?No One Succeeds Alone?- 14 Years After Huge Honor, 79-Year-Old American Tennis Legend Shares Nostalgic Moment With Barrack Obama With a Riveting Message

How many of you knew that tennis was not the first sport Billie Jean King showed interest in? The American legend first started with basketball and softball, but she wanted individual success despite winning a championship as part of a group when she was 10 years old. King’s father told her that tennis was the best sport to achieve what she wanted. After that, the little girl had one dream – to be world number one. King started making history with her first Grand Slam appearance itself.

King, with Karen Hantze Susman, remains the youngest pair to win the women’s doubles title at Wimbledon Championships. Since that victory followed a long series of Slams and honors. King recently rewound the time to poignantly reflect on a particular honor that she received from the man who, too, made history in the US.

King made history as she received a prestigious honor

The revolutionary player was awarded the highest civilian honor for her contributions to the US in 2009. She is the first from the LGBTQIA+ community to receive the honor. It has been exactly 14 years since the former World Number 1 received the ‘Presidential Medal of Freedom.’ Being the first lesbian to be awarded the honor by the first African-American President made the award more special, and the tennis legend thanked the people of her native city, too, for being a constant support.

Reflecting on this moment, King posted a picture of her being awarded the medal by Barack Obama, the then President of the US. Taking to her Instagram, the 79-year-old wrote, “14 years ago today, President Barack Obama awarded me the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I share this honor with all who supported me, including the incredible people of @longbeachcity. No one succeeds alone.”

The career of WTA’s founder was full of accomplishments that still stand unmatched. But the discrimination that King received in her childhood and youth for being a woman was unimaginable. In one notable incident, she was rejected to be photographed at 13 years as a junior champion for violating the dress code of female tennis players. That was when the Hall of Famer decided that being number one was not enough. She realized that she had to change how the world works.

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What made Billie Jean King a deserving candidate for the esteemed award?

The American legend bagged 39 Grand Slam titles and won the iconic Battle of Sexes against Bobby Riggs. She also became the first woman to receive the highest earnings in any sport – $100,000. With her platform, King also was the first female athlete to disclose her sexual orientation publicly. King was one of the first women to consistently fight for equal pay and advocate for LGBTQIA+ rights.

After achieving unmatched glory in tennis, King paved the way for women’s profession tennis by establishing the Women’s Tennis Association in 1973. The following year, she established the Women’s Sports Foundation and created the first-ever magazine dedicated to women in sports. In 2006, the U.S.T.A. named the National Tennis Center after Billie Jean King. It is where the U.S. Open is played.

Apart from these, the 20-time Wimbledon Champion was the first female athlete to be crowned ‘Sportsman of the Year’ by Sports Illustrated. In 2022, France celebrated King’s on and off-the-court success when President Emmanuel Macron similarly honored her with the country’s highest, ‘La L?gion d’Honneur,’ celebrating the 50th anniversary of her French Open victory.

The legend, who rewrote the sports domain for women, continues to be active. The 79-year-old still associates herself with tennis, vocalizes on vital matters, and extends social support to anything that needs attention. It is safe to say that the government’s recognition of her achievements was a long time coming.

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