1975 (Age 31-32)

King holding the Wimbledon singles trophy.

King won her sixth (and final) Wimbledon singles title, edging Chris Evert in the semifinals and then routing Evonne Goolagong Cawley in the final. She then retired from singles competition, which turned out to be only a temporary hiatus.

In its year-end rankings, the Women's Tennis Association computer ranked King second in the world, behind Evert, according to "Bud Collins' Modern Encyclopedia of Tennis," 2nd Edition, Visible Ink Press, page 632. Bud Collins of the Boston Globe and Lance Tingay of the London Daily Telegraph also ranked her second in the world.

The United States Tennis Association did not rank her among American players because of "insufficient data."

Listed below are 6 singles tournaments (2 of which she won), with a win-loss record of 24-4 (12-2 indoor, 11-1 grass, 1-1 hard). She also won 3 women's doubles tournaments.



Week of January 6, 1975
Virginia Slims of San Francisco
Civic Auditorium
San Francisco, California
Indoor

King in singles, [2] seed:

1R  d. Betty Ann Grubb Hansen Stuart Dent Grout 6-3, 6-4
2R  d. Kathy Kuykendall 6-2, 7-6(5-3)
QF d. [7]  Francoise Durr 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
SF  d. [3]  Virginia Wade 7-6(5-3), 6-1
FN  lost to [1]  Chris Evert 6-1, 6-1

In the 55 minute final, King suffered the second-worst loss of her professional career to date. She made 37 unforced errors and won only 2 games. King said, "Chris [Evert] beat my bazongas off." In the opening game of the match, Evert held serve only after two deuces were played. King then lost the next 4 games, winning only 4 points. Serving at 0-5, King finally won a game. Evert then won 5 consecutive games to take the first set and build an insurmountable 4-0 lead in the second set.

King started her semifinal with Virginia Wade slowly, losing her service twice. But she recovered to force a first set tiebreaker, which she won on the strength of 3 outright winners. King then took advantage of her deflated opponent to build a 4-0 lead in the second set, effectively putting the match out of reach.

King acknowledged that her play in the quarterfinals against Francoise Durr was "awful," but she found a way to win. King won the last 4 games of the second set, breaking Durr twice. King played well in taking a 5-0 lead in the third set. She broke Durr's serve for the third time in that set to win the match.


King in women's doubles with Chris Evert, [1] seed:

1R  d. Nancy Richey / Sue Stap 6-0, 3-6, 6-2
SF  d. Kristien Kemmer Shaw Ziska / Wendy Overton 6-2, 7-6(5-0)
FN  d. Virginia Wade / Rosemary Casals 6-2, 7-5

This was the second consecutive year for King and Chris Evert to win this title. The only other seeded team, Françoise Durr and Betty Stöve, lost in the first round.

Week of January 13, 1975
Virginia Slims
Robarts Sports Arena
Sarasota, Florida
Indoor

King in singles, [2] seed:

1R  d. Janet Newberry 6-1, 6-2
2R  d. Sue Stapp 6-2, 6-3
QF  d. Wendy Overton 6-2, 6-1
SF  d. [6]  Julie Heldman 6-1, 6-2
FN  d. [1]  Chris Evert 6-2, 6-3

King in women's doubles with Chris Evert:

SF  d. Nancy Richey / Sue Stap 6-4, 6-4
FN  d. Virginia Wade / Betty Stove 6-4, 6-2

This tournament was supposed to have been King's final singles tournament before retirement. After defeating Chris Evert in the 65 minute final, King said, "I was nervous today and that was a good sign. ... I knew this was my last one and I really wanted to go out with a win. I got myself really psyched up and told myself to go for everything."

King's strong overhead smashes dominated the match, and she outscored Evert at the net 17-1. "I was upset with the way I played last week," said King, "and I didn't want to play like a turkey today." Evert said, "She hit great shots and that was the best I've ever seen her play." Evert hit 23 unforced errors in 17 games. Commenting on that statistic, Evert said, "There was a good reason for that. Billie Jean didn't do one thing wrong. So if I had played my usual steady game, the score would have been 6-1, 6-1. I had to go for the big shots and as a result made more errors." Looking back at that match, King said, "I probably played so well because I had to, for the money. Out of frustration comes creativity. Right?"

This was King's first tournament championship in Florida. It was Evert's first professional loss in Florida since losing to Nancy Richey in St. Petersburg in 1972.

Week of March 3, 1975
U. S. National Indoor Championships (Virginia Slims of Boston)
Walter Crown Arena, Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts
Indoor carpet

King in women's doubles with Rosemary Casals:

SF  d. Evonne Goolagong Cawley / Virginia Wade 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
FN  d. Chris Evert / Martina Navratilova 6-3, 6-4

This was the fourth doubles title for the team of Rosemary Casals and King at this event.


Week of March 24, 1975
Virginia Slims of Philadelphia
The Palestra
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Indoor

General Note:

King, who left the Philadelphia Freedoms for New York in World Team Tennis, feared she might get a cold reception. Instead, she was given a standing ovation before her opening match. 

King in singles, [1] seed:

1R  d. Pam Teeguarden 6-0, 6-3
2R  d. Julie Anthony 6-3, 6-3
QF  d. Wendy Overton 6-1, 6-0
SF  lost to [5]  Virginia Wade 3-6, 6-2, 6-2

After losing to Virginia Wade, King said, "Boy I played really stupid. I played like an angel, when I should have played like a butch." Wade double faulted to lose the opening set. She then took a 3-0 lead in the final set, allowing King only 4 points.

King in women's doubles with Rosemary Casals:

SF  d. Terry Holiday / Carrie Mayer 6-1 6-2
FN  lost to Betty Stove / Evonne Goolagong Cawley 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5-3)

Week of April 7, 1975
Bridgestone World Doubles Championships
Yoyogi National Gymnasium
Tokyo
Indoor carpet

King in women's doubles with Rosemary Casals, [1] seed:

1R/QF  d. Brigitte Cuypers / Helen Gourley Cawley 6-1, 6-1
SF  d. [3]  Martina Navratilova / Lesley Hunt 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
FN  lost to [4]  Margaret Smith Court / Virginia Wade 6-7(2-5), 7-6(5-2), 6-2


Week of April 14, 1975
L'Eggs World Series of Tennis
Lakeway World of Tennis
Austin, Texas
Hard

King in singles:

SF  d. Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6-1, 6-3
FN  lost to Chris Evert 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5-2)

As King was serving for the match at 6–5 in the third set, a disputed line call went in Chris Evert's favor. King stopped pursuing a shot from Evert when a linesperson began to extend his arm for an "out" call. At the last moment, he judged the ball to have landed on the line and changed his hand signal. King went ballistic, demanding a let that the umpire refused to grant. The tiebreak was anticlamactic, with King donating a double fault on the first point and hitting 2 balls into the net. Evert won 122 points to King's 117. King said after the match, "This is the angriest I've ever been in my life after a tennis match. As far as I'm concerned, I got screwed out of the match." Evert took home $50,000 for winning the event, with King getting $25,000. This was the largest amount King had ever won in a tournament to this point in her career.

Week of April 28, 1975

Mixed Doubles Classic

John Gardiner Tennis Ranch

Scottsdale, Arizona

King in mixed doubles with Tony Trabert:

1R  d. Wendy Overton / Sven Davidson 6-4, 

6-4
SF  d. Rosemary Casals / Pancho Gonzales

6-7, 6-3, 6-2
FN  d. Margaret Smith Court / Frank Sedgman 6-4, 6-2

King and Tony Trabert split $20,000 for winning the nationally televised final.

Week of June 16, 1975  

Eastbourne, United Kingdom

Grass

Draws:
The draws are available.

King in singles, [2] seed:

1R  bye
2R  d. Lesley Charles 6-0, 6-4
3R  d. Natasha Chmyrova 6-2, 7-5
QF  d. Linky Boshoff 6-3, 6-2
SF  d. Olga Morozova 6-4, 6-1
FN  lost to Virginia Wade 7-5, 4-6, 6-4

King led Virginia Wade 5-2 and had a set point at 5-4 in the first set. Wade jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the second set before King won the last 4 games of that set.

King in women's doubles with Rosemary Casals:

1R  bye
2R  d. J. Connor / C. Mattison
QF  d. Linky Boshoff / Ilana Kloss
SF  lost to Julie Anthony / Olga Morozova

Weeks of June 23 & 30, 1975

Wimbledon

All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club

London, United Kingdom

Grass

King in singles, [3] seed:

1R  d. Elizabeth Truter Vlotman 6-1, 6-4
2R  d. Veronica Burton 6-1, 6-3
3R  d. Julie Anthony 6-2, 6-3
4R  d. Michele Gurdal 6-1, 6-2
QF  d. [7]  Olga Morozova 6-3, 6-3
SF  d. [1]  Chris Evert 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
(video begins at 4:43 time stamp)
FN  d. [4]  Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6-0, 6-1
(video begins at 6:24 time stamp)

Evonne Goolagong Cawley "could not put two good shots together" during the final. Rex Bellamy of "The Times" (London) wrote on 5 July 1975, the day after: "The facts do not need the gaudy trimmings of simile and metaphor. Let us just absorb them, slowly. Billie Jean King yesterday won her last Wimbledon singles final by beating Evonne Cawley 6-0, 6-1 in 38 minutes, conceding only 24 points [(10 points in the first set and 14 in the second)]. Nobody has done better than that since the championships moved to their present premises. The only time anything comparable happened was in 1951, when Doris Hart beat Shirley Fry 6-1, 6-0. This was Mrs. King’s sixth singles title. That puts her alongside Suzanne Lenglen and just behind Dorothea Lambert Chambers (seven) and Helen Wills Moody (eight). It also means that she shares the record total of 19 Wimbledon titles with another Californian, Elizabeth Ryan, who never won the singles. Mrs. King, aged 31, may yet hold that record outright. She will be back for the doubles. ... 'I have worked so hard for so many years. I wanted to go out on a single "high." What a way to end my career here in singles. I could not ask for anything more. When I was young I used to dream about winning Wimbledon. Now I have won it six times. I have never worked harder, trained harder, thought harder. I did everything in my power to win, I prepared to the best of my ability. I am so happy it’s over.' ... She told us that World Team Tennis ... had been of much help to her in terms of mental and physical preparation. 'Once I had won the first set, I thought, "Now you’ve got to start over, and play another team tennis set.’" WTT makes you play every point very, very tight. Evonne is so dangerous when you are ahead of her. I was not going to let up and let her get into the match. I don’t think she knew what hit her. I felt I knew where every ball was going.' It was, she said, about as close as she had come to playing a perfect match. Mrs. King made only 13 errors. Of her 27 winners, 16 were volleys. ('She seemed to be up at the net all the time,' said Mrs. Cawley). The Australian made nine mistakes on the forehand, seven on the backhand. It was her forehand that Mrs. King usually attacked, hitting deep and then darting to the net to put away such returns as Mrs. Cawley had to offer. Mrs. Cawley did not volley much, largely because Mrs. King insisted that she should stay on the baseline trying to counter a rain of attacking shots. Mrs. King missed only two service returns.... But it takes two players to produce a bad match, and this one was embarrassingly bad, in spite (and to some extent because of) Mrs. King’s almost flawless tennis. Mrs. Cawley was on her heels instead of her toes. She let things happen instead of making them happen. She was listless, unimaginative, mentally passive. She showed hardly any initiative, applied hardly any pressure, and lacked either the verve or the timing to launch anything that could be construed as a counter-attack. 'I was a bit nervous out there today... because I couldn’t do anything right. ... Nothing worked for me. I couldn’t get started. Billie Jean didn’t help me, anyway. When she’s on, she’s really on. She concentrated so well, all the way through. I can’t remember anyone beating me so absolutely.' Mrs. Cawley’s tennis reflected the mood of a grey, overcast afternoon. The crowd were mostly subdued, as if respecting the bereaved. Mrs. King’s winners provoked bursts of applause. In the second set, there were rumbles of sympathetic encouragement for Mrs. Cawley. But there was no excitement, because there was no match. The place was like an operating theatre. Mrs. King was the surgeon, Mrs. Cawley the patient. The job was done quietly, quickly, neatly. The patient will recover."

King said after the match, "I played with my brain. Plus, I don't think she knew what hit her. Every shot was so close to the net she couldn't read it." The Australian began the match with a double fault and lost her service at love. She forced King to 3 deuces in the next game, but that was the only time she was in the match until she finally won the fifth game of the second set.

In the semifinals, King initially tried to play Chris Evert from the baseline but abandoned that strategy after a long rally at 1-2 (15-30) in the first set. The strategy change did not help because when King tried to get to the net, she was getting lobbed. Evert missed only 2 first serves in that set and seemed invulnerable.

Evert, however, missed three first serves in the first game of the second set and was broken. Evert broke back to tie the set at 2-2 before King won the last 4 games 

There were 3 long games at the start of the third set, with Evert winning all of them. "Mrs. King tried checking the pace, kept on attempting drop shots, and was passed frequently again. But Miss Evert was passive, always watching her and waiting for her to make a move." King saved 3 break points from 0-3 (15-40) and held serve. She then immediately broke Evert's serve "after two long rallies and a remarkable spring from the baseline to pick up a drop shot. That was the heart of the match. Thereafter Miss Evert was defending and Mrs. King was always the attacker." King broke Evert's serve again to lead 4-3 after "another of those fierce sprints and the rest was comparatively painless. Miss Evert looked as though she simply had not understood anything that happened in the last six games [of the match]. At the end she said that she had thought herself safe in the fourth game of the third set." King won the match on her second match point.

After the match, King said, "When I was down 0-3 and 15-40 in the final set, I thought how embarrassed I shall be if I lost it 6-0. I said to myself I must try and take each point to get back into the match. Then I thought: 'This is my last Wimbledon and I just can’t lose this match now. I just want to do the whole trip.'"

Rex Bellamy of "The Times" (London) wrote on 3 July 1975, the day after the semifinals: "The best books are always worth reading again. When Billie Jean King beat Evonne Goolagong ... in the final of the United States championship last September, they held us spellbound to the last shot of a lustrous match. We hoped that ... they might face each other on another such occasion. It is to happen at Wimbledon. Yesterday, Mrs. Cawley ... beat Margaret Court 6-4, 6-4 in 66 minutes and Mrs. King – three times within a point of going 0-4 down in the third set – won six successive games to defeat Christine Evert 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 36 minutes. ... If Mrs. King wins again, she will equal the record of 19 Wimbledon championships won between 1914 and 1934 by another Californian, Elizabeth Ryan, who never won the singles. Two titles this week would, of course, leave the record exclusively in Mrs. King's hands. That would be appropriate. She has won every championship that matters. But Wimbledon, the greatest of them all, has pushed her to the peaks most often. It is at Wimbledon that we have had most cause to admire her footwork and stroke production, her quick-witted tactical sense, her unflinching self-confidence and hunger for success. ... [Evert] achieved a lead [yesterday] that ... seemed commanding. But she did so without ... the level of performance we ... associate with this mercilessly tidy match player. Mrs. King’s form was usually more decisive; poor in the first set, good in the second, and moderate and superb in turn in the third. Mrs. King knew she had to attack, but discreetly. But in the first set, her volleying was all over the place and she might as well have been wearing boxing gloves for all the touch she had when attempting drop shots. In the third game [of the first set], there was an uncommonly long rally as the players fenced for an opening. It was the kind of tennis we expect in Paris rather than Wimbledon. ... There were a lot of baseline exchanges, and Mrs. King settled down to them so well that, in the match as a whole, she rallied just as well as Miss Evert, who plays that kind of game as if born to it. But Mrs. King was soon in trouble, largely because [of] her [substandard] volleying.... In the first game of the second set, Mrs. King attacked successfully and broke service. Suddenly, she began to play as if Miss Evert had merely been keeping the title warm for her. But when serving at 2-1 and deuce, Mrs. King was surprised when Miss Evert trotted up to the forecourt and hit a winning volley to frustrate the incoming volleyer. ... Mrs. King immediately served a double-fault to lose her service. But she won the next four games for the set. There were four deuce games at the start of the third set, which was the most exciting of the afternoon. Mrs. King had a total of five break points, but ... [won] none of them. Miss Evert had three break points for 4-0, a situation that prompted Mrs. King to consider how embarrassing it would be to lose the set 0-6. But Mrs. King stood firm, held her service for 1-3 with a smash and two forehand volleys, and thus launched a decisively spectacular assault that snatched victory from the flames. Both were playing well ... [now and much] of the tennis was exhilarating. A critical moment came when Mrs. King had her third break point for 4-3. Miss Evert played a stop volley that rose from the turf and hovered in the sunlight. I have never seen a tigress spot her first good lunch for a month. But the reaction must be rather like that of Mrs. King. Her eyes seemed to glitter as if illuminated from within. She hurtled to the forecourt and passed Miss Evert with a forehand. The mighty assembly roared. They knew that here was a true champion making her last challenge for the title and sparing nothing. Only two games remained. ... [The] last rally of all was a beauty, with Mrs. King making two remarkable ‘gets’ and Miss Evert ... finally mishitting an overhead off the frame. 'I was so much on the edge of the ledge today that I have not fully realized I am still in the tournament,' said Mrs. King later. 'I do not quite know how I won.'" From Mrs. Cawley’s point of view, it was somewhat ominous that Mrs. King got a lot of bad tennis out of her system and eventually settled down to play a crisply assertive game: deep, skimming approach shots supported by cutting volleys or booming smashes. But Mrs. Cawley herself played some highly skilled and attractive tennis: and it was more flexible and more consistent than Mrs. King’s. ... There were times when ... [Mrs. Cawley] was all sturdy artistry, her racket a brush as she painted pictures in the sun. Yet that brisk walk (just a hint of a swagger) suggested that there was something of the soldier in her, too. She did not flinch under fire. By some magic, she turned many of the bullets into boomerangs. What a final it will be if she and Mrs King reproduce the splendour they spread before us at Forest Hills."

King in women's doubles with Rosemary Casals, [2] seed:

1R  d. Elly Appel / Tine Zwaan 6-2, 6-2
2R  d. Annette Coe / Belinda Thompson 6-0, 

6-4
3R  d. Joyce Hume / Winnie Shaw Wooldridge 6-2, 6-0
QF  d. Julie Anthony / Olga Morozova 9-7, 9-8
SF  lost to Betty Stove / Françoise Durr 2-6, 

8-6, 6-2

King in mixed doubles with Tony Roche, [2] seed:

1R  d. Rosie Reyes Darmon / Marcelo Lara 

6-2, 6-1

2R  d. Kazuko Sawamatsu / Yuji Tezuka 6-3, 7-5

3R  King / Roche defaulted because of his sore abdominal muscle. Betty Stöve / Allan Stone advanced by walkover.

King then temporarily retired from singles. In an August 31, 1975, newspaper interview just after she had won her first round US Open doubles match, King explained her retirement: " 'I'm burned out, my knees are shot, I keep running out of goals,' Billie Jean said Saturday, insisting her retirement from tennis singles competition is final. 'There is no chance whatever I will change my mind,' she added. 'And I have no regrets. ... Playing doubles was fun, no pressure. I enjoyed it,' she said. Billie Jean said she made up her mind when she shook hands with Evonne Goolagong after winning the U.S. Open women's title last year for the fourth time that she would not be back as a singles player. She decided then, she said, to shoot for her sixth Wimbledon championship - a goal she achieved - and then call it quits. 'There is nothing left for me to win,' she said. 'Physically, I am not up to it. My knees hurt. I am an emotional player. I need motivation, and the motivation is gone.' Ms. King, who publishes a women's magazine and has a lucrative television contract, said she went to the Westchester Country Club last week just to see if she regretted her decision. 'I didn't miss it at all,' she added. ... Some critics had said Billie Jean stayed out of the tournament because she didn't like the clay surface. 'Let them think what they want,' she retorted. She said she wanted to go out on top. 'I hated to see athletes hang on past their prime,' she said. 'I determined it was not for me.' She said she is happy to pass her mantle on to Chris Evert, who she says can take up her role both in administration and competition. 'I don't see anyone beating her,' she said. Some reporters at a press conference showed cynicism at Billie Jean's insistence that she would never try a comeback. 'Frank Sinatra is always retiring and then coming back,' one reporter suggested. 'Yeah,' quipped Billie Jean, 'but you don't sing with your knees.' " Associated Press story in the Appleton [Wisconsin] Post-Crescent, August 31, 1975, page 32.

Weeks of August 25 & September 1, 1975

U. S. Open

West Side Tennis Club

Forest Hills, Borough of Queens, New York City

Clay

Draws:
The draws are available.

Singles:
Did not play.

King in women's doubles with Rosemary Casals, [4] seed:

1R  d. Janet Newberry / Pam Teeguarden 6-3, 6-2
2R  d. Linky Boshoff / Ilana Kloss 6-2, 6-2
QF  d. Joanne Russell / Jane Stratton 6-2, 6-1
SF  d. Chris Evert / Martina Navratilova 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
FN  lost to [3]  Margaret Smith Court / Virginia Wade 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(5)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEauzfgb5q4

King in mixed doubles with Fred Stolle, [2] seed:

1R  d. Kristien Kemmer Shaw Ziska / Tony Roche  7-6, 6-2

2R  d. Virginia Ruzici / Ion Tiriac 6-1, 6-2

QF  d. Sue Stap / Clark Graebner 7-5, 6-3

SF  d. Olga Morozova / Alex Metrevelli  3-6,

6-3, 6-4

FN  lost to [4]  Rosemary Casals / Richard Stockton 6-3, 6-7, 6-3

Week of December 1, 1975 (played December 6)

Mixed Doubles Challenge

Indoor Pavilion at Caesar's Palace

Las Vegas, Nevada

King in mixed doubles with Marty Riessen:

lost to Chris Evert / Jimmy Connors 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-5


In this nationally televised special event, Jimmy Connors aimed his powerful forehand primarily at King to carry his team to victory. While winning the first set, King and her partner Marty Riessen broke Connors's serve in the fifth game and Chris Evert's in the seventh game. King lost her serve in the fourth game of the second set. Riessen lost his in the ninth game of the third set. At 5-5 in the fourth set, King dropped her serve and Evert then held her serve to end the match. Connors and Evert split $100,000 while Riessen and King split $50,000 for their efforts.