Posted on 09/05/2022 7:56:15 PM PDT by Ennis85
On a peaceful Saturday in Perth, 12,000 miles from the clamour and bombast at Flushing Meadows, Margaret Court has just seen Serena Williams thwarted in a final tilt at equalling her place among the tennis immortals. While “greatest of all time” messages flash up on the electronic tickers inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, the statistical greatest, the woman with 24 grand slam singles titles to the departing Williams’ 23, is at the end of this long-distance telephone call. It is a distinction that now looks destined to last another generation at least. And yet the realisation brings a complex swirl of emotions. “Serena, I’ve admired her as a player,” Court says. “But I don’t think she has ever admired me.”
This is the rarest of audiences with Court, who almost never grants extended interviews. “I don’t do this much any longer,” she laughs, ruefully. “I was at Wimbledon this year and nobody even spoke to me. So I thought, ‘Ah, that’s interesting.’”
Here lies the bitter truth: that the figure with more major triumphs of any player in history, male or female, is one on whom her sport would rather turn its back. In contrast to the relentless sugar-rush that accompanied Williams’ farewell in New York, her fellow all-time great finds herself airbrushed from the picture, discarded as an inconvenient relic.
Except Court, who turned 80 in July, remains very much active. When we speak, she is still preparing the Sunday services she is due to deliver at Perth’s Victory Life Centre, the church where she has served as a pastor since 1995. She is more than sharp enough to discern what is happening to her in tennis, which, regardless of her unmatched feats, prefers to relegate her to a footnote in The Serena Show.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
The left and sports media hate her because she is so conservative and is not afraid to speak out.
The Sports World doesn’t seem to care about sports. They care about Politics.
That’s crazy.
and she’s white. Good thing she’s launching nicely done verbal replies back to the obvious lib media, and doesn’t just take it.
How many people that age even know who Margaret Court is?
You think DJ and JT (and on and on) don’t know who Ben Hogan was?
Whadda ya expect?
Serena knows and should acknowledge her but never has. Her ego won’t allow it.
Thanks for posting! I had no idea.
Margaret Court is a woman. Williams’ sex is a question.
You think Dustin Johnson knows who Ben Hogan is? I doubt he knows Palmer or Nicklaus.
Williams...a career made by roids.
I don’t think it’s Serena - younger people just don’t care about anyone from before their time. For the most part.
DJ studied Hogan’s 5 Fundamentals book as a kid. He most certainly knows who he was.
They don't even know about anyone before their time because they aren't being taught about anything before their time.
This is a much bigger issue than tennis.
Those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it.
Those who DO< study history are doomed to stand by watching helplessly while everyone else repeats it.
He seems like a party boy who doesn’t care about anything that’s not superficial.
Thankfully the beast will always be second banana to Margaret Court.
The match was held at Riggs home court. Riggs was a base line player and before the match, it was later discovered he had the court resurfaced to severely slow down the game which gave him a huge advantage. The match against King was on a neutral court and he was trashed.
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