‘Not just a player’
This drive to encourage women—and also men—into other areas of tennis is vital to the growth of the sport, in King’s opinion. She’s been involved in the business side of tennis since the beginning of the Open Era and described how her first experience of it in 1968 showed her “the pressure that people have to put on tournaments.”
I’m in the tennis business. Well, I mean, I own tournaments. When players ask me, ‘what do you think I should do?’ I said: learn the business. You’re in the tennis business. You’re not just a player.
And that’s not the only area she wants the current professionals to take note of. King has been vocal about maximising the appeal of tennis, from simplifying the scoring system to personalised jerseys and an end to five-set matches. It’s a sentiment she’d also like to extend to players and their relationship with fans in the arena.
“We are the least welcoming sport. We say to our friends, come and shut up. Don’t sit down to be hospitable. I think they should be able to yell, talk, get in up and down, just play,” she sighs.
“Players are a joke – ‘Oh, I see someone move’. Please. You shouldn’t be looking up there. You go, look at the ball, play. It’s our job as professional athletes. We are entertainers.”
We are entertainers, which I don’t think a lot of them understand. And it’s not about them. It’s about the fans. It’s about the people. Here’s what players think: ‘All these people come to watch me.’ No, our job is to take care of them.
“When I walk on a court, that’s my stage, like a theater. And my job is to make the fans happy. When they go home tonight, I want them to go, wow, that was great. I’m going to get my kids into tennis. Or they go, wow, now I know why I love tennis.”
