Billie Jean King comments on the inspiring story of Coco Gauff and her grandmother in the context of the 50th anniversary of the same prize money.
On the 50th anniversary of the equal prize money of the US Open, the American legend Billie Jean King responded in an interview with People and expressed her excitement about the success of Coco Gauff in winning the title of the US Open against Aryna Sabalenka two weeks ago with a score of 2-6 , 6-3, 6-2.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion shared his excitement about Gauff becoming the champion of the latest edition of the tournament:
“Coco winning is amazing. When I saw her, she was the reason we fought 50 years ago. I think she’s a force,” said Billie Jean King.
“This is from his grandmother. His grandmother was the first Black child to attend an all-white school in Delray. To hear her story, if you’re a grandchild and you hear your grandmother talk about going to an all-white school, being the only black kid, I think she’s very powerful. But I want him to be happy, number one. He is really exciting to watch and a good athlete,” he said about Coco Gauff.
The 79-year-old King recalled the match he played against Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes, where he won in three sets and gained worldwide attention before achieving equal pay at the US Open:
“Sometimes it feels like a long time ago, and other times it feels like now,”
“With women’s sports in particular, they pay a lot of attention to that game because there is a man involved. When you are involved with a man, you get more attention. I still think that’s true now to some degree, but not to the extent it used to be,” he added.
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