The Margaret Court Problem

[Stavros]

As the Australian Open prepares to begin in Melbourbe, assuming the weather enables it, the outstanding issue may not be tennis as such, but a move to re-name the Margaret Court Arena owing to the relentless attacks Ms Court has made on the LGBTQ players and the broader issue of same-sex marriage. A convert to Pentescostal Christianity in the early 1980s and someone who married into conservative West Australian politicsl Margaret Court's views can be judged in her own words:

"Homosexuality is a lust for the flesh, so is adultery, fornication," she told a talkback caller on Vision Christian Radio.
"It’s not God and I think they too know this. This is why they want marriage, because it’s self-satisfying. I think they know it comes against Christianity."
...Court said the controversial Safe Schools program, aimed at promoting acceptance of LGBT+ students, was confusing children by encouraging them to question gender issues. "That’s all the devil, we’ll say that it’s the devil," she said.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/they-re-after-our-young-ones-margaret-court-renews-attack-on-gay-lobby

See also here-
https://www.newyorker.com/sports/spo...margaret-court

I remember Margaret Court when she was a player and although she has the stats to establish her credentials as a great winner, I don't think she was as great a player as the stats suggest, not least because many of her Australian titles were won with local and weak players before the Professional era. Court was a big woman with a wing span equivalent to a jumbo jet in tennis terms, and a crushing forehand from the baseline that eluded most of her opponents. And she was crushingly boring to watch, rarely venturing into court from the base line, having the athleticism of a Koala bear. Compare her playing to Billie Jean-King- lithe, athletic, running all over the court from the base line to the net -this was great playing, and moreover, Billie-Jean transformed tennis, for both men and women, and has urged the sport ot grow by being ever more inclusive.

I don't know if Court will turn up for the celebrations the organizers want this year, why they would want to honour such a loathesome bigot I don't know, perhaps Ms Court will take the opportunity to declare the bush fires are an act of God, punishing Australians for being immoral. Time to re-name the Margaret Court Arena the Koala Bear Arena, assuming there are any left, and to suggest to the woman concerned it would be better for all if she remained as far away from Melbourne as possible.

[broncofan]

I have a feeling what you say is right about Margaret Court. If you look at the number of people who play tennis recreationally and the regions of the world where it's played, competition has gotten tougher and the depth of both men's and women's circuits deeper.

I had a friend in college who in the early 2000s made it to about 400 in the world. He was convinced that he was better than some other guy at a local tennis shop who in the 80s cracked the top 100. A straight up match wouldn't have been fair because the other guy was 20 years older, but I think at least conceptually it all makes sense.

It cost money to play tennis and with each decade more and more people take it seriously and engage in the single minded, obsessive training that creates champions. So, without having watched Court, but having watched the great Martina Navratilova and the great Serena Williams, I assume they were both far superior to Court with Serena probably being the best ever. That said as a kid my Dad played in a pro-am against Rod Laver and he was mesmerizing (the Rocket, not my Dad) , so I don't view it as black and white.

But generally, there were eras where the competition wasn't stacked hundreds of players deep. If you watch Steffi Graf's matches in the 1988 season, she was winning matches in under an hour. Phenomenal player no doubt, but depth makes dominance harder.

Court's comments speak for themselves and it would be great if Margaret Court Arena were renamed.

[Stavros]

Fascinating, Broncofan! All I will say is that I think Billie-Jean King was the best female player I have seen, but because of the role she has played in modernizing tennis for both men and women she has a higher profile than Serena Williams, but I think you are right about the quality of tennis in the Women's game, though in retrospect how good does Sampras look now? Whatever the merits of different players in different times, Margaret Court has become so offensive, and so committed to being so, she has, to my mind, excluded herself from the Arena. One would hope she will stay away but I guess she relishes the opportunity to get all 'evangelical' about her miserable, discriminatory God.

[Stavros]

Latest from John MacEnroe-

“There’s only one thing longer than Margaret Court’s list of achievements, it’s her list of offensive and homophobic statements. #“Just a few examples: During the apartheid regime in South Africa, she said ‘I love South Africa, they have the racial situation better organised than anyone else’.
“About transgender children and LGBTIQ: It’s ‘all the work of the devil’. ‘Tennis is full of lesbians’; ‘it’s sad for children to be exposed to homosexuality’.

“Margaret Court is actually a ventriloquist using the bible of the dummy to say whatever she wants. “This year marks the 50th anniversary of Margaret Court’s calendar Grand Slam and Tennis Australia is facing a dilemma: what to do with their crazy aunt?

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/margaret-court-john-mcenroe-australian-open-2020-serena-williams-latest-news-a9302461.html