Stosur hints at Margaret Court Arena boycott

Sam Stosur says stars may boycott the arena over same-sex marriage row as Margaret Court hits back at ‘disgusting’ treatment.

Samantha Stosur of celebrates during the singles first round match against Karen Kristina Kucova of Slovakia on day two of the 2017 French Open. Picture: Getty

Grand slam champion Samantha Stosur has hinted that tennis stars may try to boycott Margaret Court Arena at next year’s Australian Open.

Stosur has backed Casey Dellacqua in her stance against Margaret Court after the legendary 24-times major winner created a firestorm with her public opposition to same-sex marriage.

Even the Prime Minister was dragged into the debate after calls to have Court’s name removed from one of Melbourne Park’s show courts.

Dellacqua — who has two children in an openly gay relationship with former touch football champion Amanda Judd — has received almost 8000 retweets of her post: “Margaret. Enough is Enough.” Stosur was among those to retweet the post and solidified her support for her Dellacqua on Monday.

Proud of you Case x https://t.co/xaGDHQo22N

— Samantha Stosur (@bambamsam30) May 25, 2017

“Look, I think everyone can have their own opinion. I don’t agree with Margaret’s opinion,” the Australian No. 1 said following her first-round win at the French Open in Paris.

“That’s why Casey was, obviously, very adamant about that and I wanted to support my friend and that’s why I sent out my first tweet in a very long time. “And, look, it’s just not something that I agree with. I think we definitely should have it (same-sex marriage) in Australia.”

Stosur said she found it hard to believe Margaret Court Arena’s name would ever change, but suggested some players may request not to play on it. “The court’s named Margaret Court Arena because of what she did in tennis, and that’s why basically,” she said.

“But I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we all get down to the Australian Open next year and (see) who wants to play on Margaret Court Arena and who doesn’t, and we’ll go from there.”

Margaret Court says she won't be intimidated into retracting her boycott of Qantas over gay marriage. MORE https://t.co/oJxc0xEQWw pic.twitter.com/pHRxM5pQ44

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) May 29, 2017

Court defiant

Margaret Court insists she will not be intimidated for expressing her views, telling Sky News she felt she had been bullied.

“I think it’s bullying. I think they always said that we were bullying them, but I think there’s a lot of bullying going on, a lot of intimidation,” she told Andrew Bolt.

“The reason I spoke was because of Stuart Ballantyne, a big businessman from Queensland, he wrote a letter to Qantas and to Alan Joyce to say ‘you’re using it as a platform to intimidate banks and companies and I gather now, small businesses’, and I think that’s very sad. They don’t have a right to do that.

“We should be able to talk freely. I’ve got nothing against people. I even get letters from atheists and they say they believe marriage is between a man and a woman. I get them from all kinds of people ... they’re not Christians, I don’t think it’s anything to do with that.

Ms Court also complained about what she said was mistreatment during an interview with The Project last week.

“But I think people should be able to say what they say. And I think when I went on The Project, I think that was disgusting actually, the way they did not let me speak. They didn’t want to hear what I had to say, all they wanted was for me to hear, and for people to hear, what they had to say.”

Players back Dellacqua

Olympian John Millman and teenage wildcard Jaimee Fourlis are also opposed to Court, who wrote in a letter to The West Australian newspaper last week: “I believe in marriage as a union between a man and a woman as stated in the Bible.”

“It’s a little bit inappropriate,” Millman said of Court’s views. “I have a lot of time for Casey. I think she’s a great person and I think she’s a great mother.

“I’m all for any type of relationships. The more people get along the better and so it’s a little bit disappointing.

“I just think in this day and age, there’s so much worse things happening in the world.

“It’s not a bad thing. I think it’s a great thing when two people, regardless of their gender, find love and whatever.” Fourlis agreed with her contemporaries.

“I love Casey and two women can parent as good as a man and a woman,” the 17-year-old said.

“I’ve seen the way Casey is parenting and her two kids are unbelievable. They’re incredible.”

With AAP