Billie Jean
King commented on the inspiring story of
Coco Gauff and her grandmother in the
context of the 50th anniversary of equal prize money.
On the 50th
anniversary of equal prize money at the US Open, American legend Billie Jean
King responded to an interview with People and expressed her excitement about
Coco Gauff's achievement in winning the US Open title against Aryna Sabalenka
two weeks ago with a score 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
The 12-time
Grand Slam champion shared her excitement about Gauff being the champion in the
latest edition of the tournament:
“Coco
winning was just fantastic. When I see her, she's the reason we fought so hard
50 years ago. I think she's such a force,” said
Billie Jean King.
“It comes
from her grandmother. Her grandmother was the first Black child to go to an
all-white school in Delray. To hear her story, if you're a granddaughter and
you're hearing your grandmother talk about going to a white school, being the
only Black child, I think she's such a force. But I want her to be happy,
number one. She's really exciting to watch and a great athlete,” she said about
Coco Gauff.
The
79-year-old King reminisced about the match she played against Bobby Riggs in
the Battle of the Sexes, where she emerged victorious in three sets and
captured worldwide attention just before achieving equal pay at the US Open:
“Sometimes
it feels so long ago, and other times it feels like today,"
“With
women's sports particularly, they paid a lot of attention to that match because
there was a guy involved. If you got a guy involved, you got a lot more
attention. I still think that holds true today to a certain degree, but not to
the extent it was back then,” she added.
