This story appears in the Sept. 18, 2017, issue of Sports Illustrated. Subscribe to the magazine here.
By a certain point, what with all the milestones and landmarks celebrated at the 2017 U.S. Open, it seemed fair to wonder: Can a sport overdose on significance? Because if you weren’t hearing about the 60th anniversary of Althea Gibson’s first U.S. title, you were hearing a speech about the 50th anniversary of Billie Jean King’s. Or reliving, with the coming release of a new movie, King’s barrier-busting victory over Bobby Riggs in the “Battle of the Sexes” in 1973.