Equal Pay

          Like most jobs at the time professional tennis did not offer equal pay to men and women. All major tennis tournament had a large gap between the women and men’s purse. For example the US open had a $15,000 pay gap. Billie Jean King did not think this was fair like most top female tennis players at the time but, Billie Jean was different compared to the other players because she decides to fight for a change. She announced that she would boycott and not participate in the US open if they did not offer equal pay. The following year the US Open was the first major Tennis tournament to offer equal prize money to both men and women. This was a huge accomplishment for her because she knew it would make a lasting impact. Today we see womens tennis stars like Coco Gauf and Serena williams play on the big stage and because of Billie Jean they will always get equal pay compared to their male counterparts Although this changed tennis forever it was only a small part of Billie Jeans many accomplishments throughout her lifetime.