With each round that Serena Williams advances toward the Australian Open final, the complicated legacy of Margaret Court looms larger.
Nowhere is it more complicated than at Melbourne Park, where Court, now 78, won 11 of her record 24 Grand Slam singles titles in the 1960s and early ’70s. It’s home to Margaret Court Arena — a naming honor that has become a growing source of controversy because of Court’s public anti-LGBTQ views.
With a victory in the 2021 Australian Open, Williams would equal Court’s record 24 majors. She moved another step closer Tuesday by toppling former world No. 1 Simona Halep, 6-3, 6-3, to reach Thursday’s semifinal against another former world No. 1, Naomi Osaka.
Court’s 24 Grand Slam titles is the only significant record Williams hasn’t broken in a 26-year career in which she revolutionized women’s tennis with her powerful groundstrokes and pulverizing serve. Winning her equalizing 24th major in Australia would leave her three more chances this season to surpass Court before turning 40 on Sept. 26.
Advertisement
While doing so would mark a significant milestone, few would argue that it would make Williams’s claim to greatness more profound.
“I don’t think she needs that validation,” said Patrick Mouratoglou, Williams’s longtime coach. “Clearly, she came back to tennis to win some other Grand Slams, so that’s the goal, for sure. … She’s not as obsessed with the 24 [as] most of the people in the tennis world, but definitely she wants to win Grand Slams."
Williams insists it is not the measure of her self-worth. “My life is way more than a trophy,” she told reporters earlier in the tournament.
Measuring Williams’s majors against Court’s is problematic regardless, given the different eras and circumstances in which they competed. Court dominated during a career that spanned the amateur and pro eras of women’s tennis. Athletic and imposing at 5-foot-9, she was nicknamed “The Arm” because of her long reach, which made her formidable at the net. For seven years, between 1962 and 1973, she finished the season No. 1 in the world. And she won a record 62 Grand Slam titles, counting singles and mixed doubles.
Advertisement
But in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, the Australian Open didn’t have the prestige it does today, so many of the world’s top players didn’t make the trip. It also conflicted with the early-’70s launch of the women’s pro tour, which prevented co-founder Billie Jean King and other top players from entering.
Given the smaller fields and more provincial opponents Court faced in Australia, seven-time Grand Slam champion John McEnroe calls it “rather absurd” to compare Williams’s 23 with Court’s 24.
“That’s not Margaret’s fault; she played what was there,” said Tennis Channel commentator and three-time Grand Slam champion Lindsay Davenport. “It’s not easy to win that many times. It’s almost like two separate records here.” Still, Davenport said, “It’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.”
Tennis historian Steve Flink agrees. Flink suspects Court would have won five or six Australian Opens, rather than 11, had the fields in the 1960s included a full complement of the world’s top players. King, Court’s greatest rival, competed just three times during Court’s career. By contrast, Williams, Steffi Graf (22 major titles), Chris Evert (18) and Martina Navratilova (18) consistently faced the best of their eras.
Advertisement
“Chrissie and Martina had to go through each other for so long,” Flink noted, with Navratilova claiming a 43-37 career edge and 10-4 in Grand Slam finals. “But no disrespect to Margaret; regardless of this debate, she had a great career.”
From ‘The Arm’ to the pulpit
While Court’s 24 major singles titles will never be expunged from tennis history, the debate continues over whether her name should be removed from Melbourne Park’s third-largest venue because of her verbal attacks on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
Tennis Australia announced plans to name the court for her in 2003. Though Court, a born-again Christian and Pentecostal minister, had already made her anti-gay views known, there was no pushback. King wrote Australian Open officials a letter supporting the idea, raising only one objection. A champion of equality, King suggested that Court share naming honors with Australian great Rod Laver on the complex’s main arena rather than have her name on a smaller venue.
But as Court grew more vocal, activists in 2012 called for fans to bring rainbow-colored flags into Margaret Court Arena in protest. And calls to remove her name altogether began in 2017, when Court vowed to stop flying Qantas whenever possible because the Australian airline was “an active promoter for same-sex marriage.” She voiced opposition to transgender athletes and said education about LGBT issues in school was the work “of the devil.”
Court’s public stances became a flash point at the 2020 Australian Open, where Tennis Australia, which stages the tournament, presented her with a trophy in recognition of the 50th anniversary of her 1970 sweep of all four majors. Navratilova and McEnroe staged a protest on a smaller court, calling for Margaret Court Arena to be renamed for Australia’s Evonne Goolagong, who won fewer majors (six) but is widely regarded as a champion for inclusion. They were reprimanded by tournament officials for breaking protocol.
Advertisement
Through it all, Tennis Australia has defended the arena’s name, saying it recognizes her athletic achievements but not her “personal views.”
In January, shortly before the Australian Open got underway, Court made headlines again when word leaked that she would receive Australia’s highest civilian honor, the Companion of the Order of Australia, which is akin to the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom. The backlash came swiftly. Daniel Andrews, premier of the Australian state of Victoria, wrote on social media: “Grand Slam wins don’t give you some right to spew hatred and create division.” Several past recipients from the fields of medicine, science, education and the arts said they would return their medals in protest.
Court, though, stood firm.
“All my life I’ve had those views, and I was just saying what the Bible says,” Court told the Australian Associated Press. She added: “I’ll never change those views.”
Advertisement
For that, she is celebrated at Victory Life Centre, the Western Australian church she founded, where she is known as “Pastor Margaret.” Last month, the congregation gave her a standing ovation when her husband, Barry Court, shared news of the government’s honor and hailed his wife as “the game’s greatest ever player.” A seven-minute video of her tennis-career highlights followed.
The next Sunday, as criticism of her honor mounted, Court sought her congregants’ help. “It’s important to pray for your pastor,” she said during the Jan. 31 service, which was live-streamed. “It’s also important to speak out [against] Satan in the schools. … What’s happening in America, we don’t want that here.”
In response to a request to interview Court, a church spokeswoman, Belinda Dover, issued a statement touting the “overwhelming support” Court has received “from everyday Australians to leaders across Australia.”
Advertisement
“The church is always very supportive and so very proud of Margaret Court’s tennis achievement and her amazing work in the church and Margaret Court Community Outreach,” Dover wrote.
‘A huge responsibility’
There is no indication that Tennis Australia is considering renaming the arena. But as pressure mounts, it is unclear how long it can draw a distinction between Court’s athletic achievement and her polarizing public stances.
Australian tennis champion Rennae Stubbs, 49, who won six Grand Slam doubles titles and is now an ESPN commentator, believes that honor should belong to the rare athlete who is a champion on and off the court.
“Arthur Ashe was a great tennis player, but did he deserve to have the [U.S. Open’s biggest] court named after him over Jimmy Connors?” Stubbs told The Washington Post in an email. “If it was about tennis, the answer is an overwhelming no. But the reason is because [Ashe] was a great champion who was ALSO a great humanitarian and ambassador for that sport.”
Advertisement
Navratilova said that if she were competing today, she would ask Australian Open officials not to assign her matches to Margaret Court Arena. If her request was denied, she added: “I would bring on the court the biggest rainbow flag you could possibly imagine. It’s not okay.”
She added: “People say, ‘You are just trying to erase Margaret’s tennis records.’ Never. That’s not what this is about. Every year we have this conversation. When there is so much discussion about whether this person’s name should be on a building, they probably should not be on a building.”
It has been a difficult issue for King, whose name graces the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
“You’ve got to open your arms like you do when you’re about to hug somebody and say, in every way, ‘Welcome to my court!’” King, 77, said in a phone interview. “To me, it’s a huge responsibility to have your name on something.”
“Margaret has achieved so much on the court,” she added. “I just wish she were more inclusive to people that don’t think like her. We don’t have to have the same belief system, but it’s real important to be kind and good to each human being.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7uK3SoaCnn6Sku7G70q1lnKedZMCxu9GtqmhqYGd%2BcHyRaGhwZ6Oav6a6wGauoqScnq6uv4ymmKufkaeytXnCqKyrrF2WwrTA0Zqjopldlru1tYylnpusXw%3D%3D