Regular guest Margaret Court will be missing this time in the honorary grandstand of the Australian Open. The former tennis star boycotts the Happy Slam because of the criticism of Martina Navratilova & Co. became too personal.
The 75-year-old from Perth told the Australian daily Herald Sun that she will be in her holiday home during the two-week tournament and “fish for crabs”. Last year, Court had caused outrage with some homophobic remarks. Tennis is “full of lesbians”, said the 24-time Grand Slam winner in a Christian radio show, adding:”We are here to help them. Transgender kids called court the Devil’s Work.
Former US Open winner Samantha Stosur had harshly criticized her Australian compatriot, saying,”What Margaret is really crazy stuff. And the whole tennis family here has the same opinion as I do,”explained Stosur. Double-specialist Casey Dellacqua, who lives in a same-sex relationship and has two children with her partner, felt “hurt”by the Court comments:”Everyone can have their opinion, but my family doesn’t deserve it,”complained Australian Dellacqua on the sidelines of the French Open 2017.
Several pros of the WTA and ATP tour had spoken out in favour of boycotting the Margaret-Court-Arena, named after the icon during the Happy Slam:”If they do that, it’s petty. And it also shows what they’re wearing in their hearts,”said Court, remaining on course for confrontation:”It would be childish – but it doesn’t touch me what they do in the end” Martina Navratilova, a confessing lesbian, had insisted on changing the name of the court-named second-largest square in Melbourne Park to Evonne Goolagong Arena.
The discussion had been aroused when Court harshly criticised the airline Qantas at the beginning of last year. The reason for this was that the airline’s managing director, Alan Joyce, had publicly campaigned for the legalization of same-sex marriage in Australia:”I believe in marriage as a union between men and women, as stated in the Bible,”Court had written in a letter to Joyce. She, formerly nicknamed “The Arm”, has been on the road for years as a Christian lay preacher in Down Under – and is known for her conservative attitude.
Andy Murray had also clearly taken a stand against Court:”I can’t understand why someone has problems with that when two people love and marry each other. Whether it’s two men, two women or men and women,”emphasized the two-time Wimbledon champion, who is missing in Melbourne due to a hip injury. The Australian tennis association and the operator of the Yarra River facility had distanced themselves from the court statements.