Billie Jean King once that if you want to be the best, you must never let anyone, anyone, know what you really feel. You see, she told me, they can't hurt you if they don't know. Concerning the qualities of a champion tennis player, King said, King's friend Elton John wrote the song “Philadelphia Freedom”, a nod to her World TeamTennis team, for King. Released New Year's Day 1975, became a number 1 hit. Charles M. Schulz, creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip, was an admirer and close friend. Schulz referred to King several times in "Peanuts" and used the comic strip to
West Side Tennis Club Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Tennis Tournament which was a celebrity pro-am for charity featuring the likes of Chevy Chase, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carlos Santana, Edward M. Kennedy, Elton John and more throughout the decade. In 1975, the tournament was switched to Har-Tru clay courts. By 1978, the tournament had outgrown West Side, and the USTA moved the tournament to the new USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows under USTA President William Hester's leadership. In 2008, the stadium was the site of a women's satellite tournament. The New York Empire of World TeamTennis announced it would play its