Billie Jean King's 'Battle Of The Sexes'

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On September 20th, 1973 Women’s tennis champion Billie Jean King took on Men’s tennis champion Bobby Riggs in Houston, Texas in a winner take all $100,000 tennis match. The match was nationally televised and was named the “Battle of the Sexes”. King would defeat Riggs 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, and become the first women to defeat a man in any sport. After the match, it is reported that Riggs “was devastated and isolated himself in his hotel room for four hours.” The match had an estimated 90 million viewers worldwide, 50 million just in the United States and the total attendance in the Astrodome in Houston was 30,472, the largest tennis audience in history. It stood until 2012 when the record was finally broken. On that day in September 1973, Billie …show more content…
The sisters said that could “beat any male tennis player ranked outside of the top 200 in the world. Braasch was ranked 203rd at the time of the matches and challenged both sisters. Braasch defeated both sisters, beating Serena Williams 6-1 and Venus 6-2. Even though they lost, the sisters challenged the status quo at a very young age and would go on to be considered today the best women’s players in tennis history. For Venus, this would start her campaign for women’s rights and equal pay. Billie Jean King and Venus Williams are two of the greatest women’s tennis players in history and they are both champions for women’s rights, both fighting for equal pay for women. Both are icons of their generations and heroes for women around the world. Both Billie Jean King and Venus Williams are scandalous for similar and yet very different reasons but they are both champions for women’s rights and in women’s …show more content…
Williams is crucial to black America because she provides an escape during times of highly visible social inequality. Her black womanhood only underscores that she’s stronger and better than most. Williams is an entrepreneur, she owns her own clothing line called EleVen and an interior design company called V*Starr that works on residential projects in the United States. Venus and her sister Serena became the first African American women to own part of an NFL football team in the Miami Dolphins. Williams also works closely with UNESCO promoting gender

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