Philadelphia Freedoms (1974) Dick and Ken Butera as a charter member of WTT in 1973. The team began play in WTT's inaugural 1974 season. The Freedoms played their home matches at the Spectrum. The centerpiece of the team was tennis legend Billie Jean King who served as its player-coach. King became the first woman to coach a professional sports team that included male players. Once King was signed on with the Freedoms, her good friend Elton John decided to write and record the song "Philadelphia Freedom" to wish her luck on her new venture with WTT and for the team to use as
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