Billie Jean King, Rosie Casals On The Importance Of Public Tennis Programs

You could say that Billie Jean King and Rosie Casals have really hit it out of the park. Both went from first being introduced to tennis as kids in public parks in New York City and San Francisco, respectively, to having legendary, ground-breaking careers in the sport. And these two members of one of the most successful doubles team in history recently talked to me about how having such free access to tennis at early ages really helped them and how it could “serve” the careers and health of so many kids around the country.

King And Casals Played Big Parts In The 27th Annual City Park Foundation Tennis Benefit

Both King and Casals were at the 27th annual City Parks Foundation Tennis Benefit, held on Tuesday during—not coincidentally—the opening week of the 2025 U.S. Open. The event occurred at the U.S. Open at what is named the United States Tennis Association Billie Jean King National Tennis Center—again not coincidentally because King has been kind of a big deal for tennis. She has not only won 39 Grand Slam titles, 12 in singles, 16 in women’s doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles but has also helped grow the sport and make it more accessible to many more people. She, along with a guy named John McEnroe, co-chaired this year’s event. King’s name is also on the annual Billie Jean King Junior Achievement Award, which was awarded this year to CityParks Tennis Lacoste Junior Academy player Laleshka Alvarez during the benefit

And Casals, a majors champion 12 times over and tennis groundbreaker in so many ways, along with Brian Snerson, the co-founder of Essex Wealth Management, were the benefit’s two big honorees. Casals has long stood out for tennis, not just because of her uniquely colorful clothing when she was winning tennis titles. But more on that later. Snerson, meanwhile, has long supported CPF, initiating JPMorgan Chase’s multi-year presenting sponsorship of CityParks Tennis while he was at the bank and helping launch the first CityParks Tennis Benefit in 1998. This earned him the 2025 Vitas Gerulaitis Community Service Award, presented to Snerson during the event.

The annual benefit helps raise funds for City Parks Foundation so that CPF can continue to offer free tennis programs for youth across all five boroughs of New York City. “It’s one of the largest such programs in the country, reaching or expecting to reach over 5,000 kids this year,” explained Mike Silverman, Director of Sports for CPF, “The mission of the program is to make tennis accessible to any child in New York who wants to learn. We have a pyramid program of different program levels: beginners, intermediate, and advanced.”

King Helped Find Ways To Support The City Park Foundation Tennis Program

Both Silverman and King told me about how King first got involved with the CPF. It was in 1990s when the NYC government was making big budget cuts. This included slicing the free tennis programs being offered in NYC’s parks. And since such free programs require, you know, money to run, Silverman, who was already involved in the NYC parks sports program, approached King, whom he already knew, for ideas on how to rally, so to speak, in the face of these budget cuts.

“It was a Hilton Head under the pouring rain, when I ran into Mike Silverman and asked how’s it going,” recalled King. “We got in the car and talked. He said, ‘Yeah, they are cutting my budget.’ And I said, ’Let’s get back together and discuss in New York City.’”

Once they were back in NYC, King did the opposite of rain on the parks program’s parade. She suggested going to the U.S. Tennis Association. The USTA, in turn, offered free space at the U.S. Open tennis venue as well as free tickets to the U.S Open to help with fundraising for the parks program. “The USTA has come through huge,” said King. “We’re very fortunate that every USTA President since then has continued to offer such help.”

King Got Started On Public Tennis Courts

When you talk to King, it quickly becomes apparent how passionate she is about tennis and getting more and more people to play the sport more and more. “There’s nothing like the feeling of when the ball hits the strings on your racket,” she explained. “I play two to three times a week. It’s so much fun, sets me free again. There’s something magical about it.” Oh, and even when you want to keep talking about her and her illustrious career, she volleys the conversation back to you, asking you about the last time you played tennis and saying, “We’ve got to get you back on the court.”

King’s first ever tennis court was a public one in New York City. “I got free instruction from Clyde Walker,” King recalled. “After that session, I knew what I would do with my life. I wanted to be the best tennis in the world. I did not waver one moment.” And that, folks, is exactly what ended up happening as King occupied the top women’s singles spot for the majority (six of 10 years) of the decade spanning from 1966 to 1975. Not only that, she and Casals were part of the “Original Nine” women who signed tennis contracts with Gladys Heldman in Houston, Texas, on September 23, 1970. This led to women having their own tennis tour, which eventually became what is today’s Women’s Tennis Association. So, all of the professional women’s tennis players of today can thank King and Casals for what at the time was a pretty “ballsy” move.

Even though King went on to win a lot of tournaments, like a lot a lot, her parents never really forced the needed competitive fire upon her or her brother Randy Moffitt, who ended being a top relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. “My parents never asked us if we won,” she explained. “Dad just asked if we tried our best. Because our parents didn’t put pressure on us, we loved pressure. It makes you think better, sharper. My parents just wanted us to get exercise.”

King wasn’t the only tennis superstar initially raised on public courts. She mentioned a bunch of other names that you might recognize, like Jimmy Connors, Chris Evert, McEnroe and the Williams sisters (Serena and Venus). And, of course, there’s Casals, whom King described as, “Pound-for-pound the most talented tennis player I have seen. She’s five-foot-two-a quarter in height, and she always empathizes the quarter.”

Casals Got Started On Public Tennis Courts Too

Long before she began making her own racket on the world stage, Casals first learned to play tennis in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California. There she got to meet stars like Jack Kramer, Ken Rosewall, Maureen Connolly and Pancho Gonzales. “They were teaching us little kids tennis,” Casals recalled. “So, it was a real eye-opener for me, coming from the wrong side of the tracks. Our neighborhood never knew anything about tennis.”

Casals went on to say, “It’s provided so many opportunities to play, to meet other kids and other people along the way who made a difference in certainly in my career,” she said. “We had the friends of Golden Gate Park who were terrific to me in helping me raise funds to send me back East and to play nationals and eventually Forest Hills. So it kind of opened my eyes to many, many things, I was fortunate.”

Those Golden Gate Park public tennis courts were essentially the opening to Casals’ very golden tennis career. As a singles player, she reached number three in the world in 1970 and ranked in the U.S. Women’s Top Five for 11 consecutive years. And she totally slammed it as a doubles player. Casals ended up capturing a dozen Grand Slam doubles titles, including five at the U.S. Open and seven at Wimbledon. In fact, with a total of 112 professional doubles titles, she ranks behind only Martina Navratilova for the most in tennis history.

She and Billie Jean King were a particularly formidable duo, capturing the Wimbledon crown five times. But according to King, Casals’ biggest doubles accomplishment was being the doubles partner of Ilie Năstase. No, not winning two Wimbledon mixed doubles titles with Năstase. But simply being his partner, since Năstase was pretty well-known for his antics on court.

Casals has continued to be an advocate for tennis via her company, Sportswoman Inc., by promoting different women’s tennis-related events and programs. “Tennis really gave me a life, gave me an identity,” said Casals. “Something to care about and love even to this day.”

Getting Kids Started With Tennis Can Bring A Lifetime Of Health Benefits

Both King and Silverman referred to tennis as the “world’s healthiest sport,” which was the slogan of the 2024 U.S. Open, as I covered in Forbes last year. That moniker was based in part on a study published in 2018 in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings that found that among 8,577 Copenhagen, Denmark, residents, those who had regularly played tennis lived nearly “tennish” (an average of 9.7 years) longer than those who had remained sedentary. That was a greater jump in life expectancy than what was associated with other sports like soccer (4.7 years longer), cycling (3.7 years), swimming (3.4 years), jogging (3.2 years), calisthenics, (3.1 years) and health club activities (1.5 years).

Tennis is also a sport that you can keep playing throughout much of your life. While you won’t see too many 70 or 80 year olds playing tackle football or doing a Tsukahara tucked with half twist off a gymnastics vault, it’s quite common for older adults to be regularly playing tennis. Both Casals and King still make it onto the tennis court regularly, King as indicated earlier two to three times a week and Casals at least three times a week.

But to enjoy all that tennis has to offer, you’ve got to somehow get started with the sport in the first place. This isn’t easy for everyone since first learning the sport isn’t necessarily DIY or “do it yourself.” Many places and communities around the country have historically lacked decent quality tennis courts and tennis instruction. There’s a need for more programs like those offered by the City Parks Foundation to give kids from a broader range of backgrounds (including lower socioeconomic ones) the opportunity to learn and play tennis. All of this is in line with the USTA’s ongoing nationwide efforts to expand access to the sport, as I’ve covered earlier this year in Forbes.

Expanding access to tennis will certainly help find the next generation of tennis champions. After all, becoming a champion requires a unique drive and grit that you don’t just find every day. “You’re going to find the hungry kids in public parks in places where things are not just given to you,” Casals emphasized.

Of course, most kids who pick up tennis rackets aren’t going to become the next King or Casals. Only a very small percentage of tennis players end up making it to the professional ranks, let alone becoming game changers in the sport. That doesn’t mean that playing tennis won’t serve everyone well, though. When you are armed with the emotional, mental and physical benefits that tennis has to offer, you could end hitting it out of the park in so many other ways.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2025/08/27/billie-jean-king-and-rosie-casals-on-the-importance-of-public-tennis-programs/