Billie Jean King Net Worth: How Rich Is the Tennis Hall of Famer in 2022?

King is an American former world No. 1 tennis player who is best known for securing 39 Grand Slam titles. The Billie Jean King net worth figure is estimated to be around $22 million as of 2022.

Early Life

Billie Jean King was born in November of 1943 in Long Beach, California to parents Bill Moffitt and Betty (née Jerman). Her father worked as a firefighter, while her mother remained a housewife.

Interestingly, Billie Jean’s brother Randy was a major league baseball pitcher. He played for 12 seasons in the MLB for the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and Toronto Blue Jays.

She started playing tennis at the age of 11 after purchasing her first racket for $8. It didn’t take long for Billie Jean to begin turning heads with her play. She was known for her aggressive playstyle.

King graduated from Long Beach Polytechnic High School in 1961 before enrolling at Los Angeles State College, now California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA).

Although not graduating in order to focus on tennis, she met and got engaged to Larry King.

Billie Jean King Net Worth and Career

Between 1959 and 1965, King solidified herself as arguably the most promising young female tennis prospect in the world. By 1966, she entered her prime, ready to begin winning major tournaments.

In 1967, she was awarded the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year. Remarkably, King won three Wimbledons, a U.S. Championship, and an Australian Championship from 1966 to 1968.

After hitting a dry spell the next two years, Billie Jean rose to absolute prominence over the next five years.

Over that span, King brought home a trio of U.S. Open titles, three more Wimbledon titles, along with a French Open title on the clay surface.

In total, Bille Jean King won 39 Grand Slam titles, 12 of which were in singles tournaments, while 16 were in doubles, with 11 being mixed doubles. It’s reported that she earned a total of $1.97 million in prize money.

Impressively, Billie Jean became the first tennis player to be named Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1972. Also, she was the first woman to ever receive the honor.

Additionally, Life magazine named her one of the “100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century” in 1990.

Work Outside of Tennis

Over the years, Billie Jean founded the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative, the Women’s Tennis Association, and the Women’s Sports Foundation. Moreover, she co-founded World Team Tennis.

Not only that, but King is a part of the ownership group of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Also notable, she is an Adidas Global Ambassador.

King has written a pair of books in her career. The first in 2008, titled Pressure Is a Privilege: Lessons I’ve Learned from Life and the Battle of the Sexes. Meanwhile, the second titled All In: An Autobiography was released in 2021.

Currently, the tennis Hall of Famer possesses 536,000 followers on her Twitter account. To go along with that, King has 113,000 Instagram followers as of February 2022.

Personal Life and Other Achievements

For her work advocating for the rights of women and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, President Barack Obama awarded King the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

Five years after getting engaged to Larry King in 1964, Billie Jean realized she had an attraction to women. Their marriage finally ended in 1987 and Billie fell in love with her doubles partner, Ilana Kloss. The couple married in October 2018.