Scot has say on Court row

Andy Murray yesterday entered the debate on the possible renaming of the Australian Open’s secondbiggest playing arena, which has been prompted by homophobic comments from its famous namesake, Margaret Court.

While the world No 1 stopped short of supporting the putative boycott suggested by Australian No1 Sam Stosur, he did predict that players would be offended by Court’s behaviour – which now includes refusing to fly on Qantas Airlines because its chief executive supports gay marriage.

“I don’t see why anyone has a problem with two people who love each other getting married,” the Scot said. “If it’s two men, two women, that’s great. I don’t see why it should matter. Everyone should have the same rights.

“I haven’t heard anything about the arena changing names. [But] if something was to be done, I think it would be a lot more beneficial to do it before the tournament starts. For players to be in a position where you’re in a slam and boycotting playing on the court, I think would potentially cause a lot of issues.

“If something was going to be happening and the players come to an agreement, if they think the name should be changed or whatever, that should be decided before the start. I would imagine a lot of players would be pretty offended by that. So we’ll see what happens.”

Margaret Court Arena has recently been expanded and upgraded to secondary status at the Australian Open, behind only Rod Laver Arena. It has held its name since 2003, but Stosur said on Monday that “we’ll see who wants to play on Margaret Court Arena and who doesn’t”.