Billie Jean King was everywhere in 2024.

She started the year in Toronto and attended the first game of the Professional Women’s Hockey League – a personal passion project that she has been working on for years. King appeared at three of the four Grand Slams, served as a BBC commentator at Wimbledon, attended the Paris Olympics (where she gave a memorable interview with Snoop Dogg) and celebrated the Los Angeles Dodgers’ season, from the opening game in Korea to the World Championship series victory.

As co-owner of the Dodgers, King attended the festivities in addition to her involvement in other sports, including the WNBA Finals and, of course, the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Malaga, Spain.

Other highlights in 2024 included:

• Attending the US President’s State of the Union address with her partner Ilana Kloss
• Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Women’s Sports Foundation with Vice President Kamala Harris
• Delivering the commencement speech at the Annenberg School of USC
• Received the Congressional Gold Medal, the first individual athlete to receive this award
• Award at the Hispanic Star Gala alongside Rosie Casals
• Unveiling of a statue of himself in California State, Los Angeles
• Recording a fashion segment for Naomi Osaka’s production company
• Appears on “Jeopardy!” Master”

Did we mention that King recently turned 81?

“When people tell me about all the things we do, I think, ‘Wow, that’s pretty good,'” King said recently from her home in Chicago. “And 81 is really good, I think. But I don’t think about it that way.”

No, she prefers not to talk about the past; she thinks and acts almost exclusively in the present and with an eye on the future. Above all – and this should come as no surprise to any of her fans – the question is how to further improve the emerging state of women’s athletics.

For King, her greatest achievement was taking women’s tennis from the dark ages of amateur competition to check-cashing as a professional player. She was the key factor in the founding of the Women’s Tennis Association more than half a century ago, a feat she has repeated – with the financial backing of entrepreneur Mark Walter – with the PWHL.

It started with a call from Kendall Coyne, captain of the U.S. national hockey team and 2018 Olympic gold medalist.

“We need a real professional hockey league – we need it for the future,” she told King and Kloss in her New York apartment.”

Despite the individual nature of tennis, King has always been an enthusiastic team sports athlete. She grew up playing on basketball and school tennis teams and built World Team Tennis based on this premise.

“Can you stick together through thick and thin – because sometimes things get thin?” King asked Coyne. “Your answer was yes. It’s the first time that women’s ice hockey players have had any semblance of a real professional league. Someone is wearing their gear and getting all these things they’ve never had before, so it’s really exciting. It’s a huge investment, but women’s sport needs it – so here we go.”

And then King jumps like lightning to the next topic that needs to be addressed.

Since her early days in tennis, King has been a mentor to Chris Evert, who said just being around her can be tiring at times.

“She has so much energy,” Evert said. “She was just always excited about life. A passion for life. When she was nine years old, she said, “I want to be No. 1 – and I will be No. 1.” When I was nine, I had just finished painting.

“Billie was born a leader, a very special person. These tennis players today should be so grateful that she was in our sport. If she had been a golfer we would have been in the background. How lucky are we that she was a tennis player?”

“As best as possible”

Martina Navratilova and the WTA arrived at exactly the same time and the Czech player became one of the tour’s brightest stars. Navratilova is aware of her debt to King and her fellow pioneers.

“She put women’s tennis on the map,” Navratilova said from her home in Miami. “By leading the way with the Virginia Slims Tour. And then she took it to a whole other level by defeating Bobby Riggs (1973). This was the Houston extravaganza. Billie went beyond tennis – it extended across all sports.

“This is the legacy that pushes women to strive for more. This is as good as it gets. As true champions, they reach into areas that go beyond their specific expertise – into the world. Billie Jean did that.”

King said: “I mean, we went through hell, staying up until 4 a.m. holding meetings. No one will ever see it – but we know it. This was necessary to provide opportunities for female athletes.”

Today’s players, she said, may be more curious about how the system that so generously rewards them actually works.

“I asked a player at a (WTA Tour) 500,” King said. “I said, ‘Did you get your money?’ And the player said of course. I said, “Did you ask the promoter or owner how he or she did?” And she had this blank look on her face.

“I said, ‘These are the people who work all year so you can have a week. And they might have lost a lot of money. You got your check. Have you ever asked them if they had a good week? The answer is always no.”

King, who was battling a virus, went into relative decline toward the end of 2024. But it is already preparing for another turbulent year in 2025. She and Kloss even got back on the court after a 20-year break and rekindled their love of playing tennis balls.

“I had forgotten how happy it makes me,” King admitted.

As the new season approaches, King is ready to get back to her global advocacy work. Organized as always, she travels with her signature style – including a box of 16 customized glasses in different colors to match her outfits.

It’s no surprise that King isn’t slowing down. The PWHL now wants to expand. Executives have confirmed plans to add up to two franchises for the 2025-26 season, with no restrictions on which North American markets they are considering.

“Growth is critical to the future of women’s sports,” King said.

A mantra she has lived by for decades.