Billie Jean King won 39 Grand Slam titles across women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles
Billie Jean King turns 81 next week, but does not want tennis targeted at people like her.
Instead, she wants to see names and numbers on the back of shirts and a simplified scoring system to entice the young.
And even though the winner of 39 Grand Slam titles is conflicted by the WTA’s move into Saudi Arabia, she thinks a female world number one from the Middle East “could influence in a huge way”.
In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Sport in Malaga to mark the start of the women’s team competition which bears her name, the Billie Jean King Cup, she also had strong words for players who complain about the length of the season before signing up for lucrative exhibition events.
And on Emma Raducanu – to whom she presented the US Open trophy in 2021 – she says she does not like to judge players for at least 18 months after they have returned from a significant injury.
Aim the sport at children, not a 60-year-old fan
King co-founded World Team Tennis in 1974, but not many innovations of that annual summer professional mixed league – which has not taken place since 2021 – have been adopted by the main tours.
“I would like to see names and numbers on the back of the shirt in tennis,” she said.
“I want to make it easy for fans. I think it should be 1-2-3-4 not 15-love, 30-love.
“If you are a kid – I didn’t come from tennis – what the heck does that mean? If we want to get eight, nine, 10, 11, 12-year-old children involved in our sport we have to make it accessible to them – not to a 60-year-old fan.”
Players can’t complain about season length & play exhibitions
Poland’s Iga Swiatek and Italy’s Jasmine Paolini are the only top-10 singles players competing in the Billie Jean King Cup Finals this week.
Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Emma Navarro and Barbora Krejcikova are all absent. Injuries are a factor, but the prevailing reason is the length of a season which began with the United Cup on 29 December last year.
King also believes the year is too long, and says she would conclude the regular WTA Tour season at September’s US Open before rounding the year off with a short season of team competitions.
“It’s so interesting how they always complain it’s too much,” she said.
“They’ve been doing this forever by the way – but then they get a month off and they go play exhibitions.
“I go really? You guys said you needed the rest. Don’t tell me you think the season is too long. I know if there’s enough money you go and you play. It’s a really tough argument for me to listen to the players.”
Players must decide if WTA Finals stay in Saudi
In recent months, King has kept an open mind about whether the WTA Finals should be staged in Saudi Arabia.
The decision to hold the year-end tournament in Riyadh was criticised by some because of the country’s human rights record.
Homosexuality is illegal in Saudi Arabia, while Amnesty International has cited the country’s “jailing of women’s rights activists, suppression of free speech and rampant use of the death penalty”.
Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert considered the awarding of the Finals to Riyadh for a three-year term to be a “step backward” for women’s tennis, but King, who is gay, argued it was important at least to engage with the Saudi authorities.
And now the first edition of the tournament has been completed, King says it is time for the WTA Tour and the players to decide if this should be a long-term arrangement.
“I think they have to decide. I know they [the Saudi Federation] did a lot of programmes. Let’s see if they stay, let’s see what happens.
“It’s a really hard one. For the girls that live there, I want them to see the best too. I would love to see a female player come out of the Middle East as the number one in the world as she could influence in a huge way I think.