King excited by equal pay, $18M prize pool at new-look Fed Cup finals

Former Fed Cup champion Billie Jean King said this week that the revamped international tournament, with an $18 million prize pot that makes it the richest annual team event in women's sports, is exciting for the future of the game.

The new-look Fed Cup finals, which features 12 teams competing in Budapest, Hungary, over one week in April, will see the winning players taking home $3.2 million and the winning country's tennis federation getting $1.2 million.

In total, $12 million will go to players, with the other $6 million earmarked for national federations. The total prize pool is up from $7.5 million in 2019 and $3.7 million in 2018.

Even more important for King, who was speaking at the Fed Cup draw ceremony at Budapest's Museum of Fine Arts, the prize money is equal to that for the tournament's male equivalent, Davis Cup.

"Women's tennis has always been the leader in women's sports," said King, who won the Fed Cup seven times as a player and four times as a captain. "It's significant because it's about equality—it's equal with the Davis Cup. It sends a very clear message that we're worth just as much. If you have two children at home, I hope you don't give your boy more allowance than your daughter.

"It's really to tell us women in the world that we're worth it, that we deserve it and we have to earn it."

King (pictured above at the 2019 ESPY Awards) has long been a social advocate for change, not only for equal pay, but also for the wider issues of gender equality and LGBTQ inclusion. 

In 1970, she was part of the Original 9, a group of female players who formed their own tour after refusing to play a tournament in which the men would earn 12 times what the women would take home. That tour, the Virginia Slims Circuit, would go on to become the Women's Tennis Association. 

"Back in 1970, tennis was a professional sport for two years by then, but women were finding less and less opportunities, so nine of us signed a $1 contract with Gladys Heldman, who was the editor of World Tennis Magazine, just to take a chance to see if we could start something," King said. "And our dream was that any girl born in the world, if she's good enough, would [No. 1] have a place to compete; No. 2, that she'd be appreciated for her accomplishments, not only her looks; and No. 3, to be able to make a living. Those were the three things—our dream for the future and the future generations."

King was part of the first Fed Cup tournament in 1963, leading the U.S. to victory over Australia. Then 18 years old, the legend remembers the tournament with pride and said Fed Cup combined two of her passions—representing her country and playing in a team environment. 

"I was 18 years old, and I got to represent the United States of America," King said. "Darlene Hard and Carole Caldwell were my teammates, and I kept saying to them all week, 'We have to win so our name will be first on the cup. Look at this cup, it's so beautiful. We have to be the first so many years later we can look at it and see that we were the first.' I kept telling them we have to win.  

"It was so close, we barely beat Australia—Margaret Smith and Lesley Turner. It was just so close, and there were only 16 teams when we started. It was one of the most thrilling moments of my life. There's nothing like when you hear, '15-love, Great Britain,' or 'USA' or 'Hungary' for your team. Then you get so tight. It's not your name, it's your country. And it really hits you then. I remember my heart pounding and my stomach got all weezy, and I thought, 'I got to really play well. I'm representing something bigger than myself.' For me, I've always loved team, and I loved representing my country, so this is perfect for my personality, and I just loved to be a part of it.

"It's very gratifying to see what has happened through the years. And, of course, the young ones will have to shape the future, but the women today are living our dream, and that's what makes me really happy."