Our Book Review of Billie Jean King’s Autobiography, All In
Billie Jean King – Just the Tennis: One of the things that I love about tennis is the ability to connect people. It doesn’t matter what language you speak, or what your background is, almost anyone can pick up a racket and hit the ball around for a bit. Sports and music are two areas that mankind can connect and differences can not only be set aside, but in fact those differences can become invisible.
Sometimes you get movie stars or athletes that use their platform to address problems that hit close to home for them or maybe they bring awareness to causes that they feel passionate about. As much as I do not want to get deep into the weeds of politics, the fact is, no matter how talented of an athlete Billie Jean King was, if she had not fought for equal pay and equal rights, she would not be a household name.
Because of her work, she has been honored repeatedly by the USTA. Without her efforts, the USTA would not be talking about Billie Jean King this year and the 50 year anniversary of equal pay at the US Open for men and women’s division, and the work that she did for equal rights and pay in sports.
Sure, I would love to talk about Billie Jean King and focus on just tennis, but Billie Jean King is a product of the time and place that she lived. Her skill on the court and her voice are so intertwined it is not possible to talk about BJK the tennis player without also acknowledging her contributions to equal pay and other social matters. They are simply impossible to dissect one from the other.
Billie Jean King used her voice, backed up with drive and skill on the court to speak up about the injustices that she lived through as the world of tennis evolved from amateur tennis to what we now know as the “Open Era”.
Billie Jean King, a child born in the 50’s and coming to adulthood in the 60’s and 70’s. She is an influential figure in women’s sports history but only partially because of her skill as an athlete. It is true that her skill on the court gave gravitas to the debate that the feminists in society and society at large were wanting to have.
This tug and pull between the sexes was at times a gritty battle and Billie Jean King, through sports, was able to to show that females can be great athletes, and deserved to be paid and have opportunities to train, just like male athletes.
There were other female athletes during Billie Jean King’s time who won tournaments and were great athletes (Margaret Court as an example), but none of those athletes captured the imagination of the public like Billie Jean King. This is in large part because of the social issues Billie Jean King identified and worked to set change in motion.
Her autobiography, All In, is an inspiring and powerful account of her life and career as an athlete and an activist. Overall, I felt that “All In” is a powerful and inspiring memoir that highlights King’s determination and resilience in the face of adversity.
I recognize a couple of things when reading this book. One, just because one person feels passionately about a topic, does not mean that it has to resonate with everyone. There are some social issues that are complicated and for the most part I would like to leave alone.
One of the things I love about being a tennis player is that often I have no idea what a tennis player’s politics are, I don’t know if they have children, I don’t know how they vote or if or where they worship and I don’t need to know any of those details. It is refreshing in a world that is so divided to spend time on the court where none of that matters.
Yet the other thing I took away from “All In” is that, as a woman, I am the happy beneficiary of many of the social changes that Billie Jean King put into motion and would see come to pass. In my lifetime a woman could not apply for a loan or open a bank account without a father, husband or employer either co-signing or being involved with that application process.
Social changes are messy and uncomfortable, but in any evolving society, change is inevitable. I am happy to live when I do, and not a generation or two earlier. Hopefully my daughter and sons will see even more progress in this area of change.
In her book, King uses storytelling and shares personal reflections to relate her personal and professional journey from emerging child athlete to becoming a professional tennis champion. The way that she describes living as a child of a blue collar family in Southern California shows a grateful nod to her upbringing and the acknowledgment that she was raised in the perfect spot to learn the sport of tennis.
King discusses in the book everything from her fight for equal pay in women’s sports to her struggles with her sexuality, her battles with eating disorders, and her mental health challenges, and she shares her experiences as a women’s rights activist as the crowning glory of her career.
This makes “All In” an interesting memoir for not only sports fans, but also those who might be looking to see what a middle to lower income family in The United Stated in the the 50’s and 60’s might have looked like.
Some Highlights From the Book:
Billie Jean Moffitt was born on November 22, 1943, in Long Beach, California. She grew up in a sports-loving family and began playing tennis at a young age after being introduced to the sport from a friend at school.
From a very early age, Billie Jean King noticed that the boys sports and teams received a lot more opportunities and money from the school than the girls teams, thus a budding activist started to take root in the heart of Billie Jean.
Despite facing discrimination as a female athlete, King went on to play as a youth tennis player. It was a struggle for her parents to facilitate both her aspiring tennis career as well as her brother, Randy, and his wishes to play professional baseball. King went on to play tennis in college, but eventually made the jump to become one of the most successful tennis players in history.
As a child, Billie Jean loved to listen to the words of the reverend, Bob Richards. He was an Olypian pole vaulter and the first athlete to appear on the front of a wheaties cereal box. He was a popular motivational speaker that King really enjoyed listening to. Richards called sports “the language of self reliance” and told his audience that “rigorous self analysis was vital to recognize your weakness and to work on them.”
His message that in sports, “champions are not born, they are made” was a way of thinking that resonated with King. Throughout the book, King relates stories of how she developed a winner’s mindset and how she learned to dig deep and find strength where she didn’t know she had that to spare.
As I consume stories of athletes, most of them have very involved, supportive parents. This was true for Billie Jean. Billie Jean had very supportive, sports minded parents that at great sacrifice to themselves, promoted their children’s athletic career. King tells a story of a time, after a particularly difficult match that did not go her way, her dad told her that she needed to let it go.
He went on to say that “Yesterday is not important, you should learn from history, but you cannot change it. It is done. Live in the moment. That’s how athletes succeed.” Pretty great advice from a loving and supportive father.
It is evident through the book that King holds a deep love and respect for her family, while at the same time relating to the reader that the world that she was a product of from the 1950’s and 60’s is such a different time than it is now. Her parents held very traditional roles and for Billie Jean, her desire to be a professional athlete didn’t always match up to what was expected from the society she was a product from.
After high school tennis, Billie Jean did what she was expected to do and went to college. But soon she learned that she wanted to pursue tennis on a professional level and could see that through tennis she could strive to bring people together through tennis.
While in college, she met Larry King and learned that they had a lot in common. They shared a love of tennis and had a desire to see the world become a better and more equitable place. They were both very young when they decided to get married and while they are not still together as a couple, Billie Jean expresses a lot of love and care for the man that she shared 22 years of marriage with.
At the time that King was wanting to make that jump from an amateur tennis player to a professional, it was a time of swirling change in the sport of tennis. Professional tennis players were not allowed to compete in Wimbledon until 1968, when the “Open Era” began, which allowed both amateur and professional players to participate in the tournament.
Prior to 1968, only amateur players were allowed to compete in Wimbledon, making it very hard to be a professional athlete and make a living off of playing tennis until the “Open Era” began.
By chance, that was also the beginning of the professional career of Billie Jean King. But as this Open Era was welcomed in, it was not welcoming to the female athletes. Men would compete for prize money that was sometimes 12 times higher than women in the same tournament.
This pay gap surged in the 1960’s until the government got involved and in 1973, the US Open made the groundbreaking call to offer equal prize money to both men and women’s champion. This was a huge move to seeing women receive equal pay for the same work, and Billie Jean King was instrumental in seeing these positive changes for equality in sport start to happen.
In the book, King talks about a time when tennis dominated her mind. Her thoughts were consumed about how they were going to make tennis a pro sport and how women athletes would not be left out. The world was a very different place for all women in the 1960s and 1970s. There was a gap between what was fair and what was possible that seemed sometimes too great to build a bridge over.
Tennis is, in significant part, a head game. King talks a lot about visualization in this book and how she uses it. When it came to a match, she liked to visualize from three different vantage points. She liked to visualize what it looked like from her side of the net, from her opponent’s side of the net and from a bird’s eye view vantage point. King writes about how it is possible to dictate or anticipate events in tennis if you are a step ahead of your opponent and that you will have a better chance of controlling the point with a mindset for success. This is a process that she has developed in other areas of her life that has been very useful.
One thing I related to in this book is how Billie Jean King talks about how she always had a tennis ball in her hand or in her pocket. She looks at it like a sort of talisman. From time to time, she would take it or hold it and think about all of the things that the sport of tennis has given her. I have gotten into the habit of carrying a tennis ball around with me when I travel and I like to think of it in the same way.
It was interesting how King was relating the story of the forming of the Education Equity Act. King advised Congress to take the word “women” out of the bill and said that women were not looking for special rights, just fair treatment.
Before these measures were put in place there was a severe lack of facilities and funding for girl’s and women’s athletics. Not only was there an imbalance of funding but there was a social and psychological shift that needed to happen as a society. King did not get her wish as to what it was called, but the Women’s Educational Equity Act was passed and that was a start to some meaningful change.
In 1973, Billie Jean King played an exhibition match against Bobby Riggs. This match occurred after Riggs boasted that even at the age of 55, he could beat any female tennis player. King writes in the book that she did not want to play Riggs. She found him obnoxious and didn’t want to sink to his sketchy way of doing things. But after he challenged another female tennis player and Riggs won, King knew that she needed to play the hustler and that she needed to win the match.
The Battle of the Sexes was a highly publicized tennis match that was held at the Houston Astrodome. This match was widely viewed as a symbolic battle between the sexes. Riggs was 55 and King was 29 at the time. Ultimately, King won the match in three sets, and with that win she became the face of equality in sports. As promised, eight months after the win, King used her winnings to set up the Women’s Sport Foundation. In the 50 years since its inception, WSF has raised and invested $100 million to expand opportunities for girls and women in all sports.
Billie Jean King always had the dream to organize team tennis. Dennis Murphy approached Billie Jean and Larry King about developing the idea of team tennis. World Team Tennis was then begun. The roster would have both men and women in equal numbers and all matches contribute equally to the final score. Owners could buy franchises and set up teams in different American cities just like the NFL or NBA.
It would be great for the players because they would have a guaranteed salary for months at a time with time still carved out to play the majors. This format is great for the fans as well because they can see the players that they would want to see, unlike a tournament which you never know what the schedule would be.
Fans would also get to have a team to cheer for and get to know the players. WTT allows the teams to interact with their community, support local charities and establish programs like clinics to help the grass-roots efforts to grow the game.
WTT has helped establish innovations in the sport of tennis like music during matches, permitted substitutions, they were the first ones to pay their lines people and among the first to use electronic line calling. The format of World Team Tennis is a great way for tennis to let some of the past go and embrace what the future is bringing. The color, cheering and simplified scoring is a big change from the rarely changing protocol of Wimbledon.
With World Team Tennis, King broke another barrier when she became the coach for the Philadelphia Freedom Team. There, she became the first woman to coach men in pro sports and it was the first time that men and women were on the same professional team.
King writes about her feelings that team sport is where it is at for jobs, maximum audience size, participation slots and money. Many kids will fall out of tennis, yearning for the camaraderie of a team sport. World Team Tennis is a way to bridge that and bring energy and vibrancy to the beautiful game of tennis.
In her book, King writes about her friendship with Elton John and how they discuss that music and sports are the great levelers that can bring people together, regardless of race, gender or social position. When it comes to tennis, King talks about how “everything we go through is a process of self discovery” and that “tennis can accelerate what you learn, because it engages all of your senses.” King talks about playing as a singles player and the challenges that arise.
She writes about the times when you think you can’t take another step or continue another minute, but then somehow you change gears and find a reserve that you didn’t know you have. King says, “There is a place you go sometimes that you didn’t realize you could go to and you win yourself a new beginning.”
On August 28, 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center was rededicated and named the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. At the re-dedication, King tells the story of how she was a product of learning to play on public courts and that this facility was created on National Park Land.
King invited everyone to come out and play and stressed that, “no one needs to be on the outside looking in.” Billie Jean King at the core is a tennis ambassador who sees the sport as a way for people to build bridges to become aware of justices that need to occur and wrongs that need sunlight to expose.
Billie Jean King is a legendary athlete and activist who has made significant contributions to women’s sports and gender equality. Her legacy is vast, but most notably was her achievement in defeating Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match. This was the springboard for her to give attention to the need for equality in pay and opportunity for women in sports.
King was also instrumental in the passage of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education programs that receive federal funding. Thanks to her tireless efforts, countless women have been able to pursue their athletic dreams and break through barriers that were once thought impossible to overcome.
As a consumer of this book, I enjoyed King’s storytelling ability and appreciate how far we have come in our society in the last 50 years in the way of equality thanks to feminist like her. As she has done throughout life, her life as a professional athlete and activist are completely blended together. King’s passion projects are so closely knit together through her talent on the court, it is simply impossible to tell King’s story without a dive into her message as an activist.
Modern day women and men often do not know the stories of just one generation ago. How many young girls that participate in school sports activities realize that there is a huge thank you that needs to be given to their mother’s and grandmother’s generation?
King tells of how the girls sports teams at her school were either non-existent, or totally underfunded. That should not be true today because of the ball that King got rolling with Title IX and the identification that King did to highlight that girls can play sports too, and be good at playing them.
As a personal take away from “All In” I am reminded how far we have come as a society. In relation to the history of the world, and as a woman, I feel like I live in a great time, full of opportunity and a place in a society that strives to find equality between the sexes.
Additionally, I admire the grit and focus that King incorporates into her game. Upon reading the passages about her digging deep and finding reserves that she didn’t think she possessed makes me search a little deeper when I’m in a difficult match. King inspires me to fight a little harder and find the grit that is needed to get through a difficult situation.
I also found it interesting to know that Billie Jean King and I share a habit: she kept a tennis ball around her as a good luck charm or talisman. I keep a tennis ball in my close vicinity at all times and that token makes me think of positive thoughts and remember all of the great life lessons that tennis teaches me. It felt very providential that I shared this tendency with King.
I honor Billie Jean as an amazing tennis player and important feminist of the modern age. This book is a great book to read or to listen to on Audible. The Audible version is read by King herself, and it is tender to hear her relating some of the experiences of her life.
If you’d like to purchase Billie Jean King’s Autobiography All In, you can get it here on Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Vision-Autobiography-Billie-Jean-King-ebook/dp/B07KVL3WQY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=13MJGJ05X0O74&keywords=billie+jean+king&qid=1688151062&sprefix=billie+jean+king%2Caps%2C373&sr=8-1
About the Author –
Katri is an avid club player and certified tennis junkie. Katri lives by the tennis mantra of, “Do whatever it takes to keep tennis fun. Sometimes it is playing more, sometimes it is buying a new tennis skirt.” Sportsmanship and fair play are utmost important and promotion of the game of tennis is paramount. Follow along for further tennis fun and friendship while keeping your head in the game.
