Australian Tennis legend Margaret Court has given a brutal assessment of children deciding to change gender, sayinging it is 'so wrong'.

The 24-time Grand Slam singles champion, who will be honoured at the Australian Open in January to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her Slam victory, made the controversial comments when addressing the congregation of a church in Perth.

She said: "Children are making the decision at seven or eight years of age to change their sex … no, just read the first two chapters of Genesis, that's all I say. Male and female.

"It's so wrong at that age because a lot of things are planted in this thought realm at that age, and they start to question 'what am I'.

"And you know with that LGBT, they'll wish they never put the T on the end of it because, particularly in women's sports, they're going to have so many problems.

"You have got young people taking hormones and having changes, by the time they are 17 they are thinking, 'Now I'm a boy and really I was a girl'. Because you know what, God made us that way."

Court then proceeded to blame the media for dictating how religious views are perceived to the wider public.

"The devil gets in and the media and the political, the education, TV — he wants to control a nation so he can affect people's minds and mouths," she added.

"I can go on television and if I say, 'well, this is what the Bible says', well, it's like opening a can of worms.

"My goodness, you've let a torpedo off or something. No it's true, because they hate the word of God."

Court has been invited to the 2020 Australian Open as a special guest, which begins in Melbourne on January 14.

However, when she first spoke about transgender issues in November, Tennis Australia distanced themselves from her views.

In a statement, they said: "Tennis Australia does not agree with Margaret's personal views, which have demeaned and hurt many in our community over a number of years. They do not align with our values of equality, diversity and inclusion. 

"Our sport welcomes everyone, no matter what gender, ability, race, religion or sexuality, and we will continue to actively promote inclusion initiatives widely at all levels of the sport."