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Ammon News - Former tennis champion would not have attended anyway.

Court’s Order of Australia award has drawn fierce criticism.

Controversial tennis great Margaret Court has revealed she was not invited to this year’s Australian Open, and says her Order of Australia award was a long time coming.

Debate has raged since it was leaked late last week that Court would receive the Companion to the Order of Australia – the country’s highest honour. She had already been made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2007.

The 78-year-old’s feats on the tennis court are unquestionable, with her 24 grand slam singles titles still the world benchmark. But her views on the LGBTQ community and her fierce opposition to same-sex marriage have drawn angry criticism.

Her latest Order of Australia award has further stoked the fire, but Court does not regret accepting the honour.

“No, because I loved representing my nation,” Court told 3AW on Tuesday. “When I got the AO it was for my community reach area. We put out 75 tonnes of food a week. And this was for my tennis, and I think it was a long-time coming.

“I wasn’t one who looked for it. I didn’t know I was getting it. I was very honoured when I was told I was. There wasn’t a lot of fuss about it, but there has been a lot of other people who have made a lot of fuss about it.”

Controversy raged when Court accepted Tennis Australia’s invitation to the 2020 Australian Open to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her 1970 grand slam sweep.

Court said she had not received an invitation for this year’s tournament, and would not have accepted it anyway due to various factors.

“I’m not coming to the Australian Open. No, I wasn’t invited,” Court said. “With coronavirus, we’ve been so busy with our community work. I haven’t even thought about it.”

Court reiterated her views that being gay was a choice, and could be cured, but she felt some of her views had been misconstrued.

“I’ve always said what the Bible says,” she said. “I don’t hate anybody. I love people, and I love gay people and transgender people, and we get them into our community services. We never turn anybody away.

“A lot of things were said which I never really said, which I think was the sad part.

“I’ve been bullied a lot in the last few years, and I don’t mind. That’s alright. But if I say anything, then [they say] I’m a bigot and I’m everything else, and I don’t like that.”

*Theguardian