Federer Named Greatest Of All Time By TennisChannel

The Tennis Channel has been heavily promoting their countdown of the 100 Greatest (Tennis Players) Of All Time. The list of the 100 best players (men and women combined) as voted on by a panel of experts, former and current players was run through all this week and my favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, was named #1, or the G.O.A.T.

The Top 10 are:

1. Roger Federer
2. Rod Laver
3. Steffi Graf
4. Martina Navratilova
5. Pete Sampras
6. Rafael Nadal
7. Bjorn Borg
8. Margaret Court
9. Chris Evert
10. Billie Jean King

Serena Williams ended up at #14 and Andre Agassi, the husband of the Greatest Female Player of all Time (Steffi Graf) was placed at #12. Between them was John McEnroe and Serena's sister Venus Williams was at #22, 4 places ahead of Justine Henin at 26.

The full list is available online.

AUS OPEN 2012: Serena Wins 500th Career Match

Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Serena Williams cruised through the first 45 minutes of her second round match against Barbara Zahlavova Strycova, but unfortunately for her, it lasted 68 minutes, with the American 5-time Australian Open champion eventually winning the last 5 points and the match 6-0 6-4.

Serena now has 500 career wins compared to 104 losses, while her sister Venus Williams has 598 match wins compared to 147 losses. Other players with more than 500 career wins are Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Amelie Mauresmo, Steffi Graf, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Justine Henin among others.

Celebrity Friday: Margaret Court Reveals Her Homophobia

Margaret Court is on top of the list of
all-time women's major singles tennis titleholders

Margaret Court is the legendary tennis player from Australia who won 24 women's major singles titles, more than any other player in history. Steffi Graf is the only modern player to come remotely close to breaking her record, with 22 major titles when she retired in 1999.

Court is widely considered tennis (and sports) royalty but the words that came out of her mouth were not very regal. Court gave her opinion about the ongoing national debate in her home country about whether Australia should end the exclusion of same-sex couples from civil marriage.

And what she said was not pretty.

"They are not perfect, often dysfunctional and despite the fact the role models may be distorted and even severely flawed, there is no reason to put forward alternative, unhealthy, unnatural unions as some form of substitute. No amount of legislation or political point-scoring can ever take out of the human heart the knowledge that in the beginning God created them male and female and provided each with a unique sexual function to bring forth new life. To dismantle this sole definition of marriage and try to legitimise what God calls abominable sexual practices that include sodomy, reveals our ignorance as to the ills that come when society is forced to accept law that violates their very own God-given nature of what is right and what is wrong."

Mrs. Court is now apparently "Reverend Court" and obviously does not understand the difference between civil marriage (which is a creation of the secular state) and a religious wedding. Mrs. Court is free to believe whatever she wants about how her religion views homosexuality but she is not free to impose those values upon other people who do not share her religious beliefs in a democratic, secular country like Australia. 


Since two of the most venerated female tennis champions are openly lesbian you know that Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King would not let such comments go by without a response.


According to the Tennis Channel this is how they responded:

Said Navratilova: “Seems to me a lot of people have evolved as has the Bible, [for example regarding] slavery. Unfortunately, Margaret Court has not. Her myopic view is truly frightening as well as damaging to the thousands of children already living in same gender families...I have tried to talk to Margaret, but to say she’s completely close-minded on the issue is an understatement...Here is hoping Australia will be on the right side of history and human rights, and become yet another democracy granting equal rights to all her citizens.” 

Said King: "I respectfully disagree with Margaret’s position on gay marriage...We have to commit to eliminating homophobia because everyone is entitled to the same rights, opportunities and protection...The more we talk openly about issues like gay marriage, the more we learn about each other. It is a blessing the people of Australia can live freely and express their own opinions because we need open dialogue to help us move forward."

Good job by Martina and Billie Jean to let Mrs. Court know that her unbridled religious-based homophobia would not pass by unchecked. It's not often two of my favorite topics (tennis and LGBT equality) intersect but you know when they do I will blog about it!


Hat/tip to TowleRoad!