Billie Jean King on COVID-19’s Impact on New Yorkers

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: You’ve been following this for a long time. You have been a New Yorker for a long time. New York is really, really very heavily hit, as you know. How are you doing? How are you sheltering? And what do you think when you see the need in your great city for your tennis center to be used as a hospital for potentially parks to be used as temporary graves that just isn’t the space to hold all of these emergencies all at once?

BILLIE JEAN KING, TENNIS CHAMPION: Well, the National Tennis Center actually is in queens where it’s been very heavily hit, especially Elmhurst area, which is not too far from the National Tennis Center. So, any way we can help. But what — I think it’s very important, what we have to do is each person has got to do what they have to do so we don’t get anybody else ill. And so, what I’ve done is self-isolated. Me, my partner, we have — so, you know, we just have been isolating for what, 22, 23 days now. I have been out twice in those days. I work out in the apartment on my bike. I try to do things I never have time to do. So, it’s — I think we wear a mask when we go outside. Of course, the mask really is to remind us not to touch our face, basically. But these are the things that we really do have to do. And every night at 7:00, in New York, there is a celebration of thanks to everyone that’s out there helping these people that are ill and taking care of everyone. And, you know, we hit pots and pans, hit the horns, everybody’s screaming. We do that for a couple of minutes.

And, also, my hometown of Long Beach, California, has its, every night at 8:00, lights of hope, where people flash lights and make noise, and all these things. And I think it’s a moment where you stop during the day and say thank you to everyone. And, of course, children are drawing all kinds of artwork and saying thank you to everyone. So, everyone’s really come together to help each other. But it’s really important that we sustain, that we adjust. And, for me, it’s been the first time probably in my life I have had a true vacation. I really like to work. Work doesn’t feel like work. But this has caused me to get sleep and rest I never get. I also have heart issues. I’m a type 2 diabetic. So, I’m at risk. I’m in my 70s. I’m 76 now. So, I have to pay attention and not to get well. So these are the things that I think each person has to deal with.