French Open 2017: Milos Raonic warns of 'repercussions' from 'crazy' Margaret Court controversy

Paris: Canada’s world number six Milos Raonic warned there would be “repercussions” from the Margaret Court controversy after the Australian legend made a series of controversial remarks over homosexuality. There have been suggestions that some players will boycott the Margaret Court Arena at the 2018 Australian Open unless the flagship stadium in Melbourne is renamed. “I think it’s sort of really shocking comments to hear,” said Raonic after reaching the French Open fourth round on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_3510947” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Milos Raonic in action against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at Roland Garros. AP[/caption] “I won’t get necessarily into the politics on what something should and shouldn’t be called, but I think to some extent definitely there should be some kind of apology and repercussions.” Earlier Friday, Court poured more fuel on the fire by claiming a gay conspiracy from America was behind calls to strip her name from the stadium. The Australian also hit back at America’s Martina Navratilova, who lashed out at the 74-year-old church pastor’s “sick and dangerous” comments on gays in tennis and transgender children. Court initially drew fire for saying she will avoid Australian airline Qantas for its support of same-sex marriage. She later claimed tennis was “full of lesbians”. But she remained defiant on Friday, saying renaming the stadium would be unfair and that she was being targeted by an American gay “lobby”. “I think I’ve won more Grand Slams than any man or woman and if it is (renamed), I don’t believe I deserve it,” the 24-time Grand Slam singles champion told Melbourne’s 3AW radio. “They could probably get 100,000 petitions in 24 hours because that’s how they work. There’s a lot of money behind it, and it’s coming from America.” Asked if she thought a conspiracy was at work, Court replied: “Yes, I believe there is… I think the (gay) lobby, yeah. They are a minority in number but they do have a lot of money behind them.” The controversy has been a constant theme in the opening week of Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam of the year. Australia’s Samantha Stosur branded Court as “crazy”. “I think that’s all pretty crazy stuff,” said Stosur, the 33-year-old Australian number one and 2011 US Open champion. “It’s pretty obvious that the whole tennis community out here has pretty much the same opinion and we’re going to all stand by that.” Stosur, however, insisted she was not leading calls for a boycott of the flagship arena at Melbourne which carries the name of the 24-time Grand Slam title winner. “I’m going to head down to the Australian Open when it rolls around next year, and we’ll get on whatever court we have to play on,” said Stosur. Stosur’s fellow Australian Casey Dellacqua hit out at Court for her “hurtful” views on same-sex relationships. Dellacqua, who has two children with partner Amanda Judd, said Court was wrong to claim that her children “have been deprived of a father” and that such youngsters are not “given the best possible start in life”. “My family do not deserve to be subject to that. She can have her opinion but my family does not deserve that. That’s when I thought, it’s my time to speak up,” said Dellacqua.