Sunday, November 22, 2020 - Happy birthday Billie Jean King.

Happy Birthday, Billie Jean King. Found this gem of an interview with her, taken by James Day in 1973 as a part of the program, “Day at Night.”Her energy and enthusiasm for the game is a lot of fun to tune in with. An excerpt below, the full interview, linked above.

____________________________

Day: You would make other changes in tennis. You've said, the game is caught up in tradition, trivia, and etiquette, when all that really matters is the caliber of play. You think a lot of it is nonsense I gather and that it could be changed without any real damage to the sport itself.

Jean King: Oh it will enhance the sport.

Day: How will it enhance it? And what sort of changes would you suggest?

Jean King: First of all, I'd like to see more crowd participation.

Day: Do you mean booing and cheering?

Jean King: Oh right on! That's great.

Day: Wouldn't that break your concentration?

Jean King: No. It's all in what you're brought up with. If you're brought up that way . . . golfers are brought up in that environment and it hurts them too in the long run.

Day: Would it make you feel better?

Jean King: I love it, because I like emotional involvement. I like to communicate and share with the audience there. And anybody who pays their hard-earned money at the end of the week or during the week that wants to come and watch us has a right to let it all hang out so to speak. And it's no good when they have to sit on their hands. They can't enjoy it.

Day: Wouldn't booing break that positive attitude that you have toward the game?

Jean King: No. If you're having a bad day and you're playing el-stinko tennis then they're gonna say, "Boo! You're playing badly." And you'll know. And at least you'd know that they're there and that they're not indifferent to you. And as an amateur athlete people are very indifferent to tennis, they're indifferent to me, they're indifferent to the men's tennis players, and it's not a good feeling. Because we are artists, and we like to perform.

Day: You are a performing artist; you view tennis not as something beyond the participating sport . . .

Jean King: Oh, definitely.

Day: But as a spectacle so to speak.

Jean King: We're entertainers, we hope that we can share a few moments of happiness, or whatever, or fun for people. And if you can't do that, then you've missed the whole point.