Sydney (AFP)

Tennis legend Margaret Court hopes the organizers of the Australian Open will treat her as his male counterpart Rod Laver and invite him to the next tournament in January to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his Grand Slam.

We will indeed celebrate the 50th anniversary of this feat managed by the Australian in 1970 when she won the four major tournaments the same year. This extremely rare sequence was only succeeded by two other players, the American Maureen Connolly in 1953, and the German Steffi Graf in 1988.

The organizers of the Australian Open invited Rod Laver this year to celebrate the anniversary of his 1969 Grand Slam (he had also achieved the feat in 1962 and remains for the time being the only man to count two Grand Slams to his palmares). But to this day Margaret Court, 77, is still waiting for her invitation.

"I think the Australian Federation should sit down and talk to me," the Sydney Morning Herald, former champion of 24 major tournament wins, told a record that still holds.

She is now a pastor and has made headlines in recent years with her comments on homosexuality and gay marriage. Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, two former homosexual players have asked that the stadium bearing his name in Melbourne be renamed.

"The Australian Federation has never called me, no one has spoken to me directly, I think they prefer not to face the problem directly," said Margaret Court.

She regularly visits the Australian Open but has not come back since 2017 and her controversial remarks.

"They invited Rod (Laver) from the USA, where he lives, if they think I'm just going to come like this in 2020, I think it's not fair, I should be invited, I hope they will finance my trip to come and honor me, if they do not, then I do not really want to come, "she continued.

The Australian Federation told AFP that it was studying how to celebrate Margaret Court's Grand Slam, but said that "if we recognize Margaret Court's feats, her views do not reflect our values ​​of equality, diversity and inclusion ".

Margaret Court sparked a controversy in 2017 saying it would now avoid Qantas flights after the Australian airline has supported same-sex marriage, which has since become legal in Australia after a referendum. The former champion also noted that women's tennis was "full of lesbians".

© 2019 AFP