Tennis great Billie Jean King has always been vocal in her stand against sexual discrimination in the sport. The 12-time singles Grand Slam winner has now openly criticized the sport for inequality. She explained that inequality is the ‘real barrier’ to success in tennis and life.

Billie came out in support of the Algerian tennis star Ines Ibbou following her plea to World No.3 Dominic Thiem. King explained that the path to success is not the same for all and it is everyone’s responsibility to fix this issue.

“It is everyone’s responsibility to try and fix these problems” – Billie Jean King

Earlier, Thiem refused to contribute for the Novak Djokovic‘s Player Relief Fund to financially help the lower-ranked players during the coronavirus pandemic. The Austrian felt that many players on the ITF “are quite unprofessional” and didn’t see why he should give them money.

Consequently, Ibbou posted an open letter to Thiem on Instagram urging him to at least respect the sacrifices of players like her. She received widespread support from all around the world following her letter to Thiem. Subsequently, Billie Jean King also posted Ibbou’s video on her Instagram, urging everyone to fix the inequality issues.

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“Equality for All. Socioeconomic, class-, race- and gender-based inequality are real barriers to success in tennis and in life. Access is not equal and the path to success is not the same. It is everyone’s responsibility to try and fix these problems not only for the future of the game but also for the future of humankind,” King wrote.

“Thank you so much, Billie Jean King. Such an honor. Undoubtedly many things have to change to improve the game and improve everyone’s life,” Ibbou responded.

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Tennis has been dealing with the inequality issues for much longer than any other major sport. The governing bodies of tennis should come together to discuss the major issues within the sport and try to resolve them during the forced shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.