I won five US Opens and a record amount in earnings – but I quit to become a pastor
TENNIS legend Margaret Court won five US Opens and a record 24 Grand Slam singles titles... before quitting to become a pastor.
The Australian, 81, has claimed more Slams than any man or woman in the sport's history.
But 13 of those came during the Amateur Era - before tennis turned professional in 1968.
She won a further 11 before retiring in 1977 - the last of which came at the 1973 US Open.
Court also claimed the Australian Open and French Open titles in '73, making it one of the most successful ever years for a single player - albeit less fruitful than her 1970 season when she completed the Calendar Slam.
Her 1973 season saw her earn $200,000 - a record for a female athlete across all sports at that time.
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Nowadays, she reportedly has a net worth of around $10million.
After her tennis career, she then became a pastor.
Raised a Roman Catholic, she turned to Pentecostalism in the mid-1970s.
In 1991, she was ordained as an independent Pentecostal minister, before founding the ministry "Margaret Court Ministries".
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Speaking in 2017 about her new role, she told Sight Magazine: "People knew about my testimony so I was asked to share at different places all across the nation.
"I started Margaret Court Ministries – going out and talking to people in hard areas who had nothing and helping and teaching on depression and family.
"I did all that for five years…and I was praying to God, ‘Send somebody to be a pastor to teach what I’m teaching’ because people would say to me ‘Where can we go to hear what you’re teaching?’.
"I was doing the dishes and I saw a picture and I knew somehow that it was me that was going to be the pastor.
"That’s how it started and now we’re in 22 nations, an international Bible training centre… with students from 13 nations. So it’s grown over the 21 years."