. I said to myself, 'Where is everybody else?' We never truly understand inclusion unless we have been excluded."

She continued:

"I’m proud to have helped to steer our sport toward that major milestone of historic progress, one of three very important markers of the advancement toward equality in that remarkable year, which also included the founding of the WTA in June and my “Battle of the Sexes” match with Bobby Riggs in late September."