‘Battle of the Sexes’ movie is about more than tennis

NEW YORK — Billie Jean King discovered tennis at 11 and noticed it was nearly all white — the dresses, the balls and the people.

She won a Wimbledon doubles title at 17 and married Larry King in 1965 while both were students at California State University, Los Angeles. He studied law and played tennis on a scholarship. Billie Jean studied history and worked two jobs because she had no scholarship, which her husband noted made her a“second-class citizen.”

That epiphany led King to social activism on and off the court. She and eight other women eventually put their careers on the line in 1970 to start the Virginia Slims tennis tour, with the deep pockets of World Tennis magazine publisher Gladys Heldman and corporate sponsor Philip Morris.

The story of the early days of the tour and King’s fight for equal prize money are chronicled in the movie “Battle of the Sexes,” which opened nationwide Friday.

The match between Bobby Riggs, a former tennis champion who hyped it with glib comments about gender roles, and King played out before a sellout crowd of 30,000 at the Houston Astro- dome and 50 million viewers on TV in September 1973.

There was little at stake for the 55-year-old Riggs except a chance at $100,000 for the winner. For the 29-year-old King, who won in straight sets, it was about respect for women and the reputation of the fledgling pro tour.

“We had players that were willing to take a stand and be counted,” King said of women earning less than half the prize money of men at the same tournaments.

The early 1970s were tumultuous times, with fomenting civil rights, gay rights and women’s movements along with anti-Vietnam War sentiment. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX, the federal law that opened doors for women at public universities by banning sex discrimination in all education programs, including sports.

In 1973, when women needed their husbands’ permission to get a credit card, the gender pay gap was 56.6 cents to the dollar; it increased to 79.6 cents in 2015, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

“That was interesting to us, that such important issues could be debated in this circus-like atmosphere,” co-director Jonathan Dayton said of the publicity before the match. “Frankly, it reminds us a little bit of the times we’re in.”

Here are more things to know about King and Riggs:

Equal pay: King threatened to boycott the 1973 U.S. Open unless the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association provided equal prize money. She lined up a sponsor to pay the difference before the group agreed and paid $25,000 to both winners.

This month at the U.S. Open, a facilit y that now bears King’s name, 24-yearold American Sloane Stephens was handed a check for $3.7 million — same as men’s champ Rafael Nadal.

The U.S. women’s soccer and hockey teams recently used similar tactics for improvements in salaries and benefits.

Personal is political: The movie shows the “Libber” vs. the “Lobber” struggling in their marriages — Riggs with his gambling habit and King with her sexuality. Riggs, for all his talk about women staying home, was supported by his wealthy wife. It delves into King’s realization she’s gay and her budding relationship with Marilyn Barnett.

“It’ s not just a tennis movie,” King said. “It’s really about social change and it’s also about the inner struggles we all go through. There’s a lot of humor in it, too. It’s really a wonderful balance.”