MARGARET SMITH COURT
Name: Margaret Court
Born: 16 July 1942 Albury, Australia
Margaret Court (born July 16, 1942, also known as Margaret Smith Court)
is a retired former World No. 1 tennis player from Australia. In 1970, she
became the first woman during the open era to win all four Grand Slam singles
titles in the same calendar year. Court won 24 Grand Slam singles titles, more
than any other player. She won 62 Grand Slam titles overall (24 singles, 19
women's doubles, and 19 mixed doubles), again, more than any other player. Many
consider her the greatest female tennis player. The International Tennis Hall of
Fame states, "There has never been a tennis player to match (her)."
She was born Margaret Smith in 1942, in Albury, New South Wales, the youngest of
four children of Lawrence Smith and Catherine Smith (née Beaufort). She began
playing tennis when she was eight years old and was 17 when she won the first of
seven consecutive singles titles at the Australian Championships in 1960.
After Wimbledon in 1966, Court temporarily retired from tennis. She married
Barry Court in 1967 and became known as Margaret Smith Court or Margaret Court.
She returned to tennis in 1968. She won all four Grand Slam singles titles in
1970. The next year, Court lost the Wimbledon singles final to Evonne Goolagong
Cawley while pregnant with her first child, Daniel, who was born in March 1972.
Court made a comeback the same year and played in the U.S. Open. Her second
child, Marika, was born in 1974. Court started playing again but retired
permanently in 1977 when she learned she was expecting the third of her four
children.
Court is one of only three players to have achieved a career "boxed set" of
Grand Slam titles, winning every possible Grand Slam title – singles, same-sex
doubles and mixed doubles – at all four Grand Slam events. The others are Doris
Hart and Martina Navrátilová. Court, however, is the only person to have won all
12 Grand Slam events at least twice. She also is unique in having completed a
boxed set before the start of the open era in 1968 and a separate boxed set
after the start of the open era.
Court is widely remembered for having lost a heavily publicized and U.S.
televised challenge match to a former World No. 1 male tennis player, the 55-year-old
Bobby Riggs, on Mother's Day, May 13, 1973, in Ramona, California. Court was the
top-ranked women's player at the time, and it has been written that she did not
take the match seriously, assuming that she would win without difficulty. Using
a mixture of lobs and drop shots, however, Riggs beat her handily 6-2, 6-1. Four
months later, Billie Jean King beat Riggs in the even more famous Battle of the
Sexes match in the Houston Astrodome to even the score.
In 1979, Court was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
In January 2003, Show Court One at Melbourne Park was renamed Margaret Court
Arena. Also in 2003, Australia Post honoured her and fellow Australian tennis
Rod Laver by putting their images on postage stamps.
Court now lives in Perth, Western Australia, and runs the Victory Life Centre,
a Christian ministry.
Court's father-in-law, Sir Charles Court, and brother-in-law, Richard Court,
were Liberal premiers of Western Australia.
Name: Margaret Court
Born: 16 July 1942 Albury, Australia
Margaret Court (born July 16, 1942, also known as Margaret Smith Court)
is a retired former World No. 1 tennis player from Australia. In 1970, she
became the first woman during the open era to win all four Grand Slam singles
titles in the same calendar year. Court won 24 Grand Slam singles titles, more
than any other player. She won 62 Grand Slam titles overall (24 singles, 19
women's doubles, and 19 mixed doubles), again, more than any other player. Many
consider her the greatest female tennis player. The International Tennis Hall of
Fame states, "There has never been a tennis player to match (her)."
She was born Margaret Smith in 1942, in Albury, New South Wales, the youngest of
four children of Lawrence Smith and Catherine Smith (née Beaufort). She began
playing tennis when she was eight years old and was 17 when she won the first of
seven consecutive singles titles at the Australian Championships in 1960.
After Wimbledon in 1966, Court temporarily retired from tennis. She married
Barry Court in 1967 and became known as Margaret Smith Court or Margaret Court.
She returned to tennis in 1968. She won all four Grand Slam singles titles in
1970. The next year, Court lost the Wimbledon singles final to Evonne Goolagong
Cawley while pregnant with her first child, Daniel, who was born in March 1972.
Court made a comeback the same year and played in the U.S. Open. Her second
child, Marika, was born in 1974. Court started playing again but retired
permanently in 1977 when she learned she was expecting the third of her four
children.
Court is one of only three players to have achieved a career "boxed set" of
Grand Slam titles, winning every possible Grand Slam title – singles, same-sex
doubles and mixed doubles – at all four Grand Slam events. The others are Doris
Hart and Martina Navrátilová. Court, however, is the only person to have won all
12 Grand Slam events at least twice. She also is unique in having completed a
boxed set before the start of the open era in 1968 and a separate boxed set
after the start of the open era.
Court is widely remembered for having lost a heavily publicized and U.S.
televised challenge match to a former World No. 1 male tennis player, the 55-year-old
Bobby Riggs, on Mother's Day, May 13, 1973, in Ramona, California. Court was the
top-ranked women's player at the time, and it has been written that she did not
take the match seriously, assuming that she would win without difficulty. Using
a mixture of lobs and drop shots, however, Riggs beat her handily 6-2, 6-1. Four
months later, Billie Jean King beat Riggs in the even more famous Battle of the
Sexes match in the Houston Astrodome to even the score.
In 1979, Court was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
In January 2003, Show Court One at Melbourne Park was renamed Margaret Court
Arena. Also in 2003, Australia Post honoured her and fellow Australian tennis
Rod Laver by putting their images on postage stamps.
Court now lives in Perth, Western Australia, and runs the Victory Life Centre,
a Christian ministry.
Court's father-in-law, Sir Charles Court, and brother-in-law, Richard Court,
were Liberal premiers of Western Australia.