MARGARET COURT

Born in the country town of Albury in New South Wales, on 16 July 1942, Margaret Smith Court began playing tennis from the age of eight. Between 1961 and 1975 Court was ranked No. 1 in the world seven times and won the women's singles Grand Slam in 1970. When she finally retired from tennis in 1977 she had won 62 Grand Slam events, more than any other player, man or woman. She still holds the record for the most Grand Slam women’s singles titles with 24 to her name. Her nearest rival for the title is Steffi Graf with 22 Grand Slam titles.

Margaret was recently honored with a stamp in her name

Margaret Court is the greatest ladies tennis player of all time having won 64 Grand Slam titles during her brilliant career.

Pastor Margaret Court

World Champion Pastor!!

Victory Life Centre, Perth, Western Australia's Number One Soul Winning and Healing Church

click here for her web site: http://www.margaretcourt.org.au/

Margaret Court

As a young girl, I always loved the outdoors, especially hitting around a tennis ball. At 13 I wanted to do more with my tennis than with the club championships.

After winning the State Underage Title, I listened intently to the encouraging words of famous Australian tennis champ, Frank Sedgeman. He said that he believed I could be the first Australian woman to win Wimbledon. His words gave me the goal I was searching for.

I achieved my goal when, in 1963, I defeated Billy Jean King to win the first of my three Wimbledon titles. It was wonderful to receive the winners trophy that day, especially following my first round disappointment of losing to the same opponent the previous year. I won again in 1965. Over this period, I achieved every goal I had set but then I lost my desire to continue competing at the top level.

I retired to Perth and married. Anxious to show my husband, Barry, life on the tennis court, I returned to play and soon regained the number one ranking. I now had a new goal – to win the overall Grand Slam Title of the Australian, French, Wimbledon and United States Open Championship in the same year. This goal was achieved in 1970 and again I was the first Australian woman to hold this honor.

I praised God for this success, for I had always seen my tennis ability as a gift from God. However, in 1973, during a tournament in Paris, I realized that something was missing in my life - a closer relationship with God. I knew God was there and thought I must be able to know Him in a deeper way.

A short time later a friend gave me a book on becoming a Christian. I read it and soon after, I made the decision to become a Christian, accepting Jesus Christ as the Lord of my life.

I continued to be successful on the tennis circuit but I wasn't happy. I needed to be closer to Jesus, and I believed that I couldn't do this by filling my life with tennis.

At the end of 1976, I decided to retire from tennis and devote myself to looking after my family and getting to know more of Jesus. The next few years were a real struggle for me dealing with a heart condition, depression and insomnia but what got me through was total devotion to God and His word, the Bible. It gave me inner strength and brought healing to my body and mind. A verse that really kept me going is Galatians 2:20, "I have died but Christ now lives in me. And now I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave His life for me."
In 1982, I went to Bible College and since then my goal has been to go out and share God's Word with as many people as possible. I love to tell them how they can renew their lives and how they can overcome fear by really focusing on the Word of God.

Margaret Court
Perth, Australia

Senior Minister, Rev. Margaret Court was officially ordained to Christian Ministry in 1991 after seventeen years of service for the Lord. In the same year she established Margaret Court Ministries Inc, an outreach ministry to take the gospel to the people and to hold miracle and healing meetings throughout the city.

Margaret says "Victory Life Church is the fulfilment of a vision God gave to me some time ago, that a mighty work of mercy, love and compassion be established in this great city of Perth." She sees this work as her greatest challenge yet; far surpassing her days in pro-tennis which saw her extraordinary vision, talent and determination take her to the top in that sport. She retired from the tennis circuit in 1976 with sixty-two Grand Slam titles to her credit.

Margaret and husband Barry have three daughters and one son.

Being much in demand, not only in Australia but also overseas, Margaret teaches and ministers with a very powerful healing anointing.

Margaret holds 86 major world tennis titles. She has won the Wimbledon title three times, the Forest Hills title six times, the French title five times and the Australian crown eleven times. However, in spite of her fame and success, she confessed to an emptiness and frustration before becoming a Christian.

She reported, "The change in my life was profound. On the tennis court my nervousness and tension were gone. At home, where once I had been plagued by impatience, the Lord replaced all that with understanding and tolerance. Where once I found it difficult to reach out to people God gave me a deep and loving concern."

The Prayer

by Margaret Court

(the following extract is from “A Winning Faith – The Margaret Court Story”)

For thirty years I sat in a church pew. No-one ever told me that I needed to make a decision to ask Jesus Christ into my life as my personal Saviour and Lord.

The Bible clearly states in Roman 10:9 and 10, that if you confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth and believe in your heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved. For with the mouth confession is made unto salvation and with the heart belief is made unto righteousness.

By praying the following prayer, out loud, and believing it in your heart, you will have the same assurance that I have today, of eternal life.

“Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus is your Son and that you raised Him from the dead. I thank you that you have forgiven and forgotten all of my past mistakes; that old things have passed away and all things are now new. I am born again. I have new life right from this moment. I have eternal life now in the name of Jesus and I thank you for it. Amen.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Congratulations and welcome to the family of God. I urge you to join a Word-based church to grow in the things of God. Please write and tell us of this wonderful decision you have made today.

Victory Life Centre/Margaret Court Ministries
P.O.BOX 20
Osborne Park
Western Australia 6917
Australia

Phone: 61 8 92011266

Fax: 61 8 92011299

You can email The Greatest Tennis Player of all time:

mcourt@victorylifecentre.com.au

The extract above was from “A Winning Faith – The Margaret Court Story” by Barbara Oldfield (ISBN 1 85240 101 X – Copyright ® 1993 Barbara Oldfield and published by Sovereign World Ltd, Kent, England).