In an exclusive joint interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, tennis legends Billie Jean King and Andy Murray discussed gender equality in tennis, the future of their sport and life under lockdown. When asked about comments Roger Federer made earlier this week where he proposed a merger between the governing bodies of men's and women's tennis, King saying she was "thrilled" he brought it up while Murray said "it's a step in the right direction." "This is something that obviously Billie Jean has been — well, wanting to happen for 40, 50 years. She is the one that had the vision for all of this, and, you know, we need to remember that," Murray said. "But I think it's great if more of the male players are seeing it as a positive step for the sport. There's obviously going to be some issues, potentially with a merger, as well, but it is definitely I think a step in the right direction to start these conversations." "We have fought so hard, people have no idea, to get to where we are right now," King said. "And as Andy said, if we don't have more women who are in decision-making positions, it won't be probably as even. "But there's a lot of men, just like Andy, who believe in us. That we just have to find a way to make this merger happen. And it will — people won't realize how much good it will do." The excerpts: King on Federer raising the idea of merging the WTA and ATP "I'm thrilled that Roger brought it because when top male players bring something up, people listen. But what tennis people have to understand... we're much stronger as Andy said, if we're together, from sponsorship, to opportunities and we can grow. "But what we have to understand is we have to stay together as a sport. Because we're not competing within our sport like a lot of tennis people think. Our job is to be together. I think it's very important that we are together, that we're not an acquisition. The WTO would not be an acquisition. You know, would be a full partner in this drive to make our sport better and more valuable." Murray on concerns some male players have expressed regarding equal prize money "I have had sometimes conversations in the past when there's been prize money increases within a sport where, you know, let's say the first round loser's check from the men went from like $8,000 to $10,000 and the women's went from $6,000 to $10,000, and I spoke to some of the male players about that who were unhappy because the prize money was equal. And I said, well, would you rather there was no increase at all? And, you know, they said to me, yes, actually. "And I was like, well, you know that's some of the sort of the mentalities that you are working with in these discussions where someone would rather make less money just so they're not on an equal footing with some of the female players. So, there will be some challenges." King on finding a way to make the merger happen "We have fought so hard, people have no idea, to get to where we are right now. And as Andy said, if we don't have more women who are in decision-making positions, it won't be probably as even. But there's a lot of men, just like Andy, who believe in us. "I find that men who have daughters, like Andy has two daughters and a son, Roger and I talked about it, he has two daughters and two boys. So, it's possible — it's all possible, but we have to keep the vision. But every generation has to continue to fight to for this. And I think the timing is just right because we have space, we're not playing tournaments. "And with Roger bringing it up and Nadal agreeing, that hasn't always been the case, but Andy's always, always been in there for us and championed, you know, the game in so many ways and he understands so much about everything really. That we just have to find a way to make this merger happen. And it will — people won't realize how much good it will do." Murray on life under lockdown: It's been tough obviously. Tough for everybody just now. But it's — it has also given us the opportunity to, you know, spend time and a lot of time at home with my family, which with my job and the travelling that we usually do, I don't always get that opportunity. So, that's been really nice and challenging at times trying to, you know, teach and educate my children, which you know, our teachers usually do that for us. It's been hard as well." — CNN
