Person of the Week: Billie Jean King

Sept. 1, 2006 — -- Tennis great Billie Jean King succeeded as both a great athlete and a pioneer in sport. Now, the same tennis officials with whom she often battled while fighting for equality for women have paid her an extraordinary honor.

U.S. Open organizers renamed their venue the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Monday at the start of this year's championship. The decision came as a suprise to the star.

"I don't really understand it yet and I haven't had time to reflect. I really do hope it's a new beginning," King told ABC News.

She won four singles titles at the U.S. Open between 1967 and 1974, and said when she learned her name would grace the venue it felt like a "dream."

"I don't really get it to be honest," she said. "It's kind of overwhelming and I can't touch it really. It's a weird feeling; I don't know how to describe it yet really."

For Billie Jean King, the dream to become an athelete was something she devised before she was a teen.

She had her first tennis lesson at age 11, and was hooked.

"I knew I had found my destiny. I wanted to be the number one tennis player in the world," King said.

Six years later at age 17 she won the first of 20 titles at Wimbledon with a victory in the doubles championship.

King went on to become the first female athlete to earn $100,000 in a year. But her greatest accomplishments may have been off the court, where she fought for equal prize money and equal status for women at tournaments.

Her determination created opportunities for girls and women in sports that went far beyond tennis.

"I was chosen to lead," King said. "Followers choose leaders, leaders don't choose followers."

A unique opportunity arrived that proved the perfect way for King to further shift the place of women in sports in 1973 when she was challenged to play a man -- tennis great Bobby Riggs.

The men sponsoring the event expected it would provide great theater. But she saw it as a crossroads in her battle for women's equality in sport and it became the most watched tennis event in history.

The event was covered by sportscaster Howard Cosell, yet she noted he focused on her appearance.