Court still bedevilled by comments she never made

Tennis great Margaret Court still follows the game that made her a household name.

Tennis great Margaret Court. Picture: Colin Murty

Tennis great Margaret Court still follows the game that made her a household name.

She is full of praise for the best of the female players she watches on Foxtel, which she says she subscribes to because it supports women’s sport best.

The 76-year-old won 24 major singles titles — still a record — but she does not expect to be invited to present trophies, as former World No 1 Chris Evert was at the French Open at the weekend. Mrs Court says she is at peace with that.

“I know I’m not popular with some of the players. It’s OK,” she said.

Mrs Court felt elements of the tennis world turned against her during Australia’s divisive debate on gay marriage in 2017.

In the lead-up to a postal survey that resulted in a resounding Yes, Mrs Court — who became a born-again Christian after retiring from tennis in 1977 — was a vocal advocate of a No vote.

Then on Christian talkback radio, Mrs Court spoke at length on transgender issues: among other things, she said: “God’s got so much in there about the mind, how it affects us, affects our emotions, our feelings; you can think ‘oh, I’m a boy’ and it’ll affect your emotions and feelings, and everything else, and so that’s all the Devil.”

Mrs Court said she never meant that transgender children were the work of the Devil, but quickly that belief was attributed to her.

“They said that I believe that transgender children were of the Devil and I didn’t say that and I wouldn’t even think that,” she said.

“No baby is the work of the Devil. Now it’s got out that is what I think. It’s sad.”