Billie Jean King became the third woman and third tennis player to be given the Lifetime achievement award. King had won 39 Grand Slam titles in both singles and doubles competitions throughout her career, with 20 coming at Wimbledon. In 1961 King and Karen Hantze Susman became the youngest pair to win the women's doubles title at Wimbledon. Throughout her career King was world singles number one in six years and won 129 singles titles in total, with the very last one coming in Birmingham where the award was presented. King also won 7 Fed Cup titles as a player and a further 4 as a captain. Away from the court King founded the Women's Tennis Association and was an advocate of gender equality defeating Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes match. King was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987 and was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. King used her speech to remind people to continue to influence and inspire others.