Tennis icon Billie Jean King on beating sexist rival Bobby Riggs in match behind Emma Stone’s new film Battle of the Sexes

IT WAS not so much a tennis match as the ultimate clash of girl power versus male pride.

Former Wimbledon and world champion, and self-proclaimed male chauvinist pig, Bobby Riggs was taking on the women’s world No1, Billie Jean King.

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And the stakes could hardly have been higher.

The 1973 match drew more than 90million viewers worldwide, including 50million in the US, and Bobby, then 55, had publicised it by posing naked but for a racquet, and as Little Bo Peep to wind up feminist lesbian equal rights campaigner Billie Jean, 29.

He had challenged her to the match because she had dared to insist that female players deserved the same prize money as men.

Bobby, meanwhile, warned that men would not be able to go for “poker games” if women’s lib continued and crowed that “the best way to handle women is to keep them pregnant and barefoot”.

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He refused to train for the game, bet the equivalent of £11,000 on himself to win and arrived at the venue, the Houston Astrodome, with a bevy of short-skirted models.

It was even billed as the Battle of the Sexes — which provides the title for a film about the match, out tomorrow, starring Emma Stone as Billie Jean and Steve Carell as Bobby.

Talking exclusively to The Sun yesterday — her 74th birthday — Billie Jean told how she had been preparing for the encounter for most of her life.

The six-times Wimbledon winner said: “Since I was 12 I wanted to help equality in any way I could.

“I wanted to make that promise to myself. I knew tennis would be an amazing platform.

“I knew as a 12-year-old girl it would be a difficult road, but I was certainly going to give it a try.

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“I knew I had to be No1 to do that. I enjoyed that pressure. I realised I had to practise so hard.”

At first she had rejected Bobby’s £75,000 prize money offer. But when Australian player Margaret Court lost to him in a similar match, she changed her mind.

Billie Jean knew that the fledgling professional women’s tennis tour she was backing would struggle if she did not prove the ageing Bobby wrong.

She recalled: “I was hoping it would help equality, the women’s tour and pro tennis. This was the most incredible opportunity and I couldn’t blow it. I had to win.”

Bobby had won Wimbledon in 1939 as a 21-year-old amateur and won the US Open the same year and again in 1941.

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Although he treated the match with Billie Jean as a joke, she said: “I respected him, because I knew his history. He was one of my heroes.

“So I went with him, I enjoyed him. I loved entertainment.”

Despite his arrogance, Bobby relied on vitamin pills rather than proper training, and when the big day came, Billie Jean showed him no mercy.

She exploited his poor fitness by hitting balls as far from his reach as possible, winning in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3. Afterwards humiliated Bobby hid in his dressing room for four hours until she went to console him.

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She said: “He underestimated me. I was so relieved I couldn’t tell you — such a burden off my shoulders.

“Afterwards we talked about how much we loved each other and it was closure for him.”

Bobby, who was also a notorious gambler and sports hustler, died in 1995 aged 77. Today, 44 years after their match, Billie Jean is well aware that the battle of the sexes goes on. Men and women may have equal prize money in tennis tournaments but in Hollywood and other fields there is still major wage disparity.

So did she approach the film’s producers to ensure Emma Stone was not paid less than Steve Carell?
She said: “We did have a talk about that. I didn’t have the power, but Emma did ask about that and Steve said, ‘OK, that’s fair. Let’s go’.

“I admire Emma for asking for what she needed, because women are taught not to do that.”

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The big topic of the moment is women refusing to put up with male sex pests — something Billie Jean had endured in the past.

She said: “I had challenges from sexual harassment from guys hitting on me in an inappropriate way.

“It was someone outside the tennis business for me. Other women told me a really high-ranking official took one of the women players behind the bushes and started trying to kiss her and telling her she wouldn’t get to play in the tournament.”

But the film is not just about sex equality. It also carries a message of sexual liberation.

Before she beat Bobby on the tennis court, Billie Jean’s personal life was in turmoil as she wrestled with the realisation she was a lesbian.

She had married sports promoter Larry King in 1965 but in 1971 she began a relationship with her personal assistant, Marilyn Barnett — played by British actress Andrea Riseborough in the film.

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But she said: “By the time the Riggs match came along I was not happy with Marilyn. I didn’t know who I was and where I was.

“I had parents who were homophobic. The world was homophobic. Even the players didn’t talk about it on the tour, not until the late Seventies. People wouldn’t even talk about a gay person, it was so shame-based.”

The relationship ended bitterly and in 1981 Marilyn sued for a share of Billie Jean’s wealth, claiming in court she had been her live-in lover.

Billie Jean won the case, but shelled out £400,000 in court fees and lost £1.5million in commercial deals, as few firms would back a lesbian.

She said: “It was a tough time in my life, that’s for sure. I was outed through the court case and I think people should be able to come out on their own terms.

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“I lost endorsements. When I was 37 I was going to retire and the trial came up and it was so costly I had to go back to playing tennis.”

Remarkably, Billie Jean’s husband Larry stayed with her during this rocky period and they only divorced in 1987, after she fell in love with her tennis doubles partner Ilana Kloss.

She recalled: “He didn’t want to get divorced, so that was another challenge. He didn’t understand what was going on with Marilyn that much.

“I was so ashamed I couldn’t talk about it to anybody. I was so in the closet. I did tell him eventually, as I never wanted to betray him.”

Billie Jean stayed on good terms with Larry and is godmother to his son from his subsequent marriage.

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These days she is out and proud and said: “It’s changed so much, it’s unbelievable. I am so happy.”

But one thing that hasn’t changed is the debate about whether a woman could beat a man on the sports field.

However, it is a discussion that needs to end, according to Billie Jean — and not because she beat Bobby.

In fact, the 39-time Grand Slam winner believes the top female player will never be able to compete with the leading male.

But she thinks women do deserve equal pay because they sell just as many tickets and provide the same entertainment as the men.

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She said: “We never said we were as good as the guys. But we are just as entertaining. We are exciting.
“Guys are better than us because they have testosterone and a bigger heart and can run faster and longer.

“The upper body has a huge difference — that’s not going to change. The top women are not going to take the top guys. Period. Let’s move on.”

• Battle of the Sexes (12A) is in cinemas tomorrow.