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Billie Jean King Said Singles And Doubles Equally Important To Her
Billie Jean King said in her 1980 book “Play Better Tennis With Billie Jean King” that singles and doubles were equally important to her.
“Unlike a lot of today’s players, doubles has always meant as much to me as singles. And winning Wimbledon doubles in 1961 with Karen Hantze was unforgettable. The highest point of my career… I tend to come up with a different answer each time I’m asked this question. Just for this book I have really tried to arrive at something definite and I have to say that winning Wimbledon doubles with Karen Hantze was something special to me – my tennis Everest if you like. She was Karen Hantze then (Susman now) and I was little Miss Moffit, all-talking daughter of a Long Beach fire officer. It was my first year at Wimbledon and I beat Margaret Court (she was Smith then) in my opening match which was quite a debut and an imperishable memory in itself.”
Why was winning that doubles title so special? “She was fun. I liked her and still do. We giggled, had a good time and beat Margaret and Jan Lehane 63 64 in the final. We were the youngest team ever to win the title. And looking back, I just cannot top the feeling I had that day.”
About ten years ago I did a Biofile interview with King and her answer to her “greatest career moment” was of course different (see link).
Today of course the heavy emphasis is on singles and doubles has become more of a sideshow with mostly little known journeyman players and doubles specialists who never made it big in singles, usually because of inferior movement, mobility and foot speed. But doubles today is actually the more interesting, varied game to watch as there are more different patterns of points and ways to finish points. Singles can sometimes become monotonous with all the long, physical baseline rallies.
It seems most recreation players and seniors prefer to play doubles over singles. But as Sander Groen, said, when they go to cookouts and barbecues they like to tell their friends which singles stars they saw at the ATP tournament.
Perhaps tennis is ready for a change, and the establishment is ready to follow the forgotten philosophy of Billie Jean King and treat singles and doubled equally.
It would be interesting to hear what King says about her value today of singles and doubles, and if it has changed from 1980?
And if King is ready to promote doubles and singles equally today, how such a promotional campaign, if other major tennis figures supported her (McEnroe, Laver, Jensens, Bryans, etc), could reshape the future of pro tennis.
Remember, pickleball PPA Tour does not emphasize just singles, their tournaments give equal value to singles, doubles and mixed doubles – and the pickle ball fan base is loving every minute of the variety of competition and entertainment value.
Billie Jean King · Karen Hantze · Margaret Court · Wimbledon
