billie jean king and bobby riggs


King worked tirelessly to promote the new


league and to bring awareness to the disparity and sexism she and other women felt, both on and off the court. The best example possible of that oppressive behavior and attitude, was found in a 55-year-old, male, former tennis champion by the name of Bobby Riggs. A tireless self-promoter and consummate performer, Riggs regularly and loudly opined publicly, regarding his feelings about “Uppity women” and how even as pros they didn’t deserve the same pay as men, simply because in his opinion, they didn’t play as well. Riggs endless chauvinistic commentary and continuous challenges to prove he could easily win were bolstered by his win against star player Margaret Court. A win that would eventually spurn King, who had declined Riggs’ invitations up until then, to accept his challenge. A decision that would help to move the tennis world forward, define a generation and change women’s sports forever and add to the retooling of many of the day’s social moreys. Battle of the Sexes was the term applied to the


match Riggs and King would eventually play, which was watched by a record 90 million around the globe and attended by 30,472 inside the Houston Astrodome…Still the record for the largest crowd at a tennis match. A spectacle to be sure, it featured Riggs, ladened with Sugar Daddies logos, entering the arena aboard a rickshaw pulled by tight-T-shirted female models, followed by King, carried in on a litter born by bare-chested men. Billie JeanKingrouted Riggs in straight sets,


emma stone as billie jean king in battle of the sexes


6-4, 6-3, 6-3, in a game that would attain mythical status, spawning several books, television films and now 44 years later, a major motion picture starring Emma Stone as King and Steve Carell as Robert Larimore Riggs. King and Stone spoke withThe Rage Monthly about the match, the film and the key players.


Stone talked of what it was like to prepare and


how she balanced spending time with King and how she managed her time with the tennis star. “I had never played a real person before, much less someone like Billie Jean, so I wasn’t sure what my process was going to need to be. Billie Jean made it very clear early on that she would be open to what- ever process we kind of needed to go through in order to bring this whole thing to fruition. We threw some balls around on the tennis court and then I quickly realized that I needed to watch footage from her during the time period and read a lot about her back then, because she is so fully formed now. She is able to talk about all of it, with closure and hindsight and can see it more clearly than she might have been able to at age 29. So, I ended up just doing a lot of research on her just in that very specific time frame.” Stone talked about what it took to preparing physically for the role, “I have never played tennis and am not particularly good at tennis. (Laughs) I had a lot of lessons and I had an incredible professional double named, Kaitlyn Christian, who was phenomenal and an amazing coach, Vincent Spadea, as well as a great trainer who was bulking me up. I was surrounded by a team of massive support when it came to that element. So much of the story was about her personal journey and experience, but if this had been the Billie Jean tennis match movie, I would have never gotten the part.” (Laughs) “King was a social activist, she was basically


wired for social change and new that from a young age,” Stone continued. “She knew what had to change, but she also knew that if she could be the best at tennis, that it was going to be an amazing platform for her and she could change the world. Physicality has everything to do with that. if you have the strength do to that in tennis, you can change other things, even the world. That was


OCTOBER 2017 | RAGE monthly 33


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