Billie Jean King: ‘Sports Helps Women to Love and Trust Their Bodies’

glamour.com:

serving facts.Each tennis ball represents a little-known statistic about women's representation in the workplace—the subject of and Elf Beauty's latest , which calls on businesses to increase diversity on corporate boards.Alongside her, Kory Marchisotto, the Chief Marketing Officer at Elf Beauty, reads aloud one such fact: “Women in leadership roles lead to higher return on investment.” Cue Billie serving another tennis ball into the crowd, shredding her racket like it's an electric guitar when someone makes a particularly impressive catch.

Billie Jean King is a rock star, alright.And her latest (international) stage is the Billie Jean King Cup, the world's largest annual women's tennis team competition, taking place in Malaga over the same week as the Power of Women's Sport Summit.

In 2020, the tournament, then known as the Federation Cup, was renamed in her honor. When it comes to Billie Jean King's legacy, we're just getting started.Christiane Amanpour and Billie Jean King at the Power of Women's Sport Summit in Malaga.Ask any young person to name a tennis player; you'll soon hear the words , , or even –thank you, , for that last one.

Women get to be superstars in the world of tennis, but only thanks to the dogged efforts of Billie.In 1970, at great personal risk, she persuaded eight other female tennis players at the top of their game to form their own professional tour, the Virginia Slims Circuit, which later evolved into the Women's Tennis Association—still the most successful women’s pro tour in any sport.As well as winning 39 Grand Slam titles, Billie went on to be the first female athlete to make 100k during a professional competition, defeated Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” a.k.a.