THE ROVING PECKER PRESENTS: "How Long Do We Need To Keep Thanking Billie Jean?" by Emma (aka The Tennis Chick)!

Greetings, Manor Hors! Periodically, "The Roving Pecker" presents urgent missives from filthy esteemed guest writers. Today's is from Emma (aka The Tennis Chick):

How long do we need to keep thanking Billie Jean? 

Someone forgot to send Coco Gauff the memo reminding her that she was supposed to bow and scrape and celebrate the 50th anniversary of Billie Jean’s accomplishment before celebrating her own victory at the US Open. As she received the check for her $3 million prize money, Coco shouted, “Thank you, Billie, for fighting for this!” and the crowd roared its approval.

But to me, Billie seemed like she wanted her own moment. As she handed Coco the winner’s trophy, she seemed to expect Coco to take one handle as Billie Jean continued holding the other while the cameras clicked and clicked. Instead, Coco excitedly snatched the trophy out of both of Billie Jean’s hands and turned to smile radiantly for the cameras as she lifted it aloft. The moment was only hers.

Let’s be clear — tennis is deeply indebted to Billie Jean. There is no question that she started the movement toward equal pay for men and women players. This meant that Coco received the same $3 million prize that Djokovic did for winning the 2023 US Open.

Fifty years ago, the US Open became the first Slam to pay women the same prize as the men. Historically, men were sometimes paid as much as eight times what women received across most tennis tournaments. This was justified on the grounds that women’s tennis was inferior to men’s, even though women’s matches sold as many tickets as men’s and garnered an equal share of the television viewing audience.

Another argument to justify paying women less was that men play the best of five sets at Slams while women play the best of three. In reality, outside of the four Slams, men and women play the best of three sets at the 60 plus other tennis tournaments occurring during any calendar year. But despite this, women also continued to receive reduced pay at these other events. The Slams set the standard, and everyone else followed.

A group of nine women, led by Billie Jean King, came into this battle. It all started with Billie’s realization that challenging and beating a male tennis player was one of the strategies she could use to bring attention to the issue of inequality. First, she persuaded Margaret Court to play Bobby Riggs; his victory in three sets was not the desired outcome. So Billie decided that, as with most things, if you want a job done well, you have to just do it your damn self.

Billie Jean’s gender-bending match against Bobby Riggs was cast as a battle of the sexes, the stuff of which hot movies would eventually be made, starring 28 year-old Emma Stone and a very much in shape, 54 year-old Steve Carell. In reality, Bobby Riggs was at the time a 55-year-old retired, out-of-shape, beer-guzzling hustler who organized exhibition matches to make money to feed a gambling habit for which his wife had kicked him out of the house after he gambled away their car. Billie Jean was 29, fit, and the world's #1 women’s player. She spanked Bobby in straight sets, using this marquee event to make the case for equal pay for women.

The USTA has never stopped thanking Billie Jean. They named the National Tennis Center in her honor. She developed her own tournament (World Team Tennis) that follows unique rules that no one but the players seems to understand. She is hauled out for sundry prestigious occasions. Her image is blasted all over the US Open. To me, it seems like other women — like Venus Williams — successfully took up the battle to get the other Slams to offer equal pay, but they continue to be overshadowed by what Billie Jean accomplished. At 79, she remains the pioneer who keeps getting recognized and celebrated year after year. Really, she has a chokehold on history.

At what point do we get to say, enough already? Let Coco have her win - without you trying to piggyback onto her moment. You did your part, thanks, but this is no longer about you.

Photo Credits: Sarah Stier/Getty, Robert Prange/Getty