Last night, four of the top female tennis players — Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic, and Jelena Jankovic — battled for the Billie Jean King Cup at Madison Square Garden. It was the inaugural BJK Cup, and while the matches were an exhibition, there was real money to be had. Serena, who beat her sister in the final, won $400,000. Venus took home $300,000, and Ivanovic and Jankovic each took hime $250,000.
Apart from the tennis, Billie Jean King was honored by a number of people for her contributions to women’s rights. But, beyond that, for her work on all civil rights. In addition to being a powerful voice for the LGBT population, she most recently spoke out about the debacle in Dubai that prevented a player from playing a UAE tournament because she was Israeli.
Bill Clinton, who I’m sure was looking for a way to redeem his gay picket-line crossing in San Diego just a few weeks ago, paid tribute to about Billie Jean King last night. He said, “She has probably done more than any other woman in the world to empower women and educate men.”
In accepting the honor last night, King, who sounded as though she could have very easily been a great politician, once again stepped up to the plate and said that civil right are civil rights, regardless of gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation.
Gotta love her.
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