Mrs Margaret Smith Court The best ever

Margaret Court is the first Australian woman to win the three other Grand Slam tournaments outside her home country. She was ranked the World No. 1 women’s player in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1970 and 1973. She remains one among the only three women players that have won all the four Grand Slam titles in a single year. She achieved the rare distinction in 1970, while Maureen Connolly had performed the feat in 1953 and SteffiGraf in 1988.

- GP CAPT ACHCHYUT KUMAR

The present world news is limited to just one thing — Corona, Corona and Corona! The world of sports has been consigned to oblivion. Lockdown is the world order; however, some sporting events have been given the go ahead in some countries. Till the past few months, the sporting world has been so dynamic that one never gets a chance to look back into events and personalities that have lent various sports the mass following that they enjoy today. The suspension of sports around the world gives one the interval to reflect on some of the unforgettables of the various games.

Making no bones about it, cricket has been my all-time favourite among all types of games and sports so it would be quite natural for me to reflect upon names like Sir Gary Sobers or Don Bradman. if cricket wasn’t my favourite, other names that could surface would be perhaps Pele, Mohammad Ali, Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis, Bobby Fischer, Rod Laver, major Dhayan Chand, Rudy Hartono, Mark Spitz and several such names. however, the name that surfaces to the zenith of my memory is that of a lady tennis player — Mrs Margaret Smith Court.

The prefix Mrs to her name has not been used without a cause. Mrs Margaret Court had a career that was punctuated by marriage and three childbirths and yet she holds several enviable records; a career that was equally glorious in the Open era of tennis as well as before with certain achievements that no male or female player has ever been able to emulate. her achievements can never be erased from my student day memory; it was almost half a century ago but for me Mrs Margaret Court remains the greatest sports personality of all times.