Billie Jean King: how a 1966 Wimbledon win changed sport
Sixty years after Billie Jean King won her first Wimbledon singles title on July 2, 1966, the tennis legend says that breakthrough gave her the platform to campaign for women's tennis and women's sports—and kickstarted a movement that reshaped how fans watch female athletes worldwide.
As the 2026 Wimbledon tournament unfolds, Sports Illustrated revisits the moment King, then chasing world No. 1 status, secured her first of 12 major singles championships. The win did not create her activist instincts—she had watched gender disparities since childhood—but it marked the point she felt ready to push equality in earnest.
Key Takeaways
- Billie Jean King won her first major singles title at Wimbledon on July 2, 1966, launching a career that would include 12 Grand Slam singles crowns.
- King told Sports Illustrated the victory was a huge turning point because world No. 1 status meant people listened more closely to her advocacy.
- Her activism helped expand women's leagues and television audiences, though she credits lifelong frustration with inequality as the original spark.
- Longtime partner Ilana Kloss, whom King met as a ball girl in Johannesburg in 1966, has stood beside her through decades of public and private milestones.
What happened when Billie Jean King won Wimbledon in 1966?
On July 2, 1966, King captured Wimbledon, her first major singles title. Sports Illustrated reports the victory kickstarted everything that followed in her playing career and public life.
King had told her mother, Betty Moffitt, at age 10 that she knew what she would do with her life: play tennis, become world No. 1, and eventually campaign to elevate women's tennis. The 1966 title made the second ambition real—and, in her view, made the third possible.
Why did King's 1966 Wimbledon win start a movement?
In an interview with Sports Illustrated, King said the 1966 win really started it all in her mind. When you are No. 1, people listen better and more, which could help the cause.
She calls the triumph a huge turning point because it finally gave her a platform to raise concerns about conditions in women's tennis and women's sports broadly. Without her early leadership, SI argues, women's sports would not look the same today—fans would not pack arenas or tune in at home the way they do now.
Winning at Wimbledon did not create that fire. King traces it to childhood, playing basketball with her father and noticing how differently men's and women's sports were treated. Still, she views 1966 as the inspiration to fully begin her activism.
Who has stood beside Billie Jean King through decades of change?
While King reshaped sport on court, she did not do it alone. According to HELLO! Magazine, King, now 82, and former WTA doubles partner Ilana Kloss, 70, fell in love in the late 1980s and married in a private New York City ceremony on October 18, 2018—encouraged by friend Elton John.
Their paths first crossed in 1966, the same year as that Wimbledon breakthrough, when Kloss worked as a ball girl during King's match in Johannesburg. Kloss later recalled the electric energy King brought to the court—focus, theatre, and an all-in style that defined her life on and off the court.
For more on athletes whose personal lives intersect with historic milestones, see our Celebrity Breaking News coverage.
How does King's legacy shape Wimbledon 60 years later?
It is somewhat ironic that King's equality campaign took root at Wimbledon, the most exclusive and traditional of the four Grand Slams. King herself calls the tournament the epitome of everything she loves and everything she does not like—cherishing tradition while insisting on inclusion and innovation.
Six decades after that first title, her message endures: keep tradition, but keep moving forward. For a generation that grew up with women's leagues and televised matches as the norm, the 1966 win is the starting line of a story still playing out at SW19.