Ilana Kloss – Bio, Age, Height And Facts About Billie Jean King’s Partner

Quick Facts

Ex-professional tennis player and businesswoman Ilana Kloss has had an enduring relationship with her same-sex partner , a fellow professional in tennis. According to Ilana, she is lucky to have a life partner who sees the world in the same way as her, she always refers to Billie as the love of her life. Join us as we explore the life and career of the star tennis player.

Ilana Kloss – Bio, Age

Ilana Kloss is of Jewish origin and was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on March 22, 1946. Her zodiac sign is Aries and she was born with the given name of Ilana Sheryl Kloss. Her parents have been identified as Shlaim and Ruth Kloss and she grew up with one sibling, a sister named Yvette Merle Kloss. Merle is now married to Richard Blackman and has a couple of kids named Joshua and Lara Blackman.

Kloss’ educational qualifications and institutions attended are not known but she is possibly educated from what is obvious. Ilana enjoys fluency in both English and Afrikaans and currently resides in Chicago, United States.

Career

Before Ilana Kloss turned professional in 1972, she competed at Wimbledon and bagged the junior singles title. 1973, 75 and 77 saw her win the SA doubles title in collaboration with Linky Boshoff. Illana was at the 1973 Maccabiah Games in Isreal where she bagged double gold in both mixed doubles and women’s doubles. Her mixed doubles match at the Maccabiah Games of 1977 earned her silver.

She played in the US Open of 1974, clinching the junior singles title and made the records as the youngest #1 player in the whole of South Africa. Along with Pat Walkden, she defeated Janet Young and Evonne Goolagong to win the title in the finals at Cincinnati.

In 1976, she became #19 in singles and #1 in doubles worldwide. That was the year she had a harvest of doubles titles – she won the Us Open title, the US Clay Courts, the Italian Open, the British Hard Courts Championship, the German Open and Hilton Head. As if that was not enough, Ilana Kloss still went ahead to bag the mixed doubles title at the French Open. She was the winner of the British clay court championship, the German championship, as well as the Canadian championship in 1977.

Many years later, in 1999, the tennis expert emerged the winner of the US Open doubles and mixed doubles championship. She was part of the team South Africa that competed in the Federation Cup between 1973 to 1977 with a compilation of 12–5 win/loss record.

In 1974, she became part of the San Francisco Golden Gaters WTT team where she made it to the WTT Finals of 1975. In order to take part in clay-court tournaments in Europe, Kloss had to leave the Golden Gaters before the 1976 season since it was conflicting with the WTT schedule but she went back for the 1978 season. Her stint as a coach includes her time at the Chicago Fyre in 1983, she prepared them for a WTT championship which earned her the title of Coach of the Year. She also functioned as a player, as well as the coach with the Miami Beach Breakers in 1985 and in 1987, she was made the vice-president of WTT. A few years later, in 1991, Ilana Kloss became the executive director and has been functioning as the chief executive officer, as well as the commissioner of World Team Tennis since 2001. Important to note that she became a minority owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team in 2018. Her induction into the US National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame came in 2006 and 2010 respectively.

Height & Other Facts About Billie Jean King’s Partner

• Love life

She is unabashedly lesbian, an ardent supporter of LGBT rights and enjoys a relationship with her same-sex partner Billie Jean King – a former US-based #1 tennis player. Billie is the ex-wife of who filed for divorce upon the realization that she is attracted to women. Billie and Ilana have been cohabiting for 40 years, many believe that they tied the nuptials in 2018 but according to Billie, their wedding will be conducted by mayor David Dinkins if and when they decide to get married.

• Net Worth

The net worth of the veteran tennis player seems to be under review but it is believed that she has amassed massive wealth in excess of millions, especially with her track record in her career and all the outstanding championships she has bagged in the past.

• Height

Her shape is the hourglass type and her build can only be described as athletic. She is 5 feet 5 inches tall with 55kg in body mass. Both her eyes and hair come in the same shade of brown.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.