rmt
01-14-2018, 02:45 PM
Margaret Court is the all-time (male or female) winner of Grand Slams titles - 64 in all - (24 singles [all-time record - male or female], 19 doubles, 21 mixed). She is Australian and had the honor of their second showcase court named after her in 2003 (Rod Laver is the namesake of the main center court). Billie Jean King, who is gay, is calling for Court's name to be removed from the court because of her divisive views on sexuality (she's a Pentacostal pastor now). King says she would not play on Court Arena if she were a player now - I just don't get why she has to bring this into tennis (tennis has been blessed free of politics) and why on foreign land. Let the Australians do whatever they want with their court in their country.
Martina Navratilova, who is also gay, is much less vocal/demanding about it. She says Margaret Court should not be pulled out of the Hall of Fame, that her tennis accomplishments stand by themselves regardless of what her opinions are now.
This reminds me of the statue issue. I think the Australian Tennis Association and Australian government are going to cave to this demand - like rewriting tennis history just because of changing social opinion. All the Grand Slams caved to the equality pay issue - the men and women get equal pay at Grand Slams even though women only play best of 3 sets instead of the men's best of 5 set - meaning equal pay for NOT EQUAL work.
I didn't see Billie Jean questioning why the main stadium at US Open (at the time) was named Louis Armstrong Stadium. And if something comes up about Arthur Ashe (say sexual harassment), will she be demanding that the Arthur Ashe Stadium be renamed? No one questioned why the 2 main US Open stadiums are named after black men (one who had nothing to do with tennis and one whose tennis accomplishments pale in comparison to those of (white) players like Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Pete Sampras, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi).
Frustrating - and now everyone who plays on Court Arena is having to state that they don't agree with Court's opinions to placate their sponsors/public.
Thoughts?
Martina Navratilova, who is also gay, is much less vocal/demanding about it. She says Margaret Court should not be pulled out of the Hall of Fame, that her tennis accomplishments stand by themselves regardless of what her opinions are now.
This reminds me of the statue issue. I think the Australian Tennis Association and Australian government are going to cave to this demand - like rewriting tennis history just because of changing social opinion. All the Grand Slams caved to the equality pay issue - the men and women get equal pay at Grand Slams even though women only play best of 3 sets instead of the men's best of 5 set - meaning equal pay for NOT EQUAL work.
I didn't see Billie Jean questioning why the main stadium at US Open (at the time) was named Louis Armstrong Stadium. And if something comes up about Arthur Ashe (say sexual harassment), will she be demanding that the Arthur Ashe Stadium be renamed? No one questioned why the 2 main US Open stadiums are named after black men (one who had nothing to do with tennis and one whose tennis accomplishments pale in comparison to those of (white) players like Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Pete Sampras, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi).
Frustrating - and now everyone who plays on Court Arena is having to state that they don't agree with Court's opinions to placate their sponsors/public.
Thoughts?