Billie Jean King tells the Desert Sun that while she disagrees with her former rival Margaret Court’s opposition to gay marriage, she does not think that the Australian Open should rename its third show court, which is named after the 24-time Grand Slam singles champion.
"No, no, no, get rid of her for that," King said. "Because you don’t agree with her? Are you kidding? Just because you don’t agree with someone? Please. She deserves it. She’s a great player."
King, who the USTA National Tennis Center is named after, said she was more upset that Court didn’t have the Australian Open’s main stadium (Rod Laver Arena) named after her and two-time calendar year Grand Slam champion Laver.
"I thought the center court should be Laver and her name together. They’re the two greatest champions in our game, and she had more Slams," King said. "For her to have court 3 is terrible. I was furious. I went to the heads of Australia, I told them I don’t agree with this. You can’t do this, you can’t give her court 3, she deserves much better than this. That’s a disgrace to women. She won 62 Grand Slam titles, how could you ever give her court 3. It was diabolical."
King is friends with Court, who is a minister, and they dine together every year at Wimbledon and frequently debate issues.
"I totally respect her opinion, but I don’t agree with her at all. We have a rising problem with homophobia globally," said King. "This is about civil rights. It’s about equality, having equal opportunities and rights. Everyone gets too wigged out on it. I guess because it’s sexual, people get funny. But it’s just about equal rights. That’s all it is. And I don’t know what they’re trying to make it into. It’s just equal rights."