50 years of Title IX: From Billie Jean King to Naomi Osaka, here's how the tennis world is celebrating

Fifty years ago today, Title IX became the law of the land in the United States—and it changed women’s sports and education forever.

The law banned discrimination on the basis of sex in any program that receives federal funding, including universities. Generations of female athletes in the US and beyond have since benefited from its impact: according to the Women’s Sports Foundation, women only made up 15% of college athletes when Title IX was first introduced on June 23, 1972—today, 44% of NCAA athletes are women.

Here’s how the tennis world is celebrating the anniversary of this historic milestone:

No one in tennis has had a bigger impact in the fight for equality than Billie Jean King. The 39-time major champion dedicated most of her Hall of Fame career to building up women's tennis, and she continues to champion gender equality to this day.

On Thursday, King joined US First Lady Jill Biden in Washington DC for an event commemorating the passing of the federal civil rights law. Speaking at Capital One Arena, King emphasized the importance of expanding equity for those who identify as LGBTQ+, are part of the BIPOC community and those with disabilities.

“The primary beneficiaries of Title IX have been white, suburban girls. Let’s use this milestone anniversary to reenergize our focus on strengthening and advancing equity and opportunity for all girls and women,” King said. “We have to look forward.”

King also took the stage in Manhattan with Tory Burch at the American fashion designer’s third Embrace Ambition summit.

The pair talked women’s empowerment, and also dropped some major news: Tory Burch has become the official outfitter of the Billie Jean King Cup. The designer’s eponymous fashion label will now design pieces for ball kids, chair umpires and other on-court officials, as well as a custom jacket for the champions.

“I am in awe of Billie. What she means to young women is hard to describe,” said designer Burch. “I’m thrilled for our partnership. Personally I’m really excited to design the winner’s jackets. I think about those green jackets they give men at the Masters [in golf], and I want to make something as iconic for world champion women athletes.”

In Chicago, American players Vania King and area native Taylor Townsend kept the celebrations going. They joined Break the Love to help launch a summer series of programs for girls and women at four renovated courts named after Michelle Obama in the high school that the former first lady attended.

Break the Love is a next-gen social sports platform for tennis, which aims to make the sport more accessible through group based activities and by creating tennis programs to boost attendance in underutilized spaces. It’s all part of the organization’s mission to empower women through sport: Break the Love cites an Ernst & Young survey that revealed that 95% of female Fortune 500 CEOs played a sport growing up.

In partnership with Wilson and USTA, the organization also hosted a powerful discussion on “Gender Equality Across Sport & Education”, reflecting on the far-reaching impact of Title IX beyond sports. King and Townsend joined pro MMA fighter Bi Nguyen and education advocate and activist Vee Kativhu in the all-women-of-color panel hosted at Wilson’s Chicago flagship store.

After a fierce fight for pay equity at Wimbledon, Venus Williams holds the distinction of being the first woman to claim the first ‘equal’ champion’s check in 2007.

The American waged her war against gender discrimination with the swing of a racquet and the stroke of a pen—it was in part due to her moving op-ed in the Times of London that Wimbledon and later the French Open finally joined the other Grand Slams in offering equal prize money to male and female champions.

To celebrate the anniversary of Title IX, Venus authored another op-ed reflecting on how far we’ve come in those 50 years—and how much there is still left to do.

Here’s an excerpt, in Venus’ own words, from Newsweek:

“Early on in my career there were definitely moments that opened my eyes to inequality between men and women, like disproportionate court times. I saw how many women's matches were on center courts at combined events for women and men. When you're relegated to a side court, you notice that.

“Experiencing prize money that wasn't equal was incredibly significant. No man had to experience that, but every woman did. That was pretty glaring until I became the first woman to receive equal prize money at Wimbledon in 2007.”

Naomi Osaka’s new media company Hana Kuma may have just launched two days ago, but the three-time Grand Slam champion is already hard at work ensuring that one of the central figures in Title IX’s passing gets her due. She has lent her backing as an executive producer of MINK!, a New York Times op-doc from Oscar-winning director Ben Proudfoot.

“Often the most significant achievements happen because of incredible individuals whose stories, unfortunately, get lost in the re-telling of history,” Osaka said.

“Particularly with Title IX, we’ve mentioned the momentous effects it’s had on women’s sports but we don’t talk enough about the incredible individual who worked the system to make it happen—Patsy Takemoto Mink. Patsy was the first woman of color in Congress, a Japanese-American woman, and I was immediately inspired by her story.

“Without Patsy, there is no Naomi Osaka or legions of other female athletes who got a chance because of her work.”