It has been 50 years since Billie Jean King‘s historic efforts bore fruit at Flushing Meadows. Gone are the days when tennis was male-dominated, with women getting motivated to take to the court to earn a living. The American icon’s efforts were celebrated at the side of the court and she received thanks from the 2023 women’s singles champion.
Men’s tennis dominated the ratings, but with retirement, injury, and sustained dominance, the audiences are tuning in to watch new names rise. This was seen with Coco Gauff vs Aryna Sabalenka getting more views than Novak Djokovic vs Daniil Medvedev. King’s words touched on the potential, with her sentiments siding with a prominent investor in women’s sports.
Billie Jean King reaffirms Serena Williams’ husband’s idea of investing in women’s sports
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Billie Jean King has always been an advocate of women’s sports. It is because of her that women in tennis have an association to work with. When the viewership numbers of women’s singles final overpowered the men’s singles so much, it was surely an achievement that felt personal to her.
The 2023 @usopen delivered record-setting numbers:
🎾 The Women's Singles Final was the most-viewed women's major tennis final ever on ESPN
🎾 The men's and women's championships averaged 2.8M viewers, up +40% from 2022.
Investing in women's sports is good business. https://t.co/fDzK1bIVb8
— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) September 13, 2023
So, she posted about the same and wrote, “The 2023 US Open delivered record-setting numbers. Investing in women’s sports is good business.”
Facts > Feelings
US viewership of @USOpen finals:
Coco Gauff vs Aryna Sabalenka: 3.422 million
Novak Djokovic vs Daniil Medvedev: 2.321 millionThe free market speaks (again).
Invest in Women's Sports. @weareangelcity was just the start for me…— Alexis Ohanian 🧠 (@alexisohanian) September 12, 2023
This clearly reaffirms the ideology that Alexis Ohanian has. Even he posted the numbers on his official Twitter account and mentioned how investing in Angel City FC, the NWSL team, has been amazing for him. He even wrote that this was just the start for him and he would do much more in women’s sports with time.
Not just that, he even talked about women’s sports and mentioned how he would be making more moves toward enhancing its popularity.
Alexis Ohanian will continue to invest in women’s sports as indicated in his recent tweets
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Alexis has invested in a lot of sports-related businesses. However, recently all his focus has been on programming women’s sports in the same way men’s sports function. He has wanted to achieve the same viewership and respect for women’s sports and that is why he made an investment in Angel City FC.
And yes — you should follow @SevenSevenSix if you want to see the next moves I'm making in sports: @weareangelcity @WeAreLAGC @ScorePlayHQ @TheOffseasono just the start
— Alexis Ohanian 🧠 (@alexisohanian) September 13, 2023
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During a conversation on Twitter, he also mentioned that people should keep a look at his social media as he would be making more strides in favor of women’s sports and, in general, to bring the same visibility to them. It shows how every move made and every small effort put in matters and surely shows in the results just like it did in the US Open finals.
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