.Sep 17, 2024, 09:18 PM ETWASHINGTON-- Billie Jean Master will come to be the first individual women's professional athlete to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and also Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey revealed Tuesday that their bipartisan regulation had passed our home of Representatives and would be actually delivered to Head of state Joe Biden for his signature.The bill to honor King, the tennis Lobby of Famer as well as lobbyist, had actually currently passed all in the Senate.Sherrill, a Democrat, mentioned in a declaration that King's "life-time of proposal as well as effort altered the yard for women and also girls on the courthouse, in the classroom, and the work environment." The costs was offered in September 2023 on the 50th anniversary of King's triumph over Bobby Riggs in the "Battle of the Sexual activities," still the most-watched tennis suit of perpetuity. The medal, awarded through Congress for notable success and also contributions to community, has earlier been actually offered to athletes, consisting of baseball players Jackie Robinson and also Roberto Clemente as well as golf enthusiasts Jack Nicklaus, Byron Nelson as well as Arnold Palmer.King had actually already been actually rewarded the Governmental Award of Independence in 2009. Fitzpatrick, a Republican politician, mentions she has "broken barricades, led unexplored pathways, and also motivated many individuals to stand happily along with courage and also sentiment in the defend what is right.".