Eighteen-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova has renewed her call for the Margaret Court Arena to be renamed – describing the Australian as a “racist and a homophobe”.
Court, 74, has said she would not fly on Qantas “where possible” in protest at its support of same-sex marriage.
She then told a Christian radio station “tennis is full of lesbians”.
In an open letter, Navratilova said: “We should not be celebrating this kind of behaviour.”
The 60-year-old addressed her letter to the Margaret Court Arena, one of the main show courts at the Australian Open.
She said: “It is now clear exactly who Court is: an amazing tennis player, and a racist and a homophobe.
“Her vitriol is not just an opinion. She is actively trying to keep LGBT people from getting equal rights (note to Court: we are human beings, too).”
In 1990, Court said Navratilova was a poor role model for young tennis players because of her homosexuality.
Navratilova said she had forgiven Court for those comments, but had only just been made aware of remarks the Australian made about South Africa’s apartheid regime.
In 1970, Court said: “South Africa has the racial situation rather better organised than anyone else, certainly much better than the United States.”
Court won 24 Grand Slam singles titles, 11 of them in the Open era, which began in 1968 and allowed professionals to compete alongside amateurs.
Navratilova described Court’s actions as “bullying” and said sporting venues are named after athletes for “who they are as human beings” and “not just for what this person did on the field”.
“The platform people like Margaret Court use needs to be made smaller, not bigger,” she said.
Navratilova believes the Margaret Court Arena should be renamed after Evonne Goolagong, a 14-time Grand Slam winner of Australian Aboriginal descent.
“I think the Evonne Goolagong Arena has a great ring to it,” she added. “Now there is a person we can all celebrate. On every level.”
BBC Sport tennis correspondent Russell Fuller:
Freedom of speech is one thing, but Margaret Court has caused widespread offence within tennis with these most recent remarks.
Tennis Australia has so far tried to separate Court’s views from her achievements as a player to argue the name of the arena does not need to change. But they will find it very hard to withstand such pressure from figures like Martina Navratilova. And the current generation of players have much influence, too.
Andy Murray, who is a member of the ATP Player Council, says it would be difficult for players to boycott a particular court during a Grand Slam. But he points out they could collectively agree a position before the tournament, which would make life very difficult indeed for Tennis Australia.
Kyrgios/Thompson defeat Herbert/Mahut on Wednesday
It’s anyone’s guess who will take the doubles title at Roland Garros after a wild first round filled with upsets. For the first time in the Open Era at this event, the top two seeds have not passed the opening hurdle. The last time this happened at a Grand Slam was at the 2015 US Open.
Third seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan avoided an early-round casualty on Wednesday with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya. The Bryan brothers, finalists in the past two years at Roland Garros, are looking to win their third crown at this event. They’ll next play Sam Groth and Robert Lindstedt, who survived Brian Baker and Nikola Mektic 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(3).
Second seeds and local favourites Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut weren’t as fortunate, falling to Aussie duo Nick Kyrgios and Jordan Thompson 7-6(8), 4-6, 6-3. Kyrgios/Thompson saved three set points at 4-5 in the opening set and another in the tie-break at 7/8. They’ll face off in the second round against Jan-Lennard Struff and Mischa Zverev, who defeated wild cards Gregoire Jacq and Hugo Nys 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Fourth seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo overcame a spirited challenge from local favourites Julien Benneteau and Jeremy Chardy to advance 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. The win also gives Melo his 400th career ATP World Tour doubles victory. The in-form Kubot/Melo will square off against Ryan Harrison and Michael Venus for a spot in the round of 16.
Seventh seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers eased past Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Demoliner 6-4, 6-4. Next up for them are Malek Jaziri and Andreas Seppi, who needed two hours and 20 minutes to defeat Wesley Koolhof and Matwe Middelkoop 7-6(2), 6-7(5), 6-4.
Ninth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas had a much easier time, requiring just 53 minutes to move past local duo Mathias Bourgue and Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-1, 6-1. They’ll play Treat Huey and Denis Istomin in the next round.
Other seeded duos to advance on Wednesday include 12th seeds Marcin Matkowski and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, and 15th seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic.
Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com
American reaches Roland Garros third round after family tragedy
It would be understandable to anyone if Steve Johnson decided to take time away from tennis after the unexpected and tragic passing of his father, Steve Johnson Sr., on May 11 at age 58. Instead, the American bravely returned to competition last week in Geneva, and completed a dramatic 6-2, 7-6(8), 3-6, 7-6(6) second-round victory over #NextGenATP Croatian Borna Coric on Wednesday to match best result at this event. The events of the past three weeks and tension of the match boiled over after the final point, as Johnson dropped to his knees and burst into tears after the win.
“I just miss my dad. I wish he was following along. I know he is upstairs,” said a visibly emotional Johnson in his on-court interview with Tennis Channel. “I know he was looking down on me on that last point and gave me the strength to finish it off.
“Physically, I’m okay. Emotionally, I’m a mess,” he added. “[My dad] always taught me to be a fighter and competitor, so that’s what I’m going to do day in and day out. That’s all I can do.”
It was standing room only on Court 6 by the end of the match, with the vocal Parisian crowd adding to an already electric atmosphere. Johnson saved two set points in the second-set tie-break, at 5/6 and 7/8, and another pair of set points in the fourth-set tie-break at 7/8. He converted on his fourth match point at 7/6 after nearly four hours of play.
Johnson’s path to the third round would have been considered treacherous under normal circumstances. Johnson prevailed on Monday in a five-set win over Yuichi Sugita that spanned two days. The American won the first two sets on Sunday, but darkness halted the match midway through the fourth set. He regrouped strongly after Sugita forced a decider the next day and powered through the final set.
Johnson Sr. worked as a tennis coach and was known as a true devotee of the sport, happy to talk about tennis with anyone who was willing. Even though Johnson has devoted his life to the sport as an ATP World Tour player, he said his father was even more dedicated to the game than him.
“Tennis was his life and his passion, so much more than mine in different ways. He loved tennis and loved to talk about it. I’ll admit it got a little old for me because sometimes I like to get away from tennis,” smiled Johnson during his post-match press conference. “I’ll always look back on these memories and these times we were able to share together tennis-wise.
“He meant a lot to me, but you don’t necessarily realise what he was able to do and who he was able to touch beyond his family’s life,” he added. “I could have told you bits and pieces, but now I’m getting stories of what he was able to accomplish through tennis and how he was able to help a lot of kids. He’s just a remarkable man.”
Johnson will try to channel his emotions as best he can for his next match against sixth seed Dominic Thiem. The match will likely be held on one of the stadium courts at Roland Garros, adding further motivation for what would have been a memorable moment for his dad to witness.
“I’m proud to say he was able to live out some of his dreams. He got to see me on Centre Court at Wimbledon and Arthur Ashe Stadium at the US Open. The last match he saw me play live was against Roger Federer at the BNP Paribas Open, which was a great match,” said Johnson. “There are some fun memories that I can look back on and know he was there.”
But regardless of the final score against Thiem, Johnson has gained plenty of new fans over the past two weeks for his courage and bravery in the face of adversity.
“A tremendous heart on him,” noted Tennis Channel commentator Mary Carillo. “He’s always wanted to be like his dad and guess what? He’s just like his dad. What a special man.”
Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com
Andy Murray will look to continue playing his way into form on Day 5 of the French Open, when he takes on Martin Klizan on Philipp…
The second seed Karolina Pliskova managed to avoid going the way of her fellow top star Angelique Kerber in round one but…
Milos Raonic relied on his most destructive weapon – his serve – to fight back and prevail against a clay-court veteran on Wednesday at Roland Garros. The fifth-seeded Canadian struck 25 aces, including four in the final game, to beat Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 and move into the third round.
“There’s some pluses to take out of it, some things I definitely want to do better. Obviously, I was very competitive. I felt a little bit sluggish to start. Sort of let him really into it, and you could see that he started believing after a while, and that’s always a dangerous state. I managed to weather the storm and hold it out throughout that match,” Raonic said.
Raonic remains on track to match his best showing in Paris, the quarter-finals in 2014, when he fell to Novak Djokovic. The 6’5” right-hander fell in the fourth round last year to Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
This fortnight, however, Raonic arrives at the season’s second Grand Slam with newfound reasons for optimism. He reached his first clay-court final at the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open this month before falling to then-World No. 8 Marin Cilic.
At the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, Raonic was edged out in the quarter-finals by eventual champion Alexander Zverev. Last week in Lyon, Raonic again made a deep run, making the last four before falling to Czech veteran Tomas Berdych.
The Canadian also has his health in Paris. Earlier this year, he had to withdraw from matches in Delray Beach and Miami, and had to completely miss Acapulco and Indian Wells.
Still, Raonic’s second-round match against Dutra Silva was anything but straightforward. Fifteen of Dutra Silva’s 21 tour-level wins have come on clay, and the 33 year old favours the surface more than any other, having played eight of his 10 tour-level events this season on clay.
Dutra Silva broke twice to take the first set, but Raonic responded, breaking in the sixth and eighth games of the second set to even the match. In the third set, at 3-2, Raonic converted his fifth break point of the game to go up 4-2 before eventually taking the set.
The Canadian was at his best in the fourth and final set. At 4-4, with Dutra Silva serving, Raonic lost his first six break points. But on Raonic’s seventh chance, Dutra Silva netted a forehand and the Brazilian wouldn’t touch another ball. Literally. Raonic served four consecutive aces to end the match.
He said it was at least the third time he’s finished a tour-level match with four straight aces. “I could name three matches off the top of my head: today; Robin Haase in Paris indoors; and my first match, I think it was against [Carlos] Berlocq the year I lost second round at Wimbledon [2013],” Raonic said.
From ?? to ??.@milosraonic into the third round for the 5th time here in Paris ➡️https://t.co/Mcqaj6QaBt.#RG17 pic.twitter.com/lbFrFlJ3E6
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2017
The fifth seed will next face Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who beat Argentine qualifier Marco Trungelliti 7-5, 6-4, 7-5. Raonic leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 2-0 but their last match was three years ago.
In other action, 10th seed David Goffin saw 16 break points and converted four of them to advance to the third round 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 against Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky. Last year, Goffin achieved his best result at a Grand Slam when he reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals (l. to Thiem).
Goffin will next face Argentine Horacio Zeballos, who withstood 29 aces from Croatian Ivo Karlovic to advance 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 6-3 in two hours and 13 minutes.
Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com.
| French Open |
|---|
| Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 28 May- 11 June |
| Coverage: Listen to live radio commentary and follow text coverage of selected matches on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and online. |
Aljaz Bedene was knocked out of the French Open in the second round by Jiri Vesely – but then said he “will fight” to represent Britain over his native Slovenia.
The British number three lost 6-3 6-3 4-6 6-3 to Czech Vesely at Roland Garros on Wednesday.
The 27-year-old then clarified earlier comments suggesting he might switch allegiance back to Slovenia.
“I really want to play for Great Britain and I’m still hoping,” he said.
“I haven’t really thought anything outside of that.”
Bedene became a British citizen in 2015 but has been unable to overturn a ban preventing him from representing Great Britain in the Davis Cup.
After his first-round win on Monday, he said he hopes to play at the Olympics and to do so players must be available for the Davis Cup.
“I read a few interviews, and I don’t actually remember what I was saying because I get nervous,” he added.
“But until it looks like it’s done, it’s not done yet for me.”
Great Britain Davis Cup captain Leon Smith said: “As a player of course you want to the play at the Olympics – that’s why we want to help and get him available for selection as those players already in the team are.”
Bedene’s French Open campaign ended with defeat by Vesely over two hours and 52 minutes.
The world number 52 started sloppily and, while he was able to win the third set, he had no answer to the tall Czech.
The pair played out a 13-minute final game, but Vesely went through when Bedene hooked a cross-court shot narrowly wide.
World number one Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund are now the only Britons left in the tournament.
“I fought really well and I’m proud of that but disappointed to lose, especially after I thought I was better in the fourth set,” said Bedene.
“I have to learn from it, especially when those first two sets weren’t great.
“Then I played well and started to show myself that if I can play my game. I can beat those guys.”
Rafael Nadal’s quest for a 10th Roland Garros crown continued on Wednesday with a convincing 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Robin Haase in the second round.
The Spaniard, seeded fourth in Paris, improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Haase to 3-0 and boosts his record at Roland Garros to 74-2. He has done well to conserve energy in the early rounds, spending just three hours and 41 minutes on court in his first two matches.
Nadal finished the day with 33 winners to 13 unforced errors, breaking Haase five times. He was also flawless on serve, not facing a break point in the contest. Perhaps, most surprising, was Nadal’s willingness to charge to the front of the court in a bid to shorten points, winning 15 of 22 trips to the net.
Watch out! @robin_haase turns Robin Hood in his 2R encounter with Nadal.#RG17 pic.twitter.com/kaxRh0Yt0F
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 31, 2017
Next up for Nadal is Nikoloz Basilashvili, who reached the third round at Roland Garros for the first time by defeating Viktor Troicki 7-6(3), 7-6(2), 7-6(6). The Georgian, currently No. 63 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, has produced solid results in 2017. He reached the final in Memphis (l. Harrison) and recorded semi-final showings in Sofia and Lyon.
Go inside the tournament at RolandGarros.com
| French Open |
|---|
| Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 28 May- 11 June |
| Coverage: Listen to live radio commentary and follow text coverage of selected matches on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra and online. |
Defending French Open champion Garbine Muguruza survived a scare to beat world number 99 Anett Kontaveit 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-2 and reach the third round.
The fourth seed was a set and a break down but recovered to win in two hours and eight minutes.
The 23-year-old will now play Yulia Putintseva, seeded 27.
The women’s draw is wide open, especially after world number one Angelique Kerber and British hope Johanna Konta went out in round one.
“I was expecting this kind of match because I played her recently, and I saw her a little bit in the few tournaments before,” Muguruza said of Kontaveit.
“She was just playing good, a lot of confidence. I knew it was going to be a battle out there.”
Watched by sister Serena – who will not play again this season because of her pregnancy – Venus Williams easily beat Kurumi Nara 6-3 6-1 to move into round three for the first time in five years.
At 36 she is the oldest woman to reach the third round at the French Open since Billie Jean King in 1982.
Slovak Dominika Cibulkova suffered a shock defeat by Tunisia’s world number 114 Ons Jabeur to become the third top-10 seed in the women’s draw to be knocked out. The sixth seed lost 6-4 6-3.
Petra Kvitova’s return to action came to an end in the second round as the Czech lost 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) to American Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Caroline Wozniacki, the Danish 12th seed, produced an impressive performance to beat Canadian Francoise Abanda 6-0 6-0 in 52 minutes.
French 13th seed Kristina Mladenovic reached the third round with a comfortable 6-2 6-3 win against Sara Errani of Italy.
In the men’s draw, another home favourite, 12th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, was given only the briefest of reprieves as he lost 7-5 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 to Argentine Renzo Olivo.
The match was postponed from Tuesday because of bad light and Olivo needed only one game to turn his overnight advantage into victory. He will now play Briton Kyle Edmund in the second round.
Austrian sixth seed Dominic Thiem was broken just once in a 7-5 6-1 6-3 win over Italian Simone Bolelli.
Bulgaria’s 11th seed Grigor Dimitrov is also through after beating Spain’s Tommy Robredo 6-3 6-4 7-5.