Coco Gauff thanked Billie Jean King for equal pay after collecting her $3 million US Open check

• Coco Gauff beat Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win the 2023 US Open women's singles title.
• The 19-year-old American thanked tennis legend Billie Jean King after collecting her $3 million check.

NEW YORK — Coco Gauff is a Grand Slam champion.

The 19-year-old became the youngest American woman since Serena Williams to win a major tennis championship, taking down soon-to-be world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 Saturday to hoist the trophy at the 2023 US Open.

And when Gauff was presented with her $3 million check for winning the tournament, she turned and found tennis legend and social justice activist Billie Jean King standing a few feet away on stage.

"Thank you Billie," Gauff said. "For fighting for this."

A four-time US Open singles champion in her own right, King was the driving force behind achieving equal pay for men and women at major tennis championships. Already a pioneer for equality in the sport, the California native used her leverage after winning the singles title in 1972 to exact change in Flushing Meadows and, later, across the tennis world.

King earned $15,000 less than the men's champion that year for winning the title. She threatened not to compete in the next year's tournament if the men's and women's singles champions did not receive identical paychecks for their respective feats.

Her longtime fight came to fruition the following season. Exactly 50 years before Gauff's victory, the US Open became the first major tournament to award equal prize money.

Gauff, and every other woman to win the US Open since is the beneficiary of King's fight.