When the clock struck midnight, the rest of house was asleep. Except for two. After a long day of coaching and television interviews, Billie Jean King arrived back at her home away from home during the 1996 Wimbledon Championships in London. As she swiftly and quietly closed the door, she entered the house only to find her roommate, eventual Illinois men’s tennis coach Brad Dancer, waiting in the living room. The delectable leftovers were plucked from the fridge, and while most people would go to sleep, it was time for the two to talk in detail about tennis.

Before he began his impressive college coaching career, Dancer was a traveling coach with Martina Navratilova, a 20-time Wimbledon champion, during the 1990s. Through Navratilova’s apprenticeship under the world-renowned, former No. 1 Billie Jean King, Dancer was able to meet King and to this day is grateful for all that she has taught him.

Dancer described King as one of the most influential people he has ever met in his life. After only spending a few minutes with her, he felt her energy and love for people.

Through living with King during Wimbledon, Dancer was offered the opportunity to be a hitting partner for the Fed Cup team in which she was team captain and coach. While he was technically a sparring partner for the team, he viewed it as an assistant coaching opportunity. He was able to soak in all of King’s coaching techniques as well as constantly interact with her along with stars Mary Joe Fernandez, Lindsay Davenport, Venus and Serena Williams and others. Through Dancer’s years with the U.S. Fed Cup team, King saw his knack for learning and coaching and hired him as the head coach of her World TeamTennis team, the Delaware Smash.

World TeamTennis is a style of team play unlike any other. All of the players sit on the bench together, like major team sports, during each team member’s double or singles event. With this setting, Dancer was able to interact with his players and focus on in-game strategy throughout the tournament. Dancer was honored that King chose him to be a coach. He was also able to coach players like Serena Williams, Patrick McEnroe and others, totaling the combined tennis-playing experience to about 60 years.

Dancer took many of King’s lessons with him throughout his life and has applied them to his daily routine, along with his coaching. A main lesson that King emphasized, Dancer said, through her years with him was that “champions adjust.” Dancer uses this motto in coaching today at Illinois, trying to tell his team that no matter how far it has come, it can always get better; there is always a greater level to achieve.

Dancer also touched upon the idea of emotional intelligence, as King was able to absorb the energy and feedback of the player and process it and issue it back. Because collegiate tennis allows for this player-coach interaction during match play, Dancer said he hopes he too has been able to use that technique to help his players.

While Dancer has been able to learn a tremendous amount about tennis technique and emotional intelligence, the seven-year Illinois head coach appears to be most impressed by her every day demeanor and how she carries herself. Dancer says that King “lives in the life of a champion.” She has zero quit in her, is always “on,” and her attention to detail and adaptability is parallel to none.

When King came home that day in 1996, she didn’t have to stop and talk with Dancer, he remembers. She could have just gone to sleep. But she did not, and in Dancer’s eyes, she is a “born mentor.” He suggests that even if one only has five minutes to talk to her, hop on a plane and do it. It’s worth it.

To this day, Dancer holds King in the highest of regards and continues to learn and apply all that she has taught him. 

“She has that energy and that contagious, infectious passion for life,” Dancer said. “If you woke up on the wrong side of the bed, Billie’s one of the first people you want to talk to because she’s gonna bring you up.” 

The Illinois men’s tennis team had the opportunity to speak with King a few years ago. The entire program, along with Dancer, is looking forward to the potential opportunity of welcoming King, along with other professional players, to campus for the NCAA Tennis Championships this spring.

Joey can be reached at [email protected].