For tennis legend Billie Jean King, taking good care of her health has always been paramount. Her parents, Bill and Betty Moffitt, instilled in her and her brother, Randy, the values of exercise and staying strong.
“They always were big on exercise, education, and health,” King tells Shondaland. “My parents were very keen on health, even when they were older. My mother was even going to the gym, lifting weights when she was 82.”
King’s love for sports came naturally. Her father was a talented basketball player who played at the collegiate level at Long Beach City College, and he shared his love of the game with King. Basketball may have been her introduction into the world of being an athlete, but the magical feeling of a tennis ball hitting a racket changed King’s life forever. The sport she played or the game’s outcome didn’t matter to her parents. The only thing that mattered was that she was having fun and staying healthy. It is because of this upbringing that King innately and intentionally prioritizes her own health and encourages others to do the same. With experts warning that there may be another “tripledemic,” the changemaker is partnering with Moderna to raise awareness about the importance of staying up-to-date on seasonal vaccines.
“I’m big on prevention, so if we have an opportunity to get a vaccination to help us fight against Covid, I’m going to get it,” she says. “It’s really important to stay as healthy as possible. … You can go to www.vaccines.gov, and that really helps to answer questions [about seasonal vaccines].”
Billie Jean King is seen on the court prior to the Women’s Singles Final match at the 2023 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City.
King’s mother advised her to “keep moving, or it’s over,” and that’s exactly what the now-79-year-old tennis legend is doing. She is healthy, active, and showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon. King believes that as people get older, it is even more important to maintain fitness levels to avoid losing your strength and mobility.
“Health is wealth, and if you lose your health, it’s a lot tougher,” King explains. “I think it’s really important to eat relatively right [and] have some fun.”
Along with healthy eating and exercising, King says that mental wellness is critical. She believes it’s important to ask for support, which is something that she wasn’t able to do years ago. There may be many qualities that make a great athlete; however, King says that the top players are those who couple their abilities with being emotionally strong and having self-worth.
“It’s crucial that [the greatest athletes] believe [in themselves], and I don’t think that’s mental,” she says. “It’s not mentally saying, ‘Okay, I should hit the ball there, [and] I know I should do that.’ That’s nice, but how are you going to execute if you don’t believe in yourself [and if you’re not] emotionally strong?”
Billie Jean King holds her trophy high after beating Bobby Riggs in their Battle of the Sexes tennis match on September 20, 1973 at the Houston Astrodome in Houston.
She applauds athletes like Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles, who put themselves before the sport and prioritized their mental health in 2021. They are among the new wave of athletes who are changing professional sports by utilizing their voice. Their advocacy is reminiscent of King’s own advocacy work, including winning the Battle of the Sexes against fellow tennis player Bobby Riggs in 1973, which helped establish pay equality for women in tennis.
King remembers the Battle of the Sexes as “probably the biggest opportunity” she would have in her life. At a time when women couldn’t even get a credit card by themselves, she knew that she had to win the match. If she didn’t win, she felt it would set women back in their fight for equality. Above all, that day on the tennis court, King was fighting for equality and inclusion. Her main goal since she was 12 years old, and noticed that there wasn’t much diversity at the Los Angeles Tennis Club, has been to make sports better for everyone.
“I promised myself that I’d fight for equality the rest of my life,” King says. “I also knew as a girl that I was a second-class citizen, [but] I knew my sisters of color and sisters with disabilities had it worse. That’s why I wanted to beat [Bobby Riggs] and continue that goal of inclusion, making it better for everyone.”
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Kayla Grant is a multimedia journalist with bylines in theGrio, Oz Magazine, Prism, Rolling Out and more. She writes about culture, books and entertainment news. Follow her on Twitter: @TheKaylaGrant.
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