Australian tennis legend Margaret Court has sparked further controversy after claiming that her sport is "full of lesbians" and that transgender children are the work of the "devil".

The 74-year-old won 24 Grand Slam titles in her career but now spends her time as a Christian pastor, and has recently expressed negative views about homosexuality.

Openly-gay tennis stars Martina Navratilova and Richel Hogenkamp called for Court to have her name stripped from one of the stadiums at the Australian Open after she claimed that she would avoid flying with Qantas airlines due to their support of same-sex marriage.

The Aussie did not back down on her stance during an interview with Vision Christian Radio, saying: "I mean, tennis is full of lesbians, because even when I was playing there was only a couple there, but those couple that led took young ones into parties and things. And you know, what you get at the top is often what you'll get right through that sport."

Court has insisted that she does not dislike gay people, but wants to help them instead, and she has also claimed that children are manipulated into becoming transgender.

"We're there to help them overcome. We're not against the people," Court added. "They're human beings and 92%, they say in America, have either been abused in some form sexually or emotionally at an early age for them to even be this way."

When asked about transgender children, she said: "That's all the devil. That's what Hitler did and that's what communism did - got the mind of the children. And there's a whole plot in our nation, and in the nations of the world to get the minds of the children."

There have been rumours that some players will boycott the Australian Open because of Court's comments.