Amid the recent adulation for U.S. tennis superstar Serena Williams comes pushback from 80-year-old Australian pastor Margaret Court. Before entering the ministry, Court was a tennis champion who won 24 Grand Slam singles titles—one more than Williams.
In a recent interview, Court compares the two athletes’ careers and expresses disappointment that she doesn’t receive enough credit. The Pentecostal pastor tells Britain’s Daily Telegraph her Christians beliefs are one reason she isn’t honored, even in her own nation. Critics accuse Court of being intolerant and racist.
Margaret Court: Tennis Is ‘So Much Easier’ Now
Last Friday, Williams lost in the third round of the U.S. Open, in what’s presumed to be her final pro match. The 40-year-old is being lauded as the “greatest athlete of all time”—male or female. She holds the record for the most career Grand Slam wins (23) in the “Open Era,” which began in 1968.
Margaret Court’s pro career lasted from 1960 to 1977. Afterward, she attended Bible college, started a ministry, and then launched Victory Life Centre in Perth, where she still serves as pastor.
Court, who played seven fewer years than Williams, notes that she won Grand Slams after having two babies. (Williams hasn’t won a championship since the 2017 birth of her only child.) Modern-day players “don’t honor the past of the game” or honor their opponents anymore, Court laments. Although she says she has “admired” Williams “as a player…I don’t think she has ever admired me.”
Being a top tennis player was tougher in the past, Court says. “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.” She adds, “We didn’t have psychologists or coaches with us. It’s a whole different world.”
Pastor Margaret Court: Media ‘Don’t Want To Mention My Name’
Court, who became a born-again Christian in the early ’70s, while ranked number one, says, “A lot of the press…don’t want to mention my name.” At Wimbledon earlier this year, she says, “Nobody even spoke to me.” And Court believes she knows why.
“I think a lot of it is because of being a minister and making a stand for my beliefs,” she says. “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.”
Court’s opposition to same-sex marriage has cost her and Victory Life Centre grants and donations. And LGBTQ activists want her name removed from an arena in Melbourne Park.
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