Fifty years after Battle of the Sexes, gender equity in tennis remains elusive

NEW YORK — As Coco Gauff received her $3 million check after winning the US Open title earlier this month, she glanced to the far side of the stage and couldn’t hide her gratitude.

“Thank you Billie, for fighting for this,” she said as she looked towards Billie Jean King.

At just 19, Gauff doesn’t know a US Open without equal prize money between the men and women. Her paycheck was the same amount as the one that men’s champion Novak Djokovic received.

This year marked 50 years of equal pay at the tournament, commemorated with tributes to King — the groundbreaking pioneer who pushed to make it happen after founding the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) earlier that same year.

The US Open became the first sporting event in the world to offer equal purses for its male and female competitors in 1973, and since then, the three remaining Grand…