Margaret Court will not return the Order of Australia despite her homophobic phrases

Former Australian tennis player Margaret Court, the player with the most 'Grand Slam' titles in history, will not return her Companion award of the General Division of the Order of Australia (AC), the highest honor awarded in the oceanic country, despite the criticism of the Prime Minister of the state of Victoria, Daniel Andrews, for his homophobic statements.

“I will not return it, because I love to represent my nation. It was not me who looked for it, I did not know that I was receiving it, I felt very honored when they told me they would give it to me, “he explained on Australian radio station 3AW.

The decision to award the award to Court was criticized by Andrews last week, he claimed that his outright opposition to same-sex marriage and his support for gay conversion therapy should have prevented him from getting it.

“I don't support this. I don't think she has views that identify with the vast majority of people in our nation, particularly the LGBTIQ community,” Andrews said. “I love people, and I love homosexuals and transgender people,” he stressed.

Court claimed that the media has misrepresented some of his statements in recent years. “I feel that we have become so leftist that we are not allowed to say anything about our traditional values,” he said.

The Australian is the tennis player with the most 'Grand Slam' titles in history, with 24 -11 Australian Opens, 5 Roland Garros, 3 Wimbledon and 5 US Open-. Extenistas like Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and John McEnroe have also harshly criticized Court, which revealed that she has not been invited to attend the 2021 Australian Open, which takes place from February 8 to 21.