Despite many players asking for the name of Margaret Court Arena to be changed—and Martina Navratilova even penning her own opener letter—King is not surprised by Court’s statements.
“She’s always been religious. I was very religious when I was younger. I think she probably liked me a lot better then,” King said at a media event for World TeamTennis on Thursday. “I don’t like it when she runs down my community, the LGBTQI community. I don’t like it.
"I don’t like any community to be run down. So it hurt my feelings, I can tell you that.”
But King— the sport's greatest pioneer for women's rights and a longtime partner of WTT commissioner Ilana Kloss—still believes that the Margaret Court Arena should remain unchanged.
“I still think she should have her name on the court, so that’s fine,” King said. “But I’m big on acts of kindness and love, not hate. So I go, ‘What are you talking about children and the devil?’ To me every child is never from the devil. So it’s like, I don’t compute with all that.”
In the past, King has defended Court, and once wanted the 74-year-old to get her name placed on more than just Melbourne Park’s third-biggest stadium.
“I thought she and [Rod] Laver should have the same court because they both were so exceptional," King said. “I made a real fuss over that back in the old days and I think that surprised her a little bit. But I can separate. She won 64 Grand Slams, you have to give her credit for that.”
Court is now a senior pastor at the Victory Life Center in Perth, which King talked to her about at Wimbledon last year.
“We usually have lunch at Wimbledon every year and then we go and sit in the Royal Box together,” King said. “I think with this controversy, I think she’s had a lot of people try to raise money around it.”
Still, King enjoyed John McEnroe’s response on Eurosport to Court’s recent comments.
“That was hilarious. You have to see it,” King said. “He really stuck it to Margaret.”
