In a Fitting Tribute, the Fed Cup Is Renamed After Billie Jean King (original) (raw)

Tennis|In a Fitting Tribute, the Fed Cup Is Renamed After Billie Jean King

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/sports/tennis/billie-jean-king-renamed-fed-cup.html

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On Tennis

The newly named Billie Jean King Cup honors a player and coach who has always been equal parts champion, teammate and advocate.

Billie Jean King won her first Federation Cup in 1963 — the first year of the tournament — and went on to win a total of seven as a player.Credit...Chuck Burton/Associated Press

Sept. 17, 2020

Bud Collins, the celebrated tennis commentator and historian, once described the Fed Cup as “a splendid idea with a lame name.”

“He did? That’s perfect,” said Billie Jean King, laughing hard. “I wish he were still alive. He would enjoy this.”

That is because the “lame name” is no more.

The International Tennis Federation is renaming the annual team competition the “Billie Jean King Cup.”

“I was and am still in shock,” said King in an interview with The New York Times before Thursday’s announcement.

The event began in 1963 after decades of lobbying and was intended to be the equivalent for women of the Davis Cup, the men’s team event that began in 1900 and was named for its creator, Dwight Davis.

The women’s event was called “The Federation Cup” in honor of its creator: the International Tennis Federation. After a marketing survey, the name was shortened in 1995 to “Fed Cup,” which clearly did not require a great deal of bold thinking.

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