Billie Jean King makes her feelings known as she attends the "Women and Allies" panel with Simone Biles and Dawn Staley

By Adityan Pillai

Modified Dec 18, 2024 03:18 GMT

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Billie Jean King expressed her thoughts as she attended the "Women and Allies" panel with Simone Biles and Dawn Staley organized by Deloitte US. The legendary tennis player revealed that the panel discussed the future of women in sports as well as the progress made in recent years.

King who was responsible for the creation of the Women's Tennis Association in 1973, has been putting in great efforts to promote women in sports as well as pioneer a change by being vocal about equality in sports. She has been quite active on social media and often uses her platform to raise her voice with regard to the cause as well as laud the progress that has been made in recent years.

After a recent panel appearance alongside Simone Biles and Dawn Staley, she took to X to express her thoughts. Billie Jean King revealed that a lot of progress has been made in promoting women in sports and expressed optimism about the future.

"It was terrific to be a part of the @DeloitteUS "Women and Allies" panel with @dawnstaley and @Simone_Biles We discussed women in sports: celebrating the past and looking to the future of where we are headed. So much progress, and a great deal more yet to come," she wrote.

Billie Jean King lauds Simone Biles' courage

Simone Biles makes an appearance at the Friends Of The Children 30th Anniversary Gala - Source: Getty

Billie Jean King spoke about Simone Biles in an interview with the Washington Post and called her courageous for being vocal about her struggles with mental health. Biles spoke about her struggles with mental health after she withdrew from the team finals at the Tokyo Olympics which brought about a lot of criticism on social media.

However, King expressed that it was very brave of her to be vocal about her struggles despite the backlash and revealed that it was very frightening to think about the struggles that she had to undergo while performing in Tokyo.

"I thought Simone was very brave and courageous to talk about her truth about what was going on. I think it was also fascinating from an athlete's point of view of what would go on when she was flipping up and couldn't get her spacial relations that is frightening just to think about that as an athlete," she said.

"I thought that she is courageous and she thought about her team first, he leadership, I admire that. I've had the privilege of meeting her at a Women's sports foundation. We honored her. Getting to meet her mother who is just a wonderful person. Simone did the right thing, she allowed the team to medal which they wouldn't if she had still stayed in it," she added.

Furthermore, Billie Jean King expressed that Biles' decision to speak about her struggles was very important as it helped people facing similar challenges.