{"id":78096,"date":"2026-08-24T16:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/78096\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T16:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T16:43:10","slug":"billie-jean-kings-most-famous-adidas-sneakers-are-back-for-the-first-time-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/78096\/","title":{"rendered":"Billie Jean King\u2019s Most Famous Adidas Sneakers Are Back for the First Time Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

US Open<\/a> season is upon us. Qualifiers are already underway in New York City ahead of the main draw\u2019s official start on Sunday\u2014though Adidas<\/a> hasn\u2019t wasted any time in ringing in the 2026\u2019s final Grand Slam in style. Today, to commemorate one of the tournament\u2019s most famous competitors, the Three Stripes are bringing back Billie Jean King\u2019s most iconic tennis shoes for the first time ever.<\/p>\n

King, now 82, is one of the fiercest competitors ever to take the court\u2014a true pioneer who bagged 12 major titles over the course of her 22-year career, securing every Slam at least once along with half a dozen Wimbledon trophies. Today, every tennis star who plays in the US Open\u2019s Arthur Ashe Stadium will walk past her most famous words, which are painted inside the players\u2019 entrance tunnel: \u201cPressure is a privilege.\u201d King would know\u2014those Slam titles aren\u2019t won easily. But there\u2019s one non-tournament match that stands as perhaps the defining moment of King\u2019s legacy on the court: 1973\u2019s infamous Battle of the Sexes.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Adidas<\/p>\n

That showstopper of a match took place at the Astrodome in Houston, with a whopping 90 million people around the globe tuning in to watch a then-29-year-old King take on 55-year-old Bobby Riggs. The latter had goaded the women\u2019s world number one into the spectacle following several public displays of chauvinism after he defeated the Australian star Margaret Court in a similar match earlier that same year. In Houston, however, Riggs got his just deserts\u2014King crushed him in straight sets, securing a landmark victory that helped legitimize the women\u2019s game in the eyes of many spectators.<\/p>\n

To mark the occasion, King\u2019s sneaker sponsor Adidas made her a custom pair of blue suede tennis shoes. They were one-of-one, not based on a preexisting silhouette like the Stan Smith<\/a> or Gazelle<\/a>, and have never been given a public release in the 53 years since. That changes today: the German sportswear giant has recreated King\u2019s original Blue Suede Shoes with a little bit of retrofitting for the modern era. The standard features\u2014blue suede upper, white stripes, and white rubber sole\u2014remain the same. To spruce things up, the brand has added King\u2019s portrait on the tongue (similar to the famous design flourish on Stan Smiths), as well as a couple of cool Easter eggs on the heels: the left features the number \u201c1973\u201d to commemorate the year of the match, while the right heel features the final score: 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.<\/p>\n

The Adidas x Billie Jean King Blue Suede Shoes go on sale today for $110 via adidas.com<\/a> and select retailers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US Open season is upon us. Qualifiers are already underway in New York City ahead of the main…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21254],"tags":[21290,21440,2169,57257],"class_list":["post-78096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-adidas","tag-adidas","tag-sneakers","tag-tennis","tag-u-s-open"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}