Court, Margaret

Margaret Court, née Margaret Smith, (born July 16, 1942, Albury, New South Wales, Australia), Australian tennis player who dominated women’s competition in the 1960s. She won 66 Grand Slam championships, more than any other woman, and in 1970 became the second woman (after Maureen Connolly in 1953) to win the Grand Slam of tennis singles: Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the Australian Open, and the French Open titles in the same year. She is the only player to have achieved the Grand Slam in doubles as well as singles, winning the four events with fellow Australian Kenneth Fletcher in 1963.

Smith first attracted attention after winning the Australian Open singles title in 1960. She won that title the next six years; the Wimbledon singles in 1963, 1965, and 1970; the U.S. Open singles in 1962, 1965, 1969, 1970, and 1973; and the French Open singles in 1962, 1969, 1970, and 1973. She retired after marrying Barrymore Court in 1967 but returned to competition shortly afterward. She won many doubles titles, including U.S. Open mixed doubles in 1969 and 1970.

Court was noted for her powerful serve and volley and her exceptional endurance. She continued to win many tournaments after the birth of her first child, including the U.S. Open in 1973. That year she lost to 55-year-old Bobby Riggs, in a much-publicized match. Court was the top woman player in the world in 1962–65, 1969–70, and 1973 and placed in the top five in 1961, 1966, 1968, 1971–72. Court retired from the game in 1976, and three years later she was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

In 1995 Court founded a Pentecostal Christian church outside of Perth, West Australia, where she served as pastor. She had a history of making controversial comments, notably speaking out against homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Amid mounting criticism in 2017, some argued that the Margaret Court Arena at Melbourne Park in Victoria, site of the Australian Open, should be renamed.