09-07-2022, 02:10 AM
Back in 1970, Court came out with this interesting take on apartheid: “ South Africans have this thing better organised than any other country, particularly America …I love South Africa.” Remember, the English Test team’s 1968 tour of South Africa had been cancelled because the English called up Basil D’Oliviera. The ICC banned the South Africans in 1970. The South Africans had been banned from the Olympics in 1964.
If she’d said that sports and politics shouldn’t be mixed, that would be one thing. But to laud the apartheid system is unforgivable. By necessary implication, she implied Australia would be better organised if we had apartheid (ignoring, for the moment, that we probably were not that far from it back then). You’d think she might have been more diplomatic given Evonne Goolagong was on her way to world number 1 in 1971. Court was lucky that Goolagong idolised her and Court never had to answer for her comment. But where was the public apology for that racist comment?
The same dynamic occurred with her homophobic attacks when she knew Sam Stosur and Casey Dellacqua we’re lesbians. She had previously attacked Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova. How could she feign surprise that she wouldn’t be welcome in the tennis community with that sort of history? It wasn’t as though she didn’t realise she was offending anyone. She said of her attacks that, “My statement was akin to pulling the pin on a hand grenade and throwing it into a crowded room.” And she parlayed those attacks into calls for donations to her church.
Court is a contemptible piece of crap. Her 24 Grand Slam titles will not be erased, but that doesn’t mean she is the best player of all time. Serena, Steffi and others were better than her and they’re also much better people.
If she’d said that sports and politics shouldn’t be mixed, that would be one thing. But to laud the apartheid system is unforgivable. By necessary implication, she implied Australia would be better organised if we had apartheid (ignoring, for the moment, that we probably were not that far from it back then). You’d think she might have been more diplomatic given Evonne Goolagong was on her way to world number 1 in 1971. Court was lucky that Goolagong idolised her and Court never had to answer for her comment. But where was the public apology for that racist comment?
The same dynamic occurred with her homophobic attacks when she knew Sam Stosur and Casey Dellacqua we’re lesbians. She had previously attacked Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova. How could she feign surprise that she wouldn’t be welcome in the tennis community with that sort of history? It wasn’t as though she didn’t realise she was offending anyone. She said of her attacks that, “My statement was akin to pulling the pin on a hand grenade and throwing it into a crowded room.” And she parlayed those attacks into calls for donations to her church.
Court is a contemptible piece of crap. Her 24 Grand Slam titles will not be erased, but that doesn’t mean she is the best player of all time. Serena, Steffi and others were better than her and they’re also much better people.