Tennis Icon Billie Jean King to Be Nominated for Congressional Gold Medal

Tennis legend Billie Jean King could soon become the first female individual athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

According to ESPN, three U.S. senators are set to introduce a bill on Wednesday that will award the honor to King. Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of her victory over Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexes," which remains the most-watched tennis match of all time.

"She's both a role model for women and girls everywhere, but she's also a battle-tested warrior for women's rights and equality," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, one of the proponents of the bill in the Senate along with Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona

A tennis Hall of Famer and longtime activist, King was instrumental in the creation of a women's pro tour and ensuring equal prize money for both men and women. She celebrated the 50th anniversaries earlier this year of the WTA Tour and the US Open becoming the first tournament to award equal prize money to its men's and women's champions.

King also commemorated her 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Riggs at the Astrodome in Houston on social media on Tuesday. The match was viewed by an estimated 90 million people following the then-55-year-old Riggs' declaration that he could beat any women's player. King was motivated to ensure that wouldn't happen.

If King receives the Congressional Gold Medal, she will join athletes such as baseball players Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente and golfers Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson and Arnold Palmer to receive the honor.

"I think it's important for women and girls to know that the playing field has not been level for a very long time, but that there are champions and advocates who have been fighting on their behalf for generations to get that playing field leveled," Gillibrand said.

The bill needs two-thirds of the voting to pass in the Senate, and the same majority in the House of Representatives, where a companion bill is being led by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey. Gillibrand said she hopes the bill can be passed before the end of the year.

"We still have never had a woman president. We have very few women governors. We still only have 20% of women in Congress," she said. "So we have a long way to go, but champions like Billie Jean give us hope that through fighting, through effort, through advocacy, we can reach these milestones of equality."