LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

When tennis star Lindsay Davenport heard that the stadium complex that houses the US Open, in New York City, was being renamed after Billie Jean King this year, she shot her former coach this e-mail: &amp;quot;It&amp;#39;s about time.&amp;quot; King, 63, secured her place in tennis history long ago by winning 39 Grand Slams, not to mention her legendary 1973 victory over self-proclaimed male chauvinist Bobby Riggs in the &amp;quot;Battle of the Sexes,&amp;quot; still the most watched tennis match ever, with 50 million viewers in the United States alone. The contest was a media circus with surprisingly profound cultural repercussions. &amp;quot;I&amp;#39;ve had grown men come up to me in tears,&amp;quot; says King. &amp;quot;They&amp;#39;ll say, When I was 10, I saw that match and raise my daughters differently now.&amp;#39; &amp;quot; But it was King&amp;#39;s off-court accomplishments that really changed history. Galled by the low stature of women&amp;#39;s tennis, she demanded equal prize money by threatening boycotts, and started the Women&amp;#39;s Tennis Association and the Women&amp;#39;s Sports Foundation. She also lobbied Congress for Title IX legislation, the 1972 law that forced gender equality in school athletics and academics, producing the first generation of women who grew up playing competitive sports. &amp;quot;I wanted girls to feel great about themselves and their bodies,&amp;quot; King says. Her legacy? Proving that women can be both strong athletes and groundbreaking leaders. As her friend Jimmy Connors says, &amp;quot;She changed not just sports but the way women are perceived at home and in the boardroom.&amp;quot; Adds King with her characteristic humility, &amp;quot;To me, true champions lift up others.&amp;quot; —Ruth Davis Konigsberg

Her cause:Women&amp;#39;s Sports Foundation