The King of tennis

Billie Jean King does not play tennis on the Wii. And that’s too bad, since she’s also not able to get on the courts, not until she gets her knees replaced. That can’t happen until she’s ready to take some time off from fundraising, coaching and traveling.

But the surgery is scheduled, finally, and King is amped to get back to the racket—back to the courts she calls home, in whatever city they happen to be.

“That’s the first thing I said to my doctor,” King said when we spoke by telephone recently. “Will I be able to play tennis?”

Twelve-time Grand Slam singles winner King, 66, has channeled her passion for the sport into coaching for and organizing an upcoming tennis exhibition match that’ll take place December 8 at LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center. She’ll appear that night alongside musician Sir Elton John—who will play tennis rather than piano—and tennis greats Serena Williams, Andy Roddick, Anna Kournikova, Lindsay Davenport, Tommy Haas, Liezel Huber and Devin Britton. The event will raise money for AIDS charities throughout the Capital City through the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

The 17th annual Advanta World Team Tennis Smash Hits will take place at LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center at 7 p.m. on Dec. 8, 2009.

Teams coached by Billie Jean King and Elton John, respectively, will go head to head in World Team Tennis Co-ed format. Elton John also will play a celebrity match.

Players include Serena Williams, Andy Roddick, Anna Kournikova, Lindsay Davenport, Tommy Haas, Liezel Huber and Devin Britton.

In its 17-year history, Advanta WTT Smash Hits has raised more than $9 million for the Elton John AIDS Foundation. On the court, King and John have split the 16-match series with eight wins apiece.

Reserved ticket prices are $30, $65 and $100. Tickets are available through the LSU Box Office or by calling 800-960-8587. Visit www.WTT.com/smashhits to order tickets online.

Though she won’t be volleying any shots that night, King said those who are playing will have their game faces on.

“So, not like Celebrity Jeopardy?” I asked.

“We play hard,” King said with a chuckle. “But we also play with the crowd.”

King called from a doctor’s office waiting room in Phoenix while her mom, the spry Betty Moffitt—who still likes to lift weights and dance even though she’s nearing 90—got a checkup. King refers to her mother as her biggest “shero,” as she calls her female role models—a woman who didn’t really care for sports herself, but who sold Tupperware and Avon to support the budding careers of her talented children (King’s brother, Randy Moffitt, became a professional baseball player).

“Can we do this in 25 minutes?” she asked me, then—in her signature take-charge style—“Yeah, I think we can knock this out in 25 minutes, right?”

I was happy to talk to King for as long as she was willing. When I was racing bicycles in the ’90s, I often felt thankful for Title IX, the law that bans sexual discrimination in athletics and other spheres. I knew that King worked hard to help get that law passed. Her legendary 1973 win against Bobby Riggs in the much-publicized “Battle of the Sexes” proved that strength doesn’t depend on gender. It was a message many girls have taken to heart ever since, even those of us who were too little to watch her kick the guy around.

I asked King how in the world a little girl from Long Beach, Calif., went on to become one of the greatest tennis players in the world. Before I finished the question, King was at the verbal net with her racket.

“I’m not the greatest in the world,” she protested with a charming staccato I quickly got is an integral part of her personality. “Every generation gets better.”

But then she explained to me what just might be the secret to her success. She was a park kid, not a country-club kid. She was hungrier. She didn’t let things like birds or shouts from nearby playgrounds get to her. She had to focus, to see through the distractions of being just an ordinary kid with a dream at a gritty city court.

She admits she still has to work really hard not to interrupt others. In our phone conversation she said, “No, you go on. What were you saying? I’m sorry.” Her parents always taught her to be gracious. She is very likeable. As soon as we hung up, I committed her number to my phone’s memory under Billie J. You never know when you might need to call on a shero.

“At one point in my life, I wanted to be a missionary,” King wrote in her 2008 book Pressure Is a Privilege: Lessons I’ve Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes.

Really?

“I was a baby when I decided I wanted to do something great with my life,” King told me. She set a goal when she was 11 to become the best tennis player in the world. When she was 12, she “had an epiphany” that she also wanted to change that world for the better. It sounds cliché, except that King actually pulled it off. Along with being a tennis champ, she’s deeply involved with both the Women’s Sports Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Three years ago, at Wimbledon, King met Baton Rouge’s Paula Pennington de la Bretonne and her husband Jack. They became good friends.

“Paula is an amazing person, and very kind and generous to others,” King said. “I hope I know Paula and Jack the rest of my life.”

Funding from the Pennington Foundation made Baton Rouge an obvious choice for the location of this year’s Smash Hits. The Baton Rouge Area Foundation will oversee how the money raised on Dec. 8 will be spent, King explained, demonstrating a nitty-gritty knowledge of the funds distribution process.

“Have you heard of Muhammad Yunus?” King asked, as if she was talking about Elvis.

She almost gushed then, explaining how Yunus, a Bangladeshi banker and economist, came up with the idea of giving small loans to people in Third World countries. “It’s going to change the whole world,” she added.

King finds herself drawn to people who want to make a difference. She decided to assist Elton John with his AIDS Foundation after they’d been friends for years. He actually wrote the hit song “Philadelphia Freedom” for her. And, she told me, he’s a darn good tennis player too.