'Forbes' puts Billie Jean King among America's greatest living innovators

Fifty-three years ago, Billie Jean King had a vision for what women's tennis could be. And now, ahead of a milestone anniversary for the United States, she -- because of that vision -- is being celebrated as one of America's greatest living innovators.

King has landed at No. 208 on Forbes' recently-unveiled Innovator 250 List, which the publication says celebrates "the business leaders, founders and entrepreneurs who aren’t just inventors, but have transformed entire industries and created new ones." It is part of a year-long campaign honoring the 250th anniversary of the U.S.'s founding in 1776.

King was named to the list for having "catalyzed women’s professional sports" as the co-founder of what is today the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz. In 1970, King was one of nine players (the famed "Original 9") who signed symbolic $1 contracts to start the Virginia Slims Tour, the precursor to the modern-day WTA. Three years later, King and a group of more than 60 players met at the Gloucester Hotel in London, one week before Wimbledon, to formalize the WTA -- and King's peers named her its first president.

"Few stand as tall in the world of women’s sports as Billie Jean King," wrote Forbes on X, formerly Twitter, in honoring her. "The legendary athlete and advocate leveraged her athletic dominance to build a powerful platform for equality, one that she has continued to scale, shattering barriers in sport and society."

Today, the WTA sees out King's vision through the more than 1,600 players who play what's become the most lucrative professional sport for women -- with half of the world's Top 20 highest-paid female athletes in 2025 playing on the tour.

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