By Sean Rudolph

(August 13, 2010) She gained international acclaim in a solo sport, but Billie Jean King has always been a team player at heart. Long before King led the United States Fed Cup team to the first Fed Cup championship in 1963, collected 16 Grand Slam doubles titles and co-founded World TeamTennis, King was a team player.

She grew up in Long Beach playing basketball and softball before she ever picked up a tennis racquet and has said she played some of her best tennis on the doubles court.

King is continuing to encourage American tennis authorities to stress tennis' team concept in order to grow the game.

"Kids want to be with their friends and they want to play with them, not against them," King tells Roger Cox in an interview for this month's Continental Airlines Magazine. "We need to get families helping to organize (tennis) the way they do softball and soccer. And in World TeamTennis it's a co-ed team with equal contributions by both genders. We've got to change or we'll never reach our potential."