Title: Billie Jean King
Content: the first of her six singles titles at Wimbledon and the first of twelve Grand Slam singles titles overall, defeating Court in the semifinals 6–3, 6–3 and Maria Bueno in the final. King credited her semifinal victory to her forehand down the line, a new shot in her repertoire. She also said that the strategy for playing Court is, "Simple. Just chip the ball back at her feet." At the U.S. Championships, an ill King was upset by Kerry Melville Reid in the second round. King successfully defended her title at the South African Tennis Championships in 1967, defeating Maria

Title: Billie Jean King
Content: because of major surgery to her left foot during December 1978. King returned to singles competition at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Chichester. She defeated the reigning Wimbledon champion, Martina Navratilova, in a 48-minute quarterfinal 6–1, 6–2 before losing to Evonne Goolagong Cawley in the semifinals 1–6, 6–4, 10–8. Seeded seventh at Wimbledon, King defeated Hana Mandlíková in the fourth round before losing the last six games of the quarterfinal match with fourth-seeded Tracy Austin 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–2. King partnered with Navratilova at Wimbledon to win King's 20th and final Wimbledon title, breaking Elizabeth Ryan's longstanding record of 19 Wimbledon

Title: Billie Jean King
Content: four consecutive Grand Slam singles titles (a "non-calendar year Grand Slam"), King defeated Maria Bueno in a quarterfinal before losing to Gunter in a semifinal 2–6, 6–3, 6–4. King rebounded to win her third consecutive Wimbledon singles title, defeating Jones in the semifinals and Dalton in the final. At the US Open, King defeated Bueno in a semifinal before being upset in the final by Virginia Wade. On September 24, she had surgery to repair cartilage in her left knee and did not play in tournaments the remainder of the year. King said that it took eight months (May 1969)

Title: Billie Jean King
Content: Wade in a Phoenix semifinal, and Goolagong in a semifinal of the tour-ending Virginia Slims Championships in Los Angeles. In 1975, King played singles only half the year, as she retired (temporarily, as it turned out) from tournament singles competition immediately after winning her sixth Wimbledon singles title. She began the year in San Francisco, defeating Françoise Dürr and Virginia Wade before losing to Chris Evert in the final. The following week, King won the Sarasota, Florida tournament, defeating Evert in the final 6–3, 6–2. Evert said immediately after the final, which was her thirteenth career match with King, "I

Title: Billie Jean King
Content: 1961 Wimbledon Women's Singles, losing to fifth-seeded Yola Ramírez Ochoa in a two-day match on Centre Court. For the 1962 singles tournament at Wimbledon, King upset Margaret Court, the World No. 1 and top seed, in a second round match by attacking Court's forehand This was the first time in Wimbledon history that the women's top seed had lost her first match. That same year, King and Hantze Susman repeated their doubles victory at Wimbledon. In 1963, King again faced Margaret Court at Wimbledon. This time they met in the finals with Court prevailing. In 1964, King won four relatively

Question: Who was the defending champion when Billie Jean King first won Wimbledon singles?
Answer: Margaret Smith