Margaret Court snubs Australian Open again

Tennis legend Margaret Court will turn her back on the Australian Open for the second year in a row, saying she would stand up for her beliefs on marriage again, despite the 2017 furore.

Tennis legend Margaret Court will turn her back on the Australian Open for the second year in a row but doesn’t want her name removed from the stadium named in her honour.

The most successful female player in grand slam history said on Saturday that she would remain in Perth instead of accepting an invitation to this year’s Melbourne tournament.

“No, not coming this year,” she said.

It comes a year after she opted to skip the Open amid calls for Margaret Court Arena to be renamed due to controversial comments she made about gay marriage.

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Margaret Court hopes her career would convince the public to keep supporting her name on the stadium. Picture: Ross Swanborough

Court told the Sunday Herald Sun she hoped her incredible tennis career would convince the public to support keeping her name on the Melbourne Park stadium.

“That’s probably up to the people, but I think I did do what I did,” she said.

She said calls from the likes of fellow tennis great Martina Navratilova to rename Margaret Court Arena because of Court’s anti-gay marriage stance were unfair.

“I think because I just stood up and said what the Bible says about marriage, that all happened,” she said.

“I love my nation, I never lost a match for my nation, so I don’t feel that is right.”

Despite drawing widespread criticism for her views, Court said she maintained the same stance.

“People have freedom of speech and you believe what you believe and I think that is where it got out of hand,” she said.

“You get bullied for things that you believe and what you say but I would do it again, so that’s all right.”

Margaret Court, then Margaret Smith, after winning at Wimbledon. Picture: Press Association

She said she would return to the Open one day under the right circumstances.

“If I’m officially invited I would come, yes,” she said.

Tennis Australia chief operations officer Tom Larner said there was no plan to rename Margaret Court Arena.

Court won 24 grand slam singles titles, including all four grand slams in a calendar year, in a glittering career in the 1960s and ’70s before becoming a Christian minister in WA.