Billie Jean King says 'Battle of the Sexes' with Riggs was about equality, not money

Tennis legend Billie Jean King has revealed that she accepted the 100,000 dollars challenge match against Bobby Riggs because she wanted to create history and force equality for women players, while Bobby Riggs was going for more money.

According to The Sun, more than 50 million people worldwide had tuned in to see if Riggs could prove his point about all women players being lousy and that he could beat any women at tennis, only to watch the Los Angeles player getting a straight set drubbing at the hands of King.

Billie Jean King also revealed that women's tennis was in a tough phase during that year and she had thought that if she lost the match, it was going to be killed, adding that Riggs had underestimated her and she wanted to run him into the ground.

Three months before the match, Billie had founded the Women's Tennis Association in London to counter the male-dominated authorities, which did not want women to be paid the same as men.

After her win over Riggs, the US Open had announced equal prize money to men and women, even though many tournaments still pay more to men players.