NPR 4 THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When U Can’t

FRESH AIR

Women’s tennis champion Billie Jean King is best remembered for her 1973 exhibition match, known as “The Battle of the Sexes,” with self-proclaimed male chauvinist Bobby Riggs. But King also had a remarkable career, both as a tennis player and a trailblazer for women: She won a record 20 Wimbledon titles, six of them for singles, and she led an uprising of underpaid female players to demand fairer treatment and compensation in professional tennis. Those subjects, as well as King being painfully outed as gay in 1981, are the subjects of an American Masters documentary that aired this week on PBS stations, and is also available to . At 69, King is still active in the game as both a recreational player and an owner in World Team Tennis. She tells Fresh Air’s Dave Davies about the challenges of being a female player in the ’60s and ’70s. MORE