Laura Robson has come out in favour of renaming the Margaret Court Arena, becoming the first current player at the Australian Open to advocate doing so.
The former British No 1 believes Court’s outspoken and controversial views about LGBT issues and same‑sex marriage do merit action from Tennis Australia and the Victorian government.
Billie Jean King spoke out strongly against Court on the eve of the tournament but players competing in the year’s first grand slam event have been reluctant to get involved in the row until now.
“Yeah, I would kind of lean towards renaming it,” Robson said. “It’s a tough one because she obviously achieved so much but, if someone is being asked to play on that court and they don’t maybe feel comfortable, or people in the crowd feel a little awkward about sitting on there, then people need to have more of a think about it and decide what is best.”
Robson has history on the matter having worn a rainbow hair band during a first-round match on the court six years ago in a show of support for equal rights. Her lowly ranking means she is a long way from playing another match in the arena but Robson was reminded of that moment this week when one of the ball boys from the match sent her a message on Twitter to say how much it had meant to him.
“The message he sent was sweet,” the 23-year-old said. “It seemed like such a minor thing for me to do then but it obviously made a difference to someone else on that court.”
Robson also recalled the reaction her gesture received at home. She said: “Some of my mum’s older friends were like: ‘Is Laura a lesbian?’ She was like: ‘I’ll have to ask her.’
“It just seemed like a nice thing to do at the time. I didn’t think too much about it before I went on court.”