The tennis legend recalls the humbling words Riggs had for her after she toppled him in their legendary clash.
Nearly 50 years after her historic match against Bobby Riggs, Billie Jean King says she immediately knew it was a monumental moment.
“When we shook hands, put our arms around each other, he said, ‘I underestimated you,’” King told TODAY’s Sheinelle Jones in an interview that aired Aug. 25.Ann Limongello / Walt Disney Television via Getty Images Riggs, who died in 1995, was a top tennis player in the 1940s who won Wimbledon once and the U.S. Open twice. He was famously outspoken in his belief that King would not be able to beat him.“My parents hardly watched me play, but I pleaded with them to come to this match,” she said. “And they were actually there, so it was great.”Bettmann / Bettmann Archive
“Oh, for sure, but it really was about social change. Women have come up to me since that match — that match has been mentioned every day of my life since that match, by the way,” she said.King also said former President Barack Obama has pointed out how the match influenced how he and wife Michelle brought up their daughters, Malia and Sasha.Bettmann / Bettmann Archive
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