Billie Jean King Defends Margaret('s) Court

Billie Jean King is making headlines again talking about Margaret (Smith) Court -- only this time she's defending her former rival. King, along with Martina Navratilova and Rennae Stubbs, recently spoke out against Court for her statements against marriage equality. But with protesters now calling for Court's name to be removed from Court 3 at the Australian Open (aka Margaret Court Arena), King is speaking out against the idea, saying if anything, Court's name needs to be more prominent at the year's first Grand Slam event.

"No, no, no, get rid of her for that," King said. "Because you don’t agree with her? Are you kidding? Just because you don’t agree with someone? Please. She deserves it. She’s a great player."

King went on to say: "I thought the center court should be [Rod] Laver and her name together. They're the two greatest champions in our game, and she had more Slams. For her to have Court 3 is terrible. I was furious. I went to the heads of Australia, I told them I don't agree with this. You can't do this, you can't give her Court 3, she deserves much better than this. That's a disgrace to women. She won 62 Grand Slam titles, how could you ever give her Court 3. It was diabolical."

While I agree that the initial naming of courts was misguided -- News Flash: sexism is alive and well Down Under -- I'm not sure I agree with King's assertion that it would be wrong to remove Court's name. Buildings are named after people for a variety of reasons, and no matter how gifted an athlete someone is, their integrity and character weigh into the decision, too. (Arthur Ashe was hardly the greatest player, but he stood for so much more.) Obviously, there are a lot of landmarks named for people who we now acknowledge were involved in deplorable things -- no one's calling for the Thomas Jefferson Memorial to be destroyed because of his fondness for slaves -- and Court may just have beaten the statute of limitations on this, given her age and the fact that Australia (like America) is still not up to speed on LGBT rights (shall we say her homophobia was grandfathered in?). But she may be the last of her generation -- and I certainly wouldn't go and upgrade her standing at this point, as she does her best to destroy it. (H/T Busted Racquet)