Christine Marie Evert (b. December 21, 1954 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida) is a former World No. 1 woman tennis player from the United States. During her career, she won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, including a record 7 at the French Open. She also won 3 Grand Slam doubles titles. Evert’s career win-loss record in singles matches of 1,309-146 (.900) is the best of any professional player in tennis history.
Tennis career
Evert began taking tennis lessons when she was five years old from her father, Jimmy Evert (a professional tennis coach who had won the men’s singles title at the Canadian Championships in 1947). By 1969, she had become the No. 1 ranked 14-under girl in the USA. In 1970, at a small clay court tournament in North Carolina, the 15 year-old Evert served notice to the tennis world by defeating Margaret Court 7-6, 7-6. Court was the World No. 1 and had just won the Grand Slam in singles.
Evert made her Grand Slam debut at the 1971 US Open, aged 16. After an easy straight-sets win in the first round, she faced the US No. 4 Mary Ann Eisel in the second round. Evert saved six match points with Eisel serving at 6-4, 6-5 (40-0) in the second set before Evert went on to win 4-6, 7-6, 6-1. She made two further gripping comebacks against seasoned-pros Francoise Durr (2-6, 6-2, 6-3) and Lesley Hunt (4-6, 6-2, 6-3), and progressed all the way to the semi-finals before finally losing to Billie Jean King.
Evert’s game, with precise groundstrokes delivered from the back of the court, was best suited to playing on a clay court. But she quickly proved that her game had enough fortitude to excel on all surfaces. When she first started playing as a youngster, she was too small and weak to hit backhand shots with one hand and so developed a two-fisted backhand. This became a trademark of her game and inspired generations of future players to copy her. Chris’s return-of-service was the cornerstone of her game. Her tenaciousness at this and at tennis all-around endeared her to the crowds.
Chris had a sufficient serve herself, but never an overpowering one like her contemporaries Margaret Court, Virginia Wade, Steffi Graf, Billie Jean King, and Martina Navratilova. Her graceful appearance, good looks, quiet demeanor, and gracious sportsmanship made her an immediate favorite with the media and fans.
Evert was a finalist at the French Open and Wimbledon in 1973. A year later, in 1974, she won both those events to claim her first Grand Slam titles and won 55 consecutive matches. Her boyfriend at the time, Jimmy Connors, won the Wimbledon men’s singles title that year and media attention surrounded the “golden couple” of tennis that summer (although the relationship proved to be short-lived).
Connors and Chris were also finalists in mixed doubles at the 1974 U.S. Open tournament, although Chris rarely played mixed doubles. As time went by, Chris played women’s doubles less frequently, preferring to devote her energies to singles tournaments.
For most of the next five years, Evert was the World No. 1. In 1975, she won the French Open again and the first of four straight US Open titles by defeating Evonne Goolagong in a three-set final. She also won Wimbledon again in 1976, again beating Goolagong in a thrilling three-set final. The rivalry between Evert and Goolagong was compelling during the mid-1970s. In all, Evert won 21 of their 33 matches. Evert’s domination of the women’s game and her calm, steely demeanor on court earned her the nickname of the “Ice Maiden” of tennis.
A new rival to Evert’s dominance emerged on the scene in the later part of the 1970s in the form of Martina Navratilova. Though good friends off the court, their fierce on-court rivalry is remembered as one of the greatest in tennis history. Evert had the best of their earlier encounters, with Navratilova eventually gaining the upper hand during the 1980s.
Though successful on all surfaces, it was on clay courts where Evert was most dominant. Beginning in August 1973, she won a record 125 consecutive matches on the surface. The streak was broken in the semifinals of the 1979 Italian Open, when Evert lost to Tracy Austin 6-4, 2-6, 7-6.
Evert won the French Open singles title a record seven times. Two of her best victories came in three-set finals against Navratilova in the mid-1980s. In 1985, Evert prevailed 6-3, 6-7, 7-5, a win which saw her capture the World No. 1 ranking for the fifth and final time. And, in 1986, the 31 year-old Evert won her last Grand Slam title by beating Navratilova 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Evert retired from the professional tour in 1989. During her career, she won 157 singles titles and 8 doubles titles. Her record in finals was 157-72 .686. She reached the semifinals in 273 of the 303 tournaments she entered. Evert won the WTA Tour Championships 4 times and helped the United States win the Fed Cup 8 times.
Evert won at least one Grand Slam singles title each year for 13 consecutive years from 1974 through 1986. She won 18 Grand Slam singles titles during her career: 7 at the French Open, 6 at the US Open, 3 at Wimbledon, and 2 at the Australian Open. She reached the finals in 34 and the semifinals in 52 of the 56 Grand Slams events she entered. Her overall record in Grand Slam events was 297-38 .887 (72-6 at the French Open, 94-15 at Wimbledon, 101-13 at the US Open, and 30-4 at the Australian Open). She reached the finals all 6 times she entered the Australian Open. Evert faced Navratilova in the final of 14 Grand Slam events, with Evert winning 4 of them.
During her career versus selected rivals, Evert was: 40-6 against Virginia Wade, 37-43 against Martina Navratilova, 26-12 against Evonne Goolagong, 23-0 against Virginia Ruzici, 22-1 against Sue Barker, 21-1 against Wendy Turnbull, 21-1 against Rosie Casals, 19-7 against Billie Jean King (winning the last 11 matches), 19-7 against Hana Mandlikova, 18-3 against Pam Shriver, 17-2 against Diane Fromholtz Balestrat, 17-2 against Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere, 17-2 against Helena Sukova, 17-3 against Andrea Jaeger, 15-0 against Betty Stove, 13-0 against Olga Morozova, 8-0 against Francoise Durr, 8-9 against Tracy Austin, 7-0 against Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-3 against Margaret Court, 6-3 against Gabriela Sabatini, 6-5 against Nancy Richey Gunter (winning the last 6 matches), 6-7 against Steffi Graf (losing the last 7 matches), and 2-1 against Monica Seles.
Evert was voted the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year on four occasions and received Sports Illustrated magazine’s “Sportswoman of the Year” award in 1976. In April 1985, she was voted the “Greatest Woman Athlete of the Last 25 Years” by the Women’s Sports Foundation. Evert served as President of the Women’s Tennis Association from 1975-76, and from 1983 to 1991. In 1995, Evert was unanimously elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame following a worldwide ballot of 185 sports journalists. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine named her as fourth in its list of 40 Greatest Players in the TENNIS era.
Personal life
Chris’s father, Jimmy Evert, was a professional tennis coach. Tennis was a way of life in his family: Chris and her sister Jeanne Evert became professional tennis players, and their brother Jack Evert attended Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama on a full athletic scholarship for intercollegiate tennis.
Evert’s romance with the top men’s player Jimmy Connors captured the public’s imagination in the 1970s, particularly after they both claimed the singles titles at Wimbledon in 1974. Chris and Connors also occasionally played mixed-doubles in tennis tournaments as a team together. In 1974, this team was runner-up at the US Open tournament. They became engaged, but the storybook romance did not last. A wedding planned for October 1974 was called off. (Conners a few years later married Patti McGuire, a famous model, and remained married to her.)
In the years that followed, Evert was romantically linked with several other high-profile men. She dated, among others, actor Burt Reynolds, John Gardner “Jack” Ford (son of US President Gerald Ford), and she reportedly had an affair with the married British rock star Adam Faith.
In 1979, Evert married the British tennis player John Lloyd (and for some years she was known as Chris Evert-Lloyd). However their marriage ended in divorce in 1987.
In 1988, Evert married two-time Olympic downhill skier Andy Mill. Chris has borne three sons and no daughters – Alexander James (born 1991), Nicholas Joseph (born 1994), and Colton Jack (born 1996).
Evert is a 1973 graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Source: Wikipedia contributors (2006). Chris Evert . Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:19, May 18, 2006.
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