adidas Revives the Billie Jean King Signature Shoe She Wore Into History
The reissue tucks the 1973 match score into its backtabs and King’s guiding motto into the insoles.
Name: adidas Billie Jean King
Colorway: TBC
SKU: KH9857
MSRP: $110 USD
Release Date: TBC
adidas is reaching deep into its archive to revive the Billie Jean King signature shoe, the model the tennis great and women’s rights icon first laced up in 1974. More than half a century later, the silhouette returns with a design built around the match that reshaped the sport, pairing a clean retro build with details drawn straight from King’s own history.
Few athletes have done more to expand women’s sports than King, and the defining moment arrived in 1973. That year, 55-year-old former champion and self-described male chauvinist Bobby Riggs argued that the women’s game was so far behind that even an aging male player could dominate its best. A 29-year-old King accepted the challenge in what became known as the “Battle of the Sexes,” and with an estimated 90 million viewers watching worldwide, she dismantled him in three straight sets. The win pushed a skeptical public to reconsider the legitimacy of women’s tennis on the spot.
Most people know that story. Far fewer know the shoe that followed. In 1974, one year after the victory, King became the first female athlete to release a signature sneaker with adidas, having worn the same model against Riggs in a blue suede colorway. That game-worn pair is now preserved in the International Tennis Hall of Fame, and the 2026 revival leans fully into its history rather than reinventing it.
The storytelling lives in the details. A thick leather tag on the tongue carries a blue illustration of King updated to reflect her appearance today, while her signature sits in gold along the lateral heel. The backtabs display the scores from her three-set win, 6-4, 6-3 and 6-3, and the insoles read “Pressure Is a Privilege,” borrowing the personal motto that also lent its name to her 2008 memoir. Curved overlays wrap the toe box for a distinctive finish, with the rest of the design rooted in familiar adidas Originals language through serrated Three Stripes and a low-profile retro tennis sole. The upper arrives almost entirely in off-white suede, with leather on the stripes and heel tabs adding a quiet shift in texture that lets the commemorative touches lead.
The adidas Billie Jean King has already begun surfacing at European retailers, pointing to a wider adidas US release in 2026.
