WIMBLEDON, England — Looming above Court 18 and Wimbledon’s famed “Henman Hill,” two apartment buildings offer perhaps the best view in all of tennis: a glistening look over the famed All England Club.
Early Wednesday morning, Billie Jean King, the trailblazer and a founder of the modern-day women’s tennis tour, is having coffee on the top floor of one of the towers, her mug with the word “London” emblazoned on its lip.
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“Some of the players think I live here,” King tells USA TODAY Sports in an interview. “They think that Wimbledon is my home.”
It might as well be: King won the singles title here six times as well as multiple championships in doubles and mixed doubles. This marks the first year, however, that she and partner Ilana Kloss have stayed in this particular apartment, though they’ve stayed in one of the two buildings “for ages.”
The buildings are actually full of tennis history. Lindsay Davenport has stayed there at times, Mike Bryan and his wife are renting a flat this year, Cliff Drysdale once owned one of the apartments and rented it out, and members of the WTA’s executive team stayed there a year ago, as well.
Davenport says she stayed there in 1999 when she won her lone Wimbledon title and again another year when there was a fire in one of the buildings. She sent her coach off during one of her matches to make sure her unit was OK.
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“Look at how nice this is,” King says, gesturing around the apartment, which is filled with light from wraparound windows. This year, their apartment looks to the north, so not directly over Court 18, but they can see Aorangi Park, the practice facility, and it’s quieter on this side of the building.
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“What happens in the morning is they make deliveries, starting at 7 or 7:30 a.m.,” King points out of the disadvantage of living on the side that overlooks the tennis.
Mary Carillo, the former player and now a Tennis Channel commentator, has a room in the apartment, and the place is abuzz with tennis stories – stories upon stories.
Carillo shares one of King with a bowl of eggs, encouraged by Mary to play a practical joke and “egg the Hill” during the days that TNT was the Wimbledon rights-holder in the USA. It didn’t happen, but Billie “was game,” Carillo says, laughing.
A year ago, Craig Kardon, coach of American CoCo Vandeweghe, stayed with King and Kloss while Carillo was put into housing provided by Tennis Channel. Vandeweghe made a surprise run to the quarterfinals, her best Grand Slam result, but Carillo wanted her room back.
“They can’t kick me loose,” she jokes. “I came over and saw that Craig was their roommate. I got jealous. I said, ‘Next year I’m back here.’ I’m not letting them get rid of me.”
“We’re like family,” adds King.
King now spends her energy on a variety of projects spread in and out of tennis, but this Wimbledon is focused on the upcoming season of World TeamTennis, which is on a different schedule this summer because of the Olympics. The league, which her partner Kloss is the commissioner of, is reintroducing a team in New York City, where King first played WTT, set to play at the historic Westside Tennis Club, the former site of the U.S. Open.
“World TeamTennis is the reason I live in New York,” explains King.
That spurs a story from Carillo, who recalls a former King apartment on the Upper West Side that had an indoor tennis court as part of the complex.
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“There was nothing in the apartment that told you that Billie Jean King lived there except a coffee mug with a tiny New York Apples stirrer in it,” Carillo says, noting the former WTT team King played for. “That was it.”
Wimbledon is unique in the sport for the way the SW19 area becomes a miniature tennis world of sorts, filled with players and dignitaries each year. The Wimbledon Village is lined with shops and restaurants that redecorate with tennis themes.
King, 72, remembers when most would stay in London’s city center, a half-hour drive from Wimbledon, or more.
“In the old days, I would stay in the city and drive in every day,” she says. “I had a little Mini Cooper; it was great. I had the radio on coming to and from.”
This commute, however? Just five minutes by foot. Or, if they really wanted to, they could watch Court 18 action from the hallway or practices from inside.
“I remember staying at a B&B, and the breakfast they gave us was shocking,” King says of when she was a player. “We would practice at Queen’s Club (in London) and then have to come out here. It was a mess.”
“All kinds of players have stayed here,” King says of the buildings.
“It’s pretty dang convenient,” Carillo says.
And the view isn’t bad, either.
Source: https://t-tees.com
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