‘Balanced Me Out as a Tennis Player’ – Martina Navratilova Reveals Massive Influence of Billie Jean King on Her Personality

Legendary Tennis player Martina Navratilova was the Queen of the tennis world in the late 70s and early 80s. She won a total of 59 Grand Slams, second only to Margaret Court. Interestingly, she won some of those titles without a specialized coach. However, she did have some notable coaches like Billie Jean King and Renee Richards.

While talking to good friend Chris Evert in a detailed interview, Navratilova explained the impact of all those influential coaches on her game and also on her life.

Martina Navratilova talks about Billie Jean King

Fighting for equality, Billie Jean King expressed her concerns over the number of lady Coaches in the world of Tennis. She said, “The last one to ask me to help was Martina Navratilova when she was playing her last few years of singles.”

Martina and Billie started their journey in the last few years of the former’s career. Tennis was different from what Martina was used to and she got perfect guidance from the Hall of Famer King.

Martina reacted to Billie and explained, “Billie Jean King kind of re-engineered my game because my footwork was the cross-step and we needed to change that because now everything was open stance, the game was moving to a faster pace. The cross step wasn’t working. I had to re-engineer that”

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Cross footings slow down the reach and reaction time, which hampered Martina’s matches in the new and fast-paced tennis era. The likes of Serena Williams, Martina Hingis, and Steffi Graf were young and faster than her. The “Re-engineered” technique helped Martina as she claimed her final Mixed Doubles titles in her retirement years.

Martina also said that Billie made her a better person as well by changing her technique.

Billie Jean King, the change maker

King was an impactful player in the world of tennis. After spending nearly three decades in Tennis, the 78-year-old player fought for the rights of women tennis stars and became successful in doing so.

She even threatened to boycott the 1973 US Open edition to support her cause. The American legend even participated in the very famous “Battle of Sexes” where 29-year-old King defeated 55-year-old Bobby Riggs. Margaret Court was beaten by Riggs, but King defeated Bobby as it turned out to be an important milestone in the history of the game. 

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