"A few more statues should be popping up"- Chris Evert reacts to Cal State LA 's gesture acknowledging Billie Jean King
Chris Evert has suggested that Billie Jean King deserves to have more statues dedicated to her around the world. Evert's suggestion came shortly after King revealed that the prominent American public university Cal State LA had dedicated a statue to her.
Billie Jean King is a former World No. 1, and her achievements in tennis include a whopping 39 Majors, 12 of them in singles. She also successfully represented the USA in prestigious yesteryear events such as the Wightman Cup and the Federation Cup (now known as the Billie Jean King Cup).
However, Billie Jean King's greatest impact arguably came off the tennis court, where she fought tooth and nail to ensure social justice and equality not only in her sport but beyond it as well. She founded the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) in 1973, which, over the years, has played a pivotal role in uplifting women's tennis.
Recently, California State University, Los Angeles, also known as Cal State LA, roped in artist Brian Hanlon to create a statue dedicated to King in front of its Physical Education building. The former World No. 1 attended the inauguration of the statue and later took to X (formerly Twitter) to express gratitude to the public university for the gesture.
"Today @CalStateLA dedicated a statue of me in front of the Physical Education building, created by the incredible artist @hanlonstudio. What an honor. Thank you to the entire Cal State LA family and community for all you did to make this project happen," King wrote.
Chris Evert, another former World No. 1 and 11 years King's junior, chimed in with her own reaction to the development. The 18-time singles Grand Slam champion expressed her amazement at the statue and opined that King should have several more in her honor worldwide.
"That is so cool… and well deserved… I think a few more BJK statues should be popping up around the world!" Evert wrote.
Compatriots Evert and King, despite belonging to different generations of women's tennis players, share a close relationship. The former has previously revealed how King was a rock for her when she was slowly making her name on the WTA Tour, which made many of her rivals feel insecure.
"Chris Evert is putting money in our pockets" - Billie Jean King's plea to compatriot's rivals who felt under threat
In 2022, Chris Evert was featured as a guest on the Design Matters with Debbie Millman podcast. During her guest appearance on the podcast, Evert revisited how her burgeoning fame at an early age, stemming from her brilliant on-court performances and her lucrative off-court collaborations, was not taken kindly by many of her rivals.
However, Chris Evert recalled that Billie Jean King had stood up for her by giving her rivals a reminder; Evert was important in terms of promoting women's tennis on the global stage.
"There were some of them that were nice by the way. I wasn't there but supposedly, Billie Jean King had a meeting with the other players. She said, 'Listen, Chrissie is putting money in our pockets. She is bringing more people to the table, to the matches, she is bringing more sponsorship, more money, more publicity, more TV, and this is very important for the growth of the game of women's tennis. You are lucky that she's there,'" Chris Evert had said.
Evert went on to say that this reminder changed the attitudes of many of her rivals towards her. In terms of most women's singles Major titles won, Chris Evert is joint-fifth alongside great rival and friend Martina Navratilova, while Billie Jean King is sixth.