Margaret Court on Serena Williams: I dont think she has ever admired me

I loved how joyfully over-the-top Serena Williams’ retirement was over the past month. From the Vogue cover and essay to her on-court retirement ceremony at the US Open to all of the worldwide tributes to her career, it felt completely right for Serena’s historic career. I loved that Serena gave everyone the chance to celebrate her one last time. But all of that attention, all of that joy, all of that coverage has led to a lot of white fragility and a lot of salty white tears about Serena’s excellence. Because of course.

Enter Margaret Court, known as one of the most controversial and the most bigoted figures in the history of tennis. The bulk of Court’s career was played before the Open Era (1968) and during a time when the best players didn’t play the “amateur” Slams. Thus, Court’s dubious records are from both pre-Open Era (a less competitive time) and post-Open Era (when she was playing the full field). Court’s “24 Slam” record is for both Open Era and pre-Open Era. Most of her Australian Open titles are from, like, 48-woman draws where she played local Aussie club players. I bring this up because Court’s 24 Slams don’t count in the same way as Serena’s 23 Slams. They just don’t. It’s apples and oranges. Thus, Margaret Court gave a huge interview to the Telegraph about how she has the record, not Serena, and how Serena is less than her. (Court isn’t just a homophobe, btw, she’s also pretty racist and she praised Apartheid South Africa.) Some highlights from this infuriating Telegraph interview:

Court on Serena: “Serena, I’ve admired her as a player. But I don’t think she has ever admired me.”

People ignored her at Wimbledon: “I was at Wimbledon this year and nobody even spoke to me. So I thought, ‘Ah, that’s interesting.’”

She is treated like a footnote in The Serena Show. “It’s very sad, because a lot of the press and television today, particularly in tennis, don’t want to mention my name. It’s only when they have to, because I still hold so many records. In 2020, I was meant to be coming to Wimbledon for the 50th anniversary of my calendar grand slam. But then Covid hit, so the honour never happened. The French Open didn’t invite me, the US Open didn’t invite me. Rod Laver had won the slam and I was going to be honoured in the same way, but no. I didn’t lose any sleep over it. But the honour has not been there for what I did do. In my own nation, I have been given titles, but they would still rather not mention me.”

Whether it grieves her to see Williams fail to voice even a modicum of respect for her career: “I think a lot of it is because of being a minister and making a stand for my beliefs. I have had a lot of bullying. But we should be able to say what we believe. I’ve got nothing against anybody. I respect everybody, I minister to everybody. I love the game still. I teach a lot of young people today, and I use illustrations from tennis about the discipline, the commitment, the focus. Sport brings so much to your life.”

Everybody bullies the bigot: “You still get bullied by LGBT groups. Even when I’m helping the poor, some companies are not allowed to give my church things because of my name…they got everything they wanted in marriage [equality], and everything else. So, I think, ‘Why, when you should be so happy you’ve got that, are you still taking it out on people if they haven’t got the same beliefs?’ That’s what I don’t understand.”

She thinks her records are better than Serena’s: “Serena has played seven years more than I did. I finished in my early 30s. People forget that I took two years out. I first retired, like Ash Barty, when I was 25, thinking I would never return to tennis. I got married, had a baby, but then had one of my best years, winning 24 out of 25 tournaments… I came back after two babies! After having the first baby, I won three out of the four slams. And Serena hasn’t won a slam since.”

Serena’s final on-court speech: “I thought it was bad that Williams didn’t mention her opponent more when she spoke. We were taught to be role models for the young, in how we behaved. We were taught to honour our opponent. You learned from your losses. We respected one another.”

She thinks this era was so much easier than her era: “I would love to have played in this era – I think it’s so much easier. How I would love to have taken family or friends along with me. But I couldn’t, I had to go on my own or with the national team. People don’t see all that. As amateurs, we had to play every week, because we didn’t have any money. Now, they can take off whenever they want, fly back whenever they want.

[From The Telegraph]

Yeah, Margaret Court can f–k all the way off. The self-styled martyrdom of someone who regularly and publicly trashes current LGBTQ players and LGBTQ people is reason enough to simply ignore this garbage dinosaur. Court has a right to her bigotry, but the tennis community doesn’t have to listen to her or respect her or honor her in any way. Rename Margaret Court Arena at the Australian Open too – it should be Evonne Goolagong Cawley Arena anyway. Imagine being this pathetic to throw yourself into Serena’s retirement narrative this way. What a complete f–king a–hole.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

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