ways, to laugh when he would say absurd things, and then to go and beat his butt. and that s what she did. so, susan, in 1973, billie jean king is 30 years old, she s a very accomplished tennis player, but tell us who is billie jean king in 1973, what does america see, who is she? they re seeing her mainly as a tennis player. she s also a tennis player who embraced and linked her career with the women s movement. i think what we need to remember is that in the early 1970s, the women s movement was a topic of great conversation and confusion for a lot of americans. and what is so interesting about her is that she s able to link her desire to be the number one tennis player and to improve things for women s professional tennis with her own career. and people really are seeing her on the tennis court, but they re also seeing her against a backdrop of this new social movement called feminism which is just sweeping the country. she so bobby riggs wins the the first battle of the
opponent ragged with overheads and passing shots. and when it was over, riggs had just enough energy to jump over the net. billie jean savored her victory at court side and her fans across the country did the same. well, the two men in my family left me alone with the match after we saw how it was going to go and watched bonnie and clyde. i loved every minute of it. he said women should stay pregnant or something, didn t he? they should be kept home and kept pregnant. i mean, you know, i m glad a woman beat him. and i want to bring many selena roberts, and we have mike pesca, national desk correspondent and sports reporter for npr and susan ware, author of the book game, set, match. thanks for coming here. i guess i ll start with you, selena, maybe just set the stage, take us back to 1973,