Margaret Court turned 80 a few weeks ago, so she agreed to be interviewed by telegraph.co.uk. The Grand Slam record holder spoke about the retirement of Serena Williams and how she was bullied in life for choosing to speak her mind.

Serena Williams and the record she will never break again

Serena bid farewell to tennis after being eliminated from the 2022 US Open, and one thing is clear: Margaret Court’s record won’t be surpassed (or even equaled) for a while at least (we’ll see how long that lasts, or if anyone can ever break it).

The Australian won 24 major titles in her career, while Serena stopped at 23, despite all efforts to at least match Margaret.

Out of the spotlight for years, Margaret Court was on display at this year’s Wimbledon, with organizers holding a special event for those who won the event at the All England Club.

Margaret Court, “erased” from the landscape, because she disturbed many with her frankness

Margaret says that no one paid attention to her at the All England Club and that she finally realized that she did not belong in the world of tennis. The Australian woman says she is paying for the fact that she spoke her mind all her life, and it upset many.

“I admired Serena as a player, but I don’t think she ever admired me,” Court says of the American’s retirement from the tennis tournament.

Margaret caused a lot of backlash when she publicly spoke out against same-sex marriage years ago.

This was followed by sharp criticism of her from both the general public and former players of the world circuit. Martina Navratilova lashed out at her several times, and the statement “her myopic vision is really scary” flew around the world.

For Serena Williams, Margaret Court doesn’t really exist

Returning to the topic of Serena Williams, the Australian says she is not surprised that for the American, she is virtually non-existent in the world of tennis.

“I think a lot of it is because I speak up and stand up for my beliefs. I’ve been bullied a lot throughout my life, but we should be able to speak our minds.” – Margaret Court.

The Grand Slam champion adds that she respects everyone and has nothing against anyone, but that shouldn’t stop her from having an opinion that she can express publicly.

Comparison of Margaret Court and Serena Williams

When asked further about the current topic of world tennis (not the end of Serena Williams’ career), Court said that some aspects are completely forgotten (or unknown to many tennis fans).

“Serena played seven years longer than me. I finished my career at the age of 30. People forget that I took two years off.

I first retired, like Ash Barty, when I was 25, thinking I would never return to tennis. I got married, had a baby, but then I had one of my best years, winning 24 out of 25 tournaments.

I came back after two children. After the birth of my first child, I won three out of four Grand Slam tournaments. Serena hasn’t won a slam since she gave birth” – Margaret Court for telegraph.co.uk, reports Eurosport.ro.

Margaret Court, who was born on July 16, 1942 in Albury, Australia, collected 24 Grand Slam titles in her career (an all-time record).

The Australian won the Australian Open 11 times (1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973), five times at Roland Garros (1962, 1964, 1969, 1970, 1973) , three times at Wimbledon (1963, 1965, 1970) and five more times at the US Open (1962, 1965, 1969, 1970, 1973).

Ranking of Grand Slam titles in women’s tennis

1 24 Margaret Court

2 Serena Williams 23

3 Steffi Graf 22

4 Helen Wills Moody 19

5 Chris Evert / Martina Navratilova 18 etc.