London
Even star athletes like Serena Williams are struggling during the coronavirus pandemic. The 23-time Grand Slam champion, who announced earlier this month she was spending the “next six weeks in solitude,” is having a difficult time dealing with anxiety due to social distancing, especially with her 2-year-old daughter Alexis Olympia. She talked about it in a series of videos on TikTok.
“I wanted to take a minute and talk about my experience with corona. It started out with me feeling like, ‘Oh it can’t really affect me.’
“And then suddenly Indian Wells was cancelled and I was like, ‘Oh, OK, that’s weird but I have a little time off and I’m going to enjoy that time off.
“And then one cancellation led to another and then led to another and led to all this anxiety that I’m feeling.
“Now I’ve been social distancing for actually a really long time, for probably two weeks now, and every little thing makes me crazy.
“And by anxiety I mean I’m just on edge. Any time anyone sneezes around me or coughs I get crazy. I don’t hang out with anyone, and when I say anyone I mean my daughter.
“She coughed, I got angry and gave her a side-eye. I gave her that ‘angry Serena’ and then I got sad.
“I was like, ‘Is she OK? Is there something wrong with my daughter? Is there anything I can do?’ I just don’t know what to do, so instead of being relaxed I’m really under a ton of stress.”—AP
