Move over Margaret Court; there is one more tennis star who accomplished the unthinkable. Novak Djokovic has scripted history and broken the Australian tennis legend’s all-time record of holding 24 Grand Slam titles. While it takes 50 years to break Court’s record, there are a lot of debates and discussions going on regarding how the tennis world can honor Djokovic for his achievements.
There have been several suggestions about renaming the Margaret Court Tennis Center as well as honoring the 36-year-old tennis player by naming an arena for him. But, finally, Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley has spoken out about what the Australian tennis community feels about the saga.
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Tennis Australia CEO throws light on the Djokovic Arena controversy
Since the time the 223 Australian Open champion won his 24th Grand Slam title, there have been a lot of discussions going on about whether the controversial tennis figure Margaret Court’s name should be removed from the arena that’s named after her. Subsequently, concerns have been raised by the tennis veteran’s 81-year-old comments on the themes of racism, homophobia, and transphobia.
However, the CEO of Tennis Australia recently discussed the subject on the podcast Rock N Roll podcast. He provided a thorough justification for removing Court’s name and replacing it with Djokovic’s.
He said, “Wimbledon and the French and the US Open, they own the facilities of which they run their events, we lease it, and the government, the Victorian Government owns our facilities. And, and we lease the facilities from them.” Along with that, he also highlighted whether having a Novak Djokovic Arena is possible or not. He added, “It’s the government, they do a great job on the precinct and, and it’s a you know, it’s a great precinct, the infrastructure the government’s put together is magnificent. But it’s a different construct to the other events.”
But the biggest question is: has the world number one really crossed Court’s tennis achievements in the bigger picture?
Is Djokovic a step ahead of Margaret Court?
The Serbian tennis player tied the 81-year-old tennis veteran’s record of having 24 Grand Slam titles under his name. But there is no stopping for the 10-time Australian Open champion at this moment. While he is busy breaking records, the WTA veteran has stressed her fans with her controversial opinions throughout the years. Although Djokovic has always maintained a distance from Court’s controversies, he has made his opinion about her quite clear.
On the other hand, Court has won 192 titles overall, leaving the Serb with a bigger benchmark to achieve. Currently, he carries 69 titles with him.
What do you think about having a tennis arena named after the recent US Open champion?
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Written by
Edited by
Donna Eva