All language subtitles for Gods of Tennis - S01E01 - Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe WEBDL-1080p h264 AAC

Billie Jean is a complex character
of infectious dynamism.

Her importance as a player
and in the development of tennis

is unquestioned.

Every day I wake up and say,
"All right, Billie.

"Today I'm going to be good.
I've got to be an angel.

"I've got to just concentrate,
never get upset."

And, invariably...

SHE WHISTLES

..something would happen
and I'd just...I'd just react.

I'm a perfectionist,
and if I do have a goal,

I'll give it everything
I can to make it right.

This programme contains
some strong language.

This is the inside story of how,
in the '70s and '80s,

a cast of unapologetic mavericks

revolutionised
the tranquil world of tennis.

You can't be serious.
You cannot be serious!

I would say, on some level,
there were some anger issues.

You're supposed to, like,
be demure and blend in.

BLEEP that!

SHE LAUGHS

Geniuses on the court...

CHEERING

Oh, I don't believe it!

..they were superstars off it.

Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe,
Chris Evert, Billie Jean King.

Who's got star presence?

They have.

Bjorn Borg. Bjorn Borg. Bjorn Borg.

Borg was a superstar.

Borg was sex personified.
The guy was unbelievable.

He was in a different league.

I mean, he wouldn't
have looked at me.

If you said sex god,
I hope I was popular for my tennis.

HE LAUGHS

It's in!

CHEERING

Tennis was absolutely massive!

At a time when sport was embracing
historic cultural change...

Arthur had wanted South Africans
to see a free black man.

You had to be beyond reproach.

Sports are a microcosm of society -

it reflects
what's going on in the world.

..the spotlight fell on Wimbledon,

the world's oldest
tennis tournament.

It provides a stage
for brutal gladiatorial combat

that's disguised
as a vicar's tea party.

Here's a newsflash.

If I hadn't been as good as I was,
no-one would have given a damn.

PROTESTERS CHANT

In the mid '70s,

it felt like the world
was on the brink of revolution.

Women, join us! Women, join us!

Violence is necessary.

We will be free
by any means necessary.

There was that feeling

that the establishment deserved

to be put back in its place,

deserved to be told,
"No, you can't tell us what to do."

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

So a tremendous cheer
as they come out for the 1975 final.

On one of the most significant
weekends in Wimbledon history,

two of the game's trailblazers,
Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King,

were not only intent
on winning the tournament,

but changing the world
in the process.

INTERVIEWER: Why did you want
to change the world, Billie?

Why did I want to change the world?

Everybody should have a chance,
everybody should be included,

everybody should have a voice.

Billie Jean King had been fighting
for gender equality in tennis,

shifting women from the margins
by becoming the game's powerhouse -

impossible to ignore.

The men were always the stars.

The women were the fluff.

And Billie Jean
wasn't having any of that.

She showed she had to win.

Before that,
it was considered unladylike.

Billie Jean there.

Billie Jean had been
the dominant force in women's tennis

for nearly a decade.

Extraordinary.

Famous for her
unparalleled court speed,

forceful net game...

Oh, what a courageous winner.

..and fierce competitiveness.

OK. Billie Jean.
Let's talk about Billie Jean.

She was a force of nature.

CHEERING

Billie Jean was always looking
much further than anybody else was.

She was looking to how women's
sport, women's tennis would evolve.

Billie Jean King,
the number one person, in my book,

of the last 100 years.
that has changed the way

people look at women's sports.

Now aged 31,

having scraped through
the semifinal,

Billie Jean was desperate
for a sixth Wimbledon title

to bow out as one of the greatest
tennis players of all time.

One more minute, ladies.

But first she had to beat
Evonne Goolagong Cawley,

Australia's number one tennis star,
in the final.

First set. Play.

Out!

My mother's generation
did not like Billie Jean King

because they thought
she was immodest.

She had a kind of
brash American nature to her.

You know, you couldn't be worse

than saying
you're going to win a match.

I really wanted to win.

It meant a lot to me.

I pretty much knew that was
my last time I had a chance,

and it was really important.

On the same weekend,

Arthur Ashe was bringing
racial injustice into focus

by attempting to become Wimbledon's
first black men's champion.

I think Arthur Ashe
and Billie Jean King

came to their activism differently.

Billie had a great compassion

for what black people in America
were fighting for.

But Arthur at first
was not a feminist,

and there was some tension
between them, actually.

It was a great, great thrill.
I mean, there weren't many,

you know, black American players
or black players generally.

And Arthur Ashe was quite aware
of fighting for a place in society

for people of his colour.

Arthur was up against his adversary,

the volatile hot favourite,
Jimmy Connors.

APPLAUSE

Connors to serve.

Quiet, please.

Play.

I don't think Jimmy
really liked Arthur particularly.

He felt that, I think,
Arthur got undue adulation.

APPLAUSE

15-0.

APPLAUSE

30-0.

APPLAUSE

40-0.

In America, people always ask,

"Where were you
when John F Kennedy was killed?"

Many people in tennis say,

"Where were you when Arthur Ashe
played in the final at Wimbledon?"

Game to Connors.

APPLAUSE

Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe

were trying to change
the status quo.

That's the source of all revolution.

And they understood the place
they occupy in society

and what they say and what they do
does matter.

You can talk from the top
of a mountain, nobody will hear you.

Then what?
Your voice isn't being heard.

And I knew I had a huge platform
at Wimbledon,

so that was the one I had to win.

MUSIC: One Way Glass
by Manfred Mann

Crowds arrive, the curtain rises
on the first open Wimbledon.

A revolution has taken place.

Billie Jean and Arthur's fight for
change started seven years earlier

at a Wimbledon Championship
that transformed tennis.

Previously an amateur tournament,

in 1968, Wimbledon entered
the open era.

Players were turning professional

and prize money was up for grabs
for the first time.

APPLAUSE

We had been through the
swinging '60s, when anything goes.

Wimbledon had been peculiarly
unaffected by that.

Nobody was allowed to be anything
as vulgar as paid.

Wimbledon was the place you wanted
to win,

but they had wanted us
to be amateurs for a long time,

and I didn't like that.
I wanted our sport to be pro.

Amateur means, you know,
it's a hobby.

And this was not a hobby.

Black, white or brown skin,
short hair and long,

seeking the right to be known
as the best player in the world.

Tennis was evolving, extracting
itself from the strict amateur game

and becoming a professional sport,

and television picked it up.

And the three on King.

They started showing tennis
in colour.

You know, it was a great thing
to watch.

They were incredible athletes,

and you saw these people
playing at Wimbledon.

So it made it available
for mass consumption.

It's Arthur Ashe
and the Flying Dutchman, Tom Okker.

But Okker can't match
Ashe's blistering power.

After nine years as an amateur,
Billie Jean was suddenly playing

in front of a global audience
of millions.

But her uncompromising style
was ruffling feathers.

Oh, no!

APPLAUSE

No, I'm not very fond
of Billie Jean.

I think she's too fond of herself!

I know we're all out to win,
but, er...

..she really doesn't like losing,
does she?

Can't do that!

The game is possibly
not quite so attractive today

with the emphasis
on some of the girls,

like Billie Jean King,
who charges around the court

very much like a man.

You know, when a woman speaks up,
she's tough

and she's harsh and she's hard.

But when a man speaks up,
he's a leader.

So...go figure it out.

They always said we played
like a guy or like a man,

and I thought to myself, "No...

"..we play aggressively."

Out.

People just assumed
that equals a male, and I did not.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

The women's finalists,
Billie Jean King and Judy Tegart.

At only 24 years old,

Billie Jean scrapped her way
to the '68 Wimbledon final

to face the intrepid Australian,
Judy Tegart.

Billie Jean has fought for points
all through this Wimbledon.

Judy's strong, no-nonsense game
is not quite enough

against the American's
ruthless cut and thrust,

but it is a good fighting final.

King's service power
is swinging it her way.

As a child growing up,
I dreamed about winning Wimbledon.

She grew up in
a real working-class family.

Her father was a firefighter,
her mother was a homemaker

and would sell Avon products
to make ends meet.

She was taught discipline
and that you had to work for things,

and I think that has always
informed her life.

And she used to tell her mother

the world she wanted
didn't exist yet,

but that she was going to
do something to create it.

APPLAUSE

Now it's championship point
for the American.

Tegart serves.

It's out.

Billie Jean has done it...

APPLAUSE

..and her name goes
on the huge plate.

The year 1968.

Rod Laver leading Billie Jean
around the floor.

But the partnership of the sexes
was soon under stress.

Rod Laver won £2,000 and I won £750.

I thought we'd get the same,
and we didn't.

That was a wake-up call.

MUSIC: Can The Can
by Suzi Quatro

Billie Jean King,
world tennis champion

and leader of a special brand
of female revolutionaries.

In a radical move,

Billie Jean and eight other renegade
players signed a $1 contract

to create a professional
women's tennis circuit of their own.

Known as the Original 9,
Billie Jean and the gang

were soon touring America,

playing for big money
in women-only tournaments.

# So make a stand for your man,
honey

# Try to can the can... #

They run their own circuit,
proving in a male-dominated sport

that, even in a frilly tennis dress,
ladies can be liberated,

especially when backed
by half a million dollars' worth

of sponsorship money.

Virginia Slims cigarettes -

a product aimed
at the liberated women.

The suppressed creature
of former days

is transformed into a groovy chick,
complete with dangling cigarette

and the slogan...

With lucrative tobacco sponsorship

and Billie Jean's
firebrand campaigning,

women's tennis
was proving harder to ignore.

We got money, prize money,
and it kept going up every year.

She made women believe
that they are equal to men,

so that was a monumental change.

But on the tennis circuit,

Billie Jean's tour
was being met with suspicion.

Billie Jean
was challenging the notion of what

women athletes should look like,

and how ambitious should they be?

There was a famous
Sports Illustrated article

where a guy was dispatched
to follow the women's tours.

It was almost like
he was trying to reassure people.

He said, "Nobody had a beard.
Nobody walked like a lumberjack."

These notions that women
athletes were freaks

and that they were destined
to these lives

where they were going to be unloved.

And, you know, a lot of it
was a code word for...for being gay.

Those were the kind of things
they were fighting.

It was clear that Billie Jean's
public fight for equal pay

had its critics.

And on a late-night
American talk show,

Arthur didn't mince his words.

Did you say that women players
ought to be kept in their place,

or something to that effect?

No, no. You couldn't have
said anything like that.

I said it when Billie Jean
wasn't listening.

CHUCKLING

The amount of money that we make or
that we can command in prize money

is directly related
to our box office appeal.

Now, what I said
was that women don't deserve

the same amount of prize money
as men.

INTERVIEWER: Was it frustrating for
you that he didn't back equal pay?

Wasn't just him - it was all guys.

They just thought
we shouldn't have anything.

Men basically thought they should
have all the money at Wimbledon.

They just automatically
think it's theirs.

Could I have your autograph, please?

I'm sorry but I have to go
and get ready in time.

Sorry. I would otherwise.

Billie's argument was always that
they would be stronger together.

They both had their constituencies
that they were fighting for,

but Billie has always
been a great student

of the civil rights movement.

And so the idea
that she couldn't find

some common ground with this guy

really hurt her.

Arthur and Billie Jean's
dispute intensified

at a ground-breaking
Wimbledon Championships.

While Billie Jean fought to keep up
with the men's earning potential,

the men were after even more.

Do you think this is an issue
as to who really should run tennis,

the players or the ILTF?
I think it may be coming to that.

If they run it all for themselves
and want to govern and direct

every tournament in the world,
that we can't have.

Fed up with being dictated to
by tennis's governing bodies,

a players' revolt was threatening
to flare up in the men's game,

and among its leaders
was Arthur Ashe.

What the public doesn't,

and the administration
doesn't seem to realise

is that we are professional athletes
with a mind of our own.

Rather than join forces
with the women,

the men formed their own union.

And, just days before
the tournament began,

81 men's players refused to compete,
staging Wimbledon's first boycott.

Sorry, I'm busy. Right. Could I
just...? I'll be back in a minute.

The Wimbledon authorities
cannot make us play.

In fact, no tournament in the world,

no tennis event
can make anyone play.

MUSIC: Philadelphia Freedom
by Elton John

Some of the men
may have been absent...

..but Billie Jean
saw that year's Wimbledon

as the perfect chance to
put the women's game centre stage.

# The ones left behind

# Shine a light, shine the light

# Shine the light... #

Billie Jean was in lightning form,

and beat Evonne Goolagong
to reach the final,

hoping for another Wimbledon win.

But standing between Billie Jean

and a fifth
Wimbledon singles trophy

was her worst nightmare.

MUSIC: She
by Acker Bilk

Chris Evert typifies
the regiment of young stars

who have invaded
Wimbledon this year -

a new special breed.

18-year-old Chris Evert
was something of a prodigy,

shown the ropes from the age of five
by her tennis coach father.

And so a Royal occasion
as Billie Jean comes on court

with Chrissie Evert
in her second Wimbledon ever,

and here she is
playing in the final.

Even though I'm American,
I think Wimbledon is numero uno.

It's the biggest tournament
in the world.

If you're going to pick
one Grand Slam title to win,

you want to win Wimbledon.

They could not have been
greater opposites.

Chris Evert was presented
as Miss Apple Pie.

You know, her hair
was never out of place,

she had that beautiful
blonde ponytail.

Billie was not universally loved.

Chrissie was more interested
in just keeping the status quo

and not ruffling any feathers.

Quiet, please.

Miss Evert to serve.

Adding to the intensity of the match

was that Chris,
on the advice of her father,

was one of the few players
initially resistant

to joining Billie Jean's
controversial women-only tour.

APPLAUSE

REPORTER: Miss Evert's first point.

The crowd unashamedly
cast their vote for the underdog -

the lady who is not Mrs King.

Chris had not been a part
of Billie Jean's rebel wing.

Billie begged and begged,
cos she knew that Chris was

the next superstar on the horizon,

but she would not join them.

When she was starting to speak out
for equal opportunities,

equal prize money,
I didn't understand.

I was brought up where the father
was the head of the household.

The mother would stay home
and take care of the kids and cook.

Game, Mrs King.

COMMENTATOR: Mrs King playing with
great authority here at the moment.

Five games to love, first set.
Mrs King leads.

I was a clay court player.
I grew up on clay.

Grass was the antithesis, I think,
of my game - serve-and-volley.

And all the women in that era
served and volleyed.

APPLAUSE

Two set points.

Billie Jean King
wanted to win so much.

She didn't really care about
whether people loved her or not,

she just wanted to win
the last point.

APPLAUSE

Billie Jean won the first set, 6-0.

But the second set
would not be so easy.

My dad taught me at an early age,

"Chrissie, don't let your opponent
see how you're really feeling

"because they'll use that
to their advantage."

So I kind of went along
with that philosophy.

COMMENTATOR: That's more like
the lob.

APPLAUSE

That's the shot that's going to
worry Mrs King, if anything does.

Chrissie was a goddess.
She looked a million dollars.

Everyone fell in love with her.

40-0.

And a really badly timed forehand
by Mrs King there.

But, mentally, she was
the toughest player

there's ever been
in the women's game.

Chris fought back in the second set,

and Billie Jean
began making mistakes.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Game. Miss Evert...

..leads in the second set
by four games to three.

COMMENTATOR: And really spirited
resistance in play there

by Chrissie Evert.

I was only going to be focused.
SHE LAUGHS

That was me. That was my nature.

I react to pressure well.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Billie Jean is never discounted
as far as strategy.

If she can't intimidate somebody,
she'll out-think them.

If she can't out-hit them,
she'll outsmart them.

She always found a way to win.

APPLAUSE

I knew I had to try to stay away
from her backhand.

If she's on the baseline and you
hit it right into her backhand,

which is her strength, you're toast.

COMMENTATOR: Well played,
well played!

I knew I had to stay aggressive
because Chris is a baseliner.

You can't just, you know,
serve-volley, serve-volley -

she's too good. You can't do that.

CROWD GROANS AND APPLAUDS

Billie Jean used all her experience

and turned the screw
on her prodigious young rival...

APPLAUSE

..and after one and a half hours,

she had battled
to within one point of victory...

COMMENTATOR: Serving for
the Championship, then.

..and the chance to cement
her position on the world stage.

It's out, and there is
the Championship for Billie Jean.

6-0, 7-5.

And so Billie Jean achieves
a post-war record -

five times, and that's going to
be a record, I think,

that will take
a great deal of beating.

Chris lost her first
Wimbledon final,

but her calculated gameplay
marked her

as a serious threat
to Billie Jean's dominance.

Well, I'm not a bad loser,
but I'm not a good loser.

I don't rant, rave and throw rackets

and, you know, trash things
if I lose.

But thank God
I didn't lose that much!

I really, honestly
tried to think of,

"What strategy can I use
to beat this player that beat me

"the next time?"

CHEERING

And so Billie Jean goes forward
to take the famous tray.

As if to prove a point,
becoming singles champion

wasn't Billie Jean's
only achievement that weekend.

I played three events -
singles, doubles and mixed -

and I won all three,
which I do not know how.

APPLAUSE

Billie Jean became
the first professional player

in Wimbledon history
to win a Triple Crown.

But, despite her
unprecedented success,

men's champion Jan Kodes
pocketed more

just for lifting
the men's singles trophy.

It was tumultuous.
Very frustrating.

We had a long way to go.

Billie Jean's fight would continue.

PLANE ENGINE ROARS

MUSIC: 20th Century Boy
by T.Rex

Arthur Ashe, the black American, is
the cause of the biggest controversy

in South Africa at the moment.

Having boycotted Wimbledon,
8,000 miles away,

Arthur was making history
of his own.

He has entered for
the South African Championships,

but the government claims that
Ashe will indulge in politics.

Arthur would be
the South Africa tournament's

first black men's player.

Having been critical
of the country's apartheid laws,

Arthur, like Billie Jean, hoped
tennis would inspire social change.

The apartheid system excluded

virtually 80% of the population

from great swathes of life.

The black community tried
to castrate him about going.

But he wanted South Africans
to see a free black man...

..because so many of them never had.

Being world-famous and being black

means that, wherever you go,
whether you like it or not,

you're a sort of ambassador
of your race.

Is that a responsibility
that you feel?

Oh, yeah.

I don't like it, but I feel it,
and I don't shrug it off.

Where Billie Jean
was confrontational,

Arthur was conventional,

befitting a gentleman rebel
who grew up in segregated Virginia.

You're dealing here in the South
with two different races,

two disparate races.

The children are of very different
intellectual aptitudes.

At the ninth grade level,
for example,

you find about
three years' difference

in the reading skills of
the white and the coloured children.

I feel that, here in Richmond,
I would not be in favour of it now.

Our father was a caretaker
of a 17-acre playground,

and on the playground
were tennis courts.

So, growing up, Arthur gravitated
to the tennis courts.

South African poets said
about Arthur,

"There was a quiet rage
in his soul."

He wanted to appeal to
as many good people as possible.

That had to be done

not through a lot of bluster
and noise,

but through an intellectual vein.

On the day
of the South Africa tournament,

a 13-year-old tennis fan
was one of thousands

desperate to see Arthur play,
travelling in from Alexandra,

one of the poorest townships
in Johannesburg.

It was like the second coming.

Everybody was saying,
"Isipho is coming."

That's Zulu for gift.

The gift from America is coming.

I knew that this was worth
risking my life,

to discover the secret -
what had he done to become free?

Under apartheid,
there was a black world

and a white world,
and the twain never met.

Arthur attended the tournament,

hoping his presence
among the white tennis elite

would shatter the legitimacy

of South Africa's
strict segregation laws.

He demanded that the tournament
had to be integrated,

and for the first time
in South African history,

blacks could not only play,

but they could also be spectators.

It was huge.

From the 32 men's players
in the tournament,

Arthur made the final against
the game's emerging bad boy...

..21-year-old Jimmy Connors.

Jimmy Connors was a working class
boy who came out of Central USA,

not the country club background.

He always felt he had a bit
of a chip on his shoulder.

Jimmy Connors was brash,
he was confident.

He was everything that the white
people wanted a white man to be.

HE LAUGHS

Jimmy was theirs.

For the blacks, Arthur was ours.

So you can just imagine the pressure
that Arthur must be feeling,

because he's carrying the weight
of all black South Africans.

APPLAUSE

CROWD GROANS

When he lost in three sets...

..I could feel the dejection.

I so much wanted to tell him that,

"Even in defeat,
you were triumphant."

Because you made numberless of
black people in South Africa

realise that apartheid
is based on a lie.

That victory is much more than
anything you could have accomplished

on the court.

APPLAUSE

In Houston, Billie Jean had decided
to make her most outrageous

statement yet.

She had been challenged
to an extraordinary

exhibition match against
self-confessed male chauvinist

Bobby Riggs.

Do you like women?

I really think the best way
to handle the women is,

is to keep them pregnant
and barefoot and...

AUDIENCE LAUGH, GROAN

..this way, they don't worry about
getting out in the men's world

and competing for jobs and trying to
get equal money

and all that baloney.

At 55, Bobby was a former world
tennis number one and determined

to prove men were superior to women.

He'd recently thrashed Billie Jean's
contemporary Margaret Court

in a match dubbed the
Mother's Day Massacre.

Now, Billie Jean felt compelled
to accept Bobby's invitation.

The Battle of the Sexes was the name
given to a match with a view

to putting us women back in our box.

She's a woman and women...
What does that have to do with it?

Well, they can only do things like
men like, about, half as good,

if that good, and even though
she's 26 years younger,

she doesn't have my experience.
And when we play

a pressure match like this,
$100,000 winner take all,

can you imagine anybody
in their right mind betting

on anybody but Bobby Riggs?

The winner would receive $100,000

and 90 million people tuned
in to see the contest.

She's ready to go and prove a point.

There's so much on the line
for that match.

It was men versus women, you know?
It was, it was equality.

It was very theatrical.

It was very Hollywood, showbiz,

but that's the way that
she had to get to people.

There was a lot of dog whistling
in the media coverage.

The introductory remarks about
Billie, Howard Cosell,

the leading American sports
commentator at the time, said

nothing about her accomplishments
or all the titles she had won

or anything else,
he was talking about her looks.

Here comes Billie Jean King,
a very attractive young lady.

And sometimes you get the feeling
that if she ever let her hair grow

down to her shoulders,
took her glasses off,

you'd have somebody vying
for a Hollywood screen test.

There she is.

Hopefully, if I could beat him,

there would be a emotional hearts
and minds shift.

I remember exactly where I was.

The women wanted Billie to win,
men wanted Bobby to win.

He wasn't just a showman.
People think of him as a clown.

He'd won Singles, Doubles and Mixed
Doubles at Wimbledon one year

and won all three events.

Broadcast to the world,

the game had everyone talking,
but in interviews before the match,

players and fans were divided.

I think that if I had to bet money,
I would bet on Bobby Riggs.

I think Billie Jean.

You do? Yeah.

I think that he's really
a tough player.

So I'd have to give him
the edge over Billie Jean.

So I said Bobby Riggs.

I was so naive back then.

I cannot imagine taking
that challenge on

and you've got to win

because this isn't just about you,
this is about

every woman.

I thought it was a risky
thing for her to do.

You had a lot to lose in the Battle
of the Sexes game, correct?

We had a lot to lose.

The match was the best of five sets.

The first to three would win.

As a recent Wimbledon triple crown
winner, Billie Jean was in the best

form of her life,

but representing mankind,

Bobby had a point to prove...

Out.

..taking a 3-2 lead
in the first set.

If she lost, you feel the cause
of women, ludicrously,

would have been set back.

But Bobby began to tire and
Billie Jean won the first set,

6-4.

She wasn't fighting to play men.

She was just fighting for women
to have the same chances

that men had.

Billie Jean quickly took
the second set with Bobby winning

just three games.

At match point in the third,

Billie was one shot away from
winning the Battle of the Sexes.

Despite his bluster, Billie Jean
dispatched Bobby in straight sets

in just 57 minutes.

Forget Bobby Riggs, OK?
Cos Bobby Riggs

is like a footnote in history
at this point.

What Billie Jean King did
was the most important thing

in the history of women's sport.

The men thought it should be all
for them, that we should go away.

And I thought, "Who said that?"

That year, the US Open became
the first Grand Slam tournament

to pay men and women
equal prize money.

I remember when she won,

my coach called me and said to me,
he said,

"Your hobby has now
just become a career."

Having fought his own battle,
Arthur Ashe was warming

to Billie Jean's fight, too.

What changed Arthur was when
she beat Bobby Riggs

and also apartheid in South Africa,
he had an awakening.

And I think both things
dovetailed to kind

of bring them back together.

Arthur used to joke he won
a lot of money.

He was one of the few men
that bet on her to win.

Despite Billie Jean and Arthur's
personal triumphs, they made early

Wimbledon exits the following year
and now risked being eclipsed by two

familiar young rivals,
snapping at their heels.

Chris's popularity
was at an all-time high.

Chris Evert took the world by storm.

She was this beautiful young lady
who spoke well and was gracious,

and I think she really captured
the imagination.

She'd also recently started
dating Arthur's tricky rival,

the brash Jimmy Connors,

as Wimbledon welcomed tennis's
new celebrity couple.

Did his sort of bad boy image
attract you? Absolutely.

LAUGHS

Absolutely.

I managed Connors for nine years.

How was that?

That was difficult.

Connors does not lack support -

he's brought his mum along.

His mother was his coach.

He called his mother every morning.

Jimmy trusted very few people
in his life and she was

the number one person.

It should always be the
tennis that matters,

I know that,

but you can't help be seduced
by antics.

He was a catch. I mean,
you were a catch,

but he was, he was like...

Jeez!

LAUGHS

OK. How is Jimmy more of a catch
than me?

We were both young,
upcoming players,

you know, with great
futures ahead of us.

You know, it was like a fantasy.

To the delight of the masses,
Jimmy and Chris

announced their engagement.

And with both winning Wimbledon
that year...

..the press dubbed it
The Love Double.

I don't know which day I was
happier. I mean, yesterday, after

I won, it was such a great feeling,
you know, to hold the plate and to

realise that I won the biggest
tournament in the world.

And today, watching Jimmy play,
I think maybe it's the best tennis

match he's ever played in his life,
really made me happy also.

With fame and success,

interest in Jimmy and Chris
was 24/7.

Did you dance at the
Champions Dinner?

Yes.

To the song The Girl That I Marry.

# The girl that I marry
Will... #

I wore this long gown and Jimmy was
all decked out in his suit.

He was...

If I were to pick a first love,
he was the best.

We had a lot of fun.

We had a lot of fun.

The following year, Billie Jean
and Arthur were back,

ready to challenge The Love Double's
dominance at Wimbledon.

Having beaten Betty Stove in the
quarters, Billie Jean met Chris

in the semifinal and this time,

Chris was reigning champion
and number one in the world.

Being number one is a
very powerful feeling.

You've earned respect,

it's good for your self-esteem,

but if people want to beat one
person in the world, it's you.

After over a decade at the top,
Billie Jean was 31

and threatening retirement.

She wanted another Wimbledon title
to cement her legacy and inspire

the next generation of women.

UMPIRE: Game to Miss Evert.

But tied at one set all,

it seemed Chris also wanted
to make a point.

I mean, Chrissie, she was
just in a different league.

COMMENTATOR: Miss Evert is often
called the Ice Maiden.

The mental toughness that she had,
to me, was second to none.

For the most part,
I handle pressure well.

If you want emotion, then

you're not going to get it from me
on the tennis court.

COMMENTATOR: So, fighting for her
life here, Billie Jean.

UMPIRE: Game to Miss Evert.

Mrs King, the number 3 seed,
in some danger now.

Within an hour, Chris had blitzed
ahead and Billie Jean found herself

just three games away
from being knocked out.

Out.

Billie thought that was going
to be her swan song.

Everything started running
through my mind

that this was my last Wimbledon

and I thought, "Oh, I don't see
how I can win now."

With the match slipping
away from Billie Jean,

suddenly a familiar face was spotted
in the Wimbledon crowd.

The distraction was Jimmy Connors
came with

either a date or a girlfriend.

Chrissie and Jimmy Connors
had not publicly announced

that they were done.

And he walked in with Susan George,
the actress.

Yeah. I mean, I thought we were
going to get married.

Three months before the wedding,
I had a sinking feeling of,

"Oh, this isn't...

"This isn't right."

We were both trying to be number
one, and something had to give,

and our relationship was what gave.

Everybody stopped, you know.

This was back when Fleet Street
was at its height.

The flashbulbs were popping,
the whole thing.

She lost her concentration,
which was the best weapon she had.

Now that was reminiscent of
Billie Jean at her very best.

And Chrissie was like,
she went off a cliff.

Well played.

The momentum switched to her.

She started playing better
after that moment.

Yes! Game to Mrs King.

What a shot that was.

And how can she find the energy?

The length of time this match has
gone on, she seems to have

picked up her game, seems to
be moving faster and faster.

With the distraction knocking
Chris off her game,

Billie Jean took full advantage.

Billie Jean King, five times
Wimbledon champion at the moment,

playing as well as she's ever
done in her life, I think.

Billie Jean won five games in a row
and clawed her way back

to within one point of reaching
a ninth Wimbledon final.

Match point for Mrs King.

It's out. That's it.

The resource, the will,
the determination,

the pride, everything coming
out when it really mattered.

With her fiercest rival
out of the way...

The crowd settles for
the women's final.

..two days later,
Billie Jean was in the final,

up against Evonne Goolagong Cawley

and one match away from
retiring as a Wimbledon great.

And Billie Jean being Billie Jean,

she wasn't going to hang around.

Oh, what a finishing shot.

6-0, 6-1.

So Billie Jean King wins
what she maintains

will be her last singles appearance.

In one of the most devastating
displays ever seen on Centre Court,

Billie Jean won the title in two
straight sets, losing just one game

in a record-breaking 39
minutes, the shortest final

in modern Wimbledon history.

If I can just concentrate on tennis,
I would have won more,

but we probably wouldn't have
professional tennis.

The brilliance of Billie Jean King
is she's way ahead of her time.

That was hard for me to understand
as a teenager,

but thank God for her, for our
sport should thank God for her.

I think it's really important
that a person looks in the mirror

and decides, how do you want
to remember yourself?

Superb volleying by
Billie Jean there.

And how do you want
to remember yourself?

Myself?

I'm not finished yet. If I looked in
the mirror, I think...

I think I'm on the right course.

And now the great climax,
the men's final.

Connors playing Ashe.

The following day,

Arthur Ashe was hoping to be the
first black men's player

to win the greatest prize in tennis.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

So a tremendous cheer as they come
out for the 1975 final.

Arthur Ashe, slightly the taller,
6'1"...

..never had a singles final
at Wimbledon.

Now nearly 32, Arthur was in his
first Wimbledon final and knew

this might be his last chance.

But his opponent was his old foe,
world number one, Jimmy Connors.

In their three previous
meetings, Jimmy had won the lot.

I don't think Arthur Ashe isn't a
great player, of course he is,

but I wonder, in fact, whether
he has the speed of reflexes

and the variety of shot and tactics
to contain this explosive boy.

Well, Connors was
the heavy favourite

and was the number one player
in the world at the time.

Jimmy Connors was totally dominant.

The locker room were in awe of him.

The locker room felt
that he was unbeatable.

Great. Nice and quiet, please.

Arthur, you went on the record
this year,

you had big ambitions to win
Wimbledon today.

Well, I'm looking forward to today.

It's something I've been preparing
for, in a sense, all my life.

But there's no doubt that Jimmy
Connors is in tremendous form.

He seems to be getting better,
more sort of astonishingly

destructive with every round.

He's a very good tennis player,
on top of it all, yes.

Turning up the heat on the rivalry
was the fact that Jimmy was suing

Arthur for libel, in part
for calling him brash,

arrogant and unpatriotic.

We're not the best of friends.

We just don't get along at all.

Are you ready, gentlemen?

Connors to serve.

Quiet, please.

Play.

APPLAUSE

15-0.

With Jimmy at the top of his game,

on the eve of the match, Arthur
and his team hatched a plan.

He called me from London the night
before and he said, "You know,

"I'm playing in the finals
tomorrow." And I said, "Yeah."

I said, "Well, how are you
approaching this?"

He says, "I don't know yet."

Arthur said to me, "I'd like to go
to the Playboy Club

"and have a quiet dinner,
play a little blackjack."

And we really spent the night trying
to talk about how to beat Connors.

So we decided that he ought
to attack Connors

in a totally different way.

Jimmy was a counterpuncher.

So we said to Arthur, "Number one,

"hit the ball soft on
his forehand side."

When you're not giving him
much power,

you have to generate your own speed,

so you're down there digging
out the balls a lot.

Game to Ashe.

And when you're serving,
he's a left-hander,

serve him really wide in the deuce
court. Swing him way out.

Arthur Ashe's serve-volley tactic

has never gone better in his life,
I'm sure.

And then the third thing, you know,
Connors closes very quickly

in the net, comes in very fast.
Use the lob. Lob him a lot.

Game to Ashe.

I was actually physically
in the stands to watch

Ashe versus Connor.

Arthur totally played a game
style that was so different

from what he usually did.

Game to Ashe.

Ashe leads by 5 games to 1.

Traditionally, a big hitter,

Arthur was returning softly,
playing drop shots and lobbing...

Oh, I say, that's a,
that's a really crude shot.

..bamboozling Jimmy.

That to me looked like an extremely
nervous shot.

So this really is a sensational
opening by Arthur Ashe.

To go out into an arena and play

the most important match
of your life,

totally contrary to your natural
style, is possibly the most

difficult thing to do in sport.

Game and first set.

To the Centre Court crowd's surprise

Arthur dominated the first set,

winning 6-1.

Here we are. Now, what is this young
boy, this champion made of?

Ashe to serve in the second set.

Champion looking rather disturbed.

At one point, people got quite
confused about what was going on.

And they thought Jimmy Connors

is not really trying as much
as he should have.

I remember at one point, people kept
saying, you know, to Connors,

urging him on, saying,
"Come on! Play up!"

30-15.

LAUGHTER

It was an expression which showed
the, the triumph

of Arthur Ashe's strategy.

Jimmy, who'd not lost a set en route
to the final, was now two sets

down and facing defeat.

Game and second set to Ashe.

6-1.

Ashe leads by 2 sets to 0.

Mrs Connors in the centre
of the picture,

very worried.

Jimmy is reading the letter
from his mother,

which gives him great confidence.

Well, he was stunned the first two
sets, I mean, it was like

somebody hit him in the stomach.

At first, he was disgusted
and then he became very agitated.

But Jimmy was a champion and refused
to stay down for long.

Great service.

Deuce.

Well played.

Connors is a tremendous fighter.

I mean, he's one of the great
competitors in the sport.

Ooh!

APPLAUSE

So set point for Connors.

That's good.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Game and third set for Connors.

Jimmy edged the third set
by the narrowest of margins,

winning 7-5.

APPLAUSE

Suddenly the champion really bursts
into life. Explosive game then.

Heading into the fourth,

Jimmy looked to have gained the
upper hand.

Watching it, I said to myself,
"Arthur's mind's wandering."

Game to Connors.

Connors leads by 3-0
in the fourth set.

But under the circumstances,
he'll come back to his senses.

He'll come back to what he knows
he's supposed to do.

And just meditating there, as he
says he often does in a match.

APPLAUSE

Game to Ashe.

We really are watching a
tremendous battle here.

3-3 in the fourth set.

In a tense fourth set, Arthur
regained momentum and brought

the match to within one championship
point of his first Wimbledon title.

So, two championship points
for Arthur Ashe.

CHEERING

That's it! And he's done it.

He really has done it.

Game, set and match to Ashe.

6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

There were celebrations
like you could never imagine.

A man of vision, a man of character,

and here he is at last,
the Wimbledon Champion.

Connors was the brawn.

And he was the brain.

And so you can just imagine
in my mind and in the minds

of countless young black men,
realising the brain of a black

person can find a way
to accomplish miracles.

The first black player to win
the men's Wimbledon singles title

since it all started in 1877.

In one extraordinary weekend,
Billie Jean King and Arthur Ashe

had helped advance social change
on the hallowed lawns of Wimbledon.

Does it mean anything at all, being
the first coloured man player

to win the title here?
Oh, sure it does, yeah.

What does it mean to you?
Could you explain?

Well, having grown up in
a segregated environment

in the South, I know what
it's like to be stepped on.

So I know what it's like also to see
some black hero do well, you know,

in the face of adversity.

The first black man to ever win.

No-one had ever done it before.

That's huge.

One last question, Arthur. How's
your form for the first dance

at the ball tonight
with the lady champion?

You know, I've never danced with
Billie Jean,

but I look forward to it.

We'd come from different places,
but we both continued

to improve this world.
Yeah, the both of us.

And we did get along when
we had time together.

Then we became very close
and I understood him better,

and I think he understood me better.

When did all the celebrity
start in tennis?

It was when Bjorn Borg came along.

I didn't want the attention
in that kind of way, no.

That's not me.
You can't be serious!

You CANNOT be serious!

"Borg, he's so cool, so I'm going to
root for him."

Or, "McEnroe, I like him, because
he rebels against authority."

The Britishness of Wimbledon is kind
of that stiff upper lip.

"It was clearly a wrong call,
but I won't say anything."

And McEnroe was like, "Fuck that!"

MUSIC: Get A Grip On Yourself
by The Stranglers