When Serena Williams walks out on Sunday for the US Openfinal, played on the cavernous main stadium at the Billie Jean King Tennis Centre, her supporters will include the very woman the facility is named after.
This is not simply a case of American solidarity. As King explained toTelegraph Sport, she has been following the Williams sisters' careers since she first played an exhibition match "some time in the mid-1990s" involving a pair of pint-sized prodigies. Now, two decades on, she believes that Serena must rank among the greatest players the game has ever seen.
"She's right near the top, that's for sure," said King. "I expect her to get to 18 major titles here and tie with Chris [Evert] and Martina [Navratilova], and after that the next goal will be Steffi Graf on 22. I can imagine her doing that. I told her years ago that I was only on 12. I said 'If you don't do a lot better than 12 I will be upset with you because you could be the best ever.'
"How long can she go on for? It's down to whether she wants to pay the price or not. I played until 40. She hasn't had major operations which is what I look at. She is a phenomenal athlete. She gets a lot of free points on her serve and that's a major factor. Both Serena and Venus go in and out [in their commitment to tennis], because they have other interests, but lately they are in because they realise they are getting older and time is starting to run out."
One reason for King's enormous admiration for both Williams sisters is that they have continued her trailblazing work in fighting for equal rights on the tennis court. It was Venus, in particular, who stood up in front of the Wimbledon committee in 2005 and gave a heartfelt speech about her lifelong dream of playing on Centre Court. She won the argument so conclusively that Wimbledon confirmed equal prize money two years later.
The connection between these women is deep-seated, as King "in her own subtle and sagacious way" had spent years priming Venus and Serena to fight the good fight. When they joined the American Fed Cup team in the late 1990s, two smart young women who still knew more about the ghettoes of Compton than they did about the history of their chosen sport, King was the team captain who set about educating them.
"When we were in Ancona [the venue for Serena's 1999 Fed Cup debut in Italy] I took them into the media room and they had all these photos of the old players," said King. "I just kept teaching through questions. I said: 'Who's the first person of colour to ever play in a major?' They knew it was Althea [Gibson]. I said 'What year?' They said '1975! 1980!'" Actually it was 1956.
"It was adorable. I'm going 'It doesn't matter. It's not a test.' I'd just get them fired up. Then maybe I'd teach them that women couldn't get a credit card until 1973 on their own without it co-signed by a guy. They said: 'Really? Oh my God, that would be rough. I have a credit card!' Just little things. You teach them history in a fun sort of way.
"Zina [Garrison, the 1990 Wimbledon finalist] and I were the coaches then and we really did help them. We taught Serena all about her sliced backhand. And the first time she won here at the Open [in 1999] was the first time she's played Fed Cup just before. She won the match on two sliced backhands in the tie-break at the end with [Martina] Hingis. I'll never forget Zina running up to me, crying after the match and saying: 'We helped her win!'" Now 70, King is still dynamic and razor-sharp; a woman who has already given an incalculable amount to sport, and to the cause of gender equality, yet continues to fight for what she believes in. This December, she will bring the Mylan World Team Tennis Smash Hits team to the Albert Hall for a fund-raising day, co-hosted by Elton John, in aid of HIV research.
More than 20 years ago, King anticipated Amelie Mauresmo's breakthrough into men's tennis by coaching Tim Mayotte, the top 10 player of the late 1980s. Now, she would willingly help any contemporary player who asked for her advice, but she ruefully admits that the calls have dried up.
"Today's players don't even know we exist," she said. "They think old is now the McEnroe, Navratilova age group. It always happens. I saw it happen to the players older than I am. I saw them not being appreciated.
"But I believe I could get someone like Gael Monfils turned around. To me, the reason he's so goofy is that he doesn't think he deserves to win. I think Andy Murray could do with flipping his psychology too. I wish I had some time with him, because I really like all that stuff."
Source: telegraph
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