Tennis legend Billie Jean King wants Roger Federer to ‘push’ the idea of combining the ATP and WTA tours because people will 'listen to him’.

Federer recently tweeted about wanting to ‘unite’ men’s and women’s tennis, questioning if anyone had thought of it before. BJK had brought the idea forward in the 1960s.

She told The Telegraph: "I started laughing when I saw the tweet. Everyone's calling me, saying Roger is tweeting about combining - he doesn't know you tried, and I said ‘guys, it doesn't matter - it’s great he's bringing it up'.

“He and I talked that day, actually - after he tweeted. He said, ‘I guess I didn't realise you thought about this or wanted this a long time ago', and I said yeah, I was laughing."

She said people will listen to him ‘as he is a man’.

She said: "I said they'll listen to you because you're a guy and because of who you are - I mean Federer, come on, the greatest ever and all that. People will listen to men a lot more than women - I don't have to like that, but it's true.

"I said to him, 'You are the perfect person for this, because you have two sets of twins, two boys and two girls - you have equality at home'. I said it would be great if you would keep it going, but I think he’s let it drop. I wish he would push it, but I don't really know what's going on behind the scenes."