In a new interview with Pridelife, British tennis great Andy Murray says he backs the renaming of Melbourne’s Margaret Court arena over the Australian 24-time Grand Slam-winner’s homophobic remarks.
Said Murray: “She has obviously offended and upset a lot of people over the years. I think the players certainly have spoken up, which is a positive thing. As far as renaming the venue. I think that yes, it’s something the sport should consider. I don’t know who makes the final decision on that but I don’t think her values are what tennis stands for. When you get to the Australian Open you want to concentrate on the tennis. Court’s views detract from that.”
Murray has spoken out against Court before, in 2017, after Court announced her decision to boycott major airline Qantas for its support of marriage equality, saying: “I don’t see why anyone has a problem with two people who love each other getting married. You know, if it’s two men, two women, that’s great. I don’t see why it should matter. It’s not anyone else’s business. Everyone should have, in my opinion, the same rights.”
Said Court in 2017 of the push for marriage equality in Australia: “I sense at the moment you can put a Yes sign in the window, everything’s all right, but if you put a No sign you get a brick through your window. We already have 36,000 gay couples in this nation, that’s not a lot of people when you think about the 25 million. They already have civil union. They want marriage because they want to destroy it.”
She added that the consequences of same-sex marriage would lead to the abolition of Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter and Christmas.
About trans children and LGBTQ people, Court has said: “It’s all the work of the devil…Tennis is full of lesbians….It is sad for children to be exposed to homosexuality.”
In June 2017, Court said that the “US gay lobby” was behind the idea of renaming the court named after her in Melbourne Park, home to the Australian open.
