MARGARET Court Arena in Melbourne has been renamed on Google Maps following the tennis star’s controversial comments about gay people.

The stadium now appears as “Evonne Goolagong Arena” in some searches, after Martina Navratilova suggested it was given the name of the alternative Australian great.

American player Navratilova, who is gay herself, lashed out at the 74-year-old church pastor’s “sick and dangerous” comments on gay people in tennis and transgender children.

If you search for Richmond, Victoria in Google Maps the arena comes up as Evonne Goolagong Arena. But it still shows as Margaret Court Arena if you search for the original name.

The arena was originally called Show Court One when it opened in 1988, but was renamed after Court in 2003 as a tribute to Australia’s most successful female tennis player.

Court’s statements have been widely criticised and prompted calls to rename the arena used in the Australian Open, or even boycott the venue at next year’s Grand Slam.

A spokeswoman for Google told news.com.au the change was not made by the company. “The various types of data found in Google Maps come from a wide range of sources, including third-party providers, public sources, and user contributions,” she said.

“This provides a very comprehensive and up-to-date map experience, but we recognise that there may be occasional inaccuracies that could arise from any of those sources. Users who see an error or missing place on Google Maps can use the ‘Report a Problem’ tool, found at the bottom right corner of the map.”

Court initially drew fire for saying she would avoid Australian airline Qantas for its support of same-sex marriage. She later claimed tennis was “full of lesbians”.

She remained defiant after the criticism, saying renaming the stadium would be unfair and that she was being targeted by an American gay “lobby”.

Court said Navratilova “needs to sort out her own nation, not our nation”.

Tennis Australia and the operator of the Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne and Olympic Parks, have distanced themselves from Court’s views on gay marriage.

Evonne Goolagong Cawley, a seven-time Grand Slam champion, was the first Aboriginal player to represent her country in world tennis and only the second mother to win Wimbledon, in 1980.

A spokesperson for Google told news.com.au they have looked into the “innacurate label” and “the change was generated by a user and has now been fixed”.

— With wires