Former US President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama attended the opening ceremony of the 2023 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Monday.
Michelle paid tribute to tennis legend Billie Jean King who celebrated the 50th anniversary of the US Open becoming the first sporting event to offer equal prize money to female and male players.
King was the driving force behind the US Open's move to equalise prize money for men's and women's competitors. When she won her third US Open title in 1972 she earned $10,000, compared with $25,000 for the men's winner.
'I'm thinking, "God, I only got 10 and he got, you know, (Ilie Nastase) got 15 more",' Ms King said last week. 'So I said to everyone and I was just feeling this... I said, "This really stinks. I don't think the girls will be back".'
Michelle recalled how King rallied her fellow women players to boycott the tournament unless they were also awarded the same pay as men players following which the organisers announced that both the men's and women's US Open winners would each receive $25,000.
'Billie Jean teaches us that when things lie in the balance, we all have a choice to make,' Michelle said.
'We can either wait around and accept what we are given or we can make our own stand. We can use whatever platforms we have to speak out and fight to protect the progress we have made, and level the playing field for all of our daughters and their daughters.'
