NEW YORK — Filmmaker Ava Duvernay and U.S. Open tournament director Stacey Allaster accepted the Billie Jean King Champions of Equality Award on Thursday, in honor of their groundbreaking work in the film and sports industries.

The award is given to trailblazers in gender equality, and was started in 2023 in honor of the 50th anniversary of King securing equal pay for women at the U.S. Open.

The event also recognized members from across the USTA’s 17 sections for their dedication to advancing inclusivity in the sport.

“It was beautiful to be thought of. Certainly Billie Jean King is an icon way beyond the sport,” Duvernay told The Associated Press before the awards ceremony. “Anytime I have an opportunity to be around her or to be associated with her, it’s an honor.”

Duvernay is a filmmaker who has directed films like “Selma” and “A Wrinkle in Time.” She was the first Black woman to direct a film nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards and to win Best Director at Sundance Film Festival.

Allaster is the first woman to be the U.S. Open’s tournament director, and will be leaving the position at the end of this tournament. She has previously served as the chairman and CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association, where she led a team that helped secure equal prize money at the French Open and Wimbledon.

The prior two recipients of the award are tennis legend Venus Williams and television producer Shonda Rhimes, who joined Duvernay in a panel discussion about their careers and equality at the ceremony.

“When you deny equity, you make your own world smaller,” Williams said. “The world is so big. There’s so many things to experience and to know and to understand. … It’s an incredible world, if you allow it to be.”

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