Chances are, after losing out on a big pitch, job interview, or—in Billie Jean King’s world—a tennis match, you’ll know exactly where you fell short. But have you ever asked yourself after winning why exactly you won?
“People keep thinking, you learn more from failure,” the 81-year-old tennis legend exclusively told Fortune at the Power of Women’s Sports Summit presented by e.l.f. Beauty. Instead, she says, the top 1% “learn how to win.”
“What sentence did I write well? Were you kind to others? All these things are building blocks to have a better life.”
Even as a kid from Long Beach, Calif., with a racket, a blue-collar dad, little spare cash, and barely any coaching, King would tell herself she was destined to become the star she is today.
“Here’s how I used to think as a junior player: every time I won a junior match, it was only a stepping stone to be number one in the world,” she told Fortune. “I never thought or cared about junior tennis. Everything I did was to be number one the world as an adult.”
That long-game mentality meant that small wins along the way weren’t the end point—they were study material. Just like after a loss, she would ask herself: What did I do right? What can I replicate?
King was fully aware that Austin knew all of King’s moves and would be anticipating her go-to shot (a cross-court shot). So King knew that the only way to win was to go down the line, her weakest shot.
“I knew before I hit that ball, if I didn’t make it, I’d probably lose the match. If I made it, I’d probably win,” she says. She went for it—and it worked.
That moment reinforced a core belief that’s followed her ever since: success comes from understanding exactly what it takes to win. “You have to know why you win,” she says. “I don’t learn more when I lose. I learn more when I win. I think because it keeps me learning how to win, not how to lose.”
For King, feedback isn’t just something you apply after a failure. It’s the habit of asking hard questions after a high, too.
“Everyone should really think about that with their own lives,” she says. “What is your strength? Play to it.”
