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Billie Jean Moffitt King (born November 22, 1943 in Long Beach, California) is a retired tennis player from the United States.
King was born Billie Jean Moffitt. She was born into a conservative Methodist family, the daughter of a firefighter father and housewife mother.

During her career, she won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.
Of her singles titles: 6 at Wimbledon, 4 at the U.S. Championships/Open, 1 at the French Open, and 1 at the Australian Championships. She won the last 7 Grand Slam singles finals in which she played, 6 of them in straight sets. Four of those finals were against Evonne Goolagong.
She is generally considered to be one of the greatest female tennis players and female athletes in history. King has been an outspoken advocate against sexism in sports and society. The tennis match for which the public best remembers her is the "Battle of the Sexes" in 1973, in which she defeated Bobby Riggs, a former Wimbledon men's champion.
In 2000, King received an award from the GLAAD, an organisation devoted to reducing discrimination against gays, lesbians and bisexuals, for "furthering the visibility and inclusion of the community in her work." The award noted her involvement in production and the free distribution of educational films, as well as serving on the boards of several AIDS charities..
King was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. In 1990, Life magazine named her one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century."
King was the recipient of the 1999 Arthur Ashe Courage Award.
.Friends with singer Elton John, the song "Philadelphia Freedom" is a tribute to King. On a PBS program, John talked about how he brought a demo copy of the record to play for her right after he had recorded it.

I believe Billie Jean should be included on the list of 50 women Who Have Changed the Way We Live because her list of achievements and strength of character bought attention to the tennis game, she is a great roll model for future women tennis players – that hard work pays off, and is well respected in the field. The song by Michael Jackson also bought attention to her name. I admire Billie Jean as she made a great contribution to the sport yet the prize money for women players is nothing like it is today, had she won the same amount of Grand-Slams today as in her prime, she would definitely be a multi, multi millionaire.