Trailblazing tennis legend Billie Jean King has declared she'll turn down the volume of her criticisms of one-time Australian rival Margaret Court – but she wants Court to change her tune on the LGBT community.

Two years ago, King called for the renaming of the Australian Open's Margaret Court Arena after Court said tennis is "full of lesbians" and spoke out against transgender youth. King said her response got under the 77-year-old's skin.

"She's mad at me, because she doesn't want me to say her name should be removed," King told the New York Daily News. "And I appreciate that. I'm going to stop probably."

But she added she wants Court, a tennis titan turned Pentecostal pastor, to be "more loving".