Chris Evert
Encyclopedia
Christine Marie "Chris" Evert (born December 21, 1954) is a former world number 1 professional tennis player from the United States. She won 18 Grand Slam
singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open
. She was the year-ending World No. 1 singles player in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, and 1981.
Evert's career win–loss record in singles matches of 1,309–146 (89.96%) is the best of any professional player, man or woman, in the Open Era. On clay courts
her career match win loss rate of 94.05% (316/20) remains a WTA record. In tennis writer Steve Flink's book The Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth Century, he named Evert as the third best female player of the 20th century, after Steffi Graf
and Martina Navratilova. Evert never lost in the first or second rounds of a Grand Slam singles tournament. She won 157 singles championships. In women's doubles, Evert won three Grand Slam titles and 29 regular tour championships.
(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 United States. Evert played her first senior tournament in that year also, reaching the semifinals in her home town of Fort Lauderdale, Florida
, losing to Mary Ann Eisel 7–5, 3–6, 6–1. (For years, this was the record for the furthest a player had reached in her first senior-level tournament. That record was broken when another Floridian, Jennifer Capriati
, reached the final of the tournament in Boca Raton, Florida
, in 1990 at the age of 13.) In 1970, Evert won the national sixteen-and-under championship and was invited to play in an eight player clay court tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina
. The 15 year-old Evert defeated Françoise Durr
6–1, 6–0 in the first round before defeating Margaret Court 7–6, 7–6 in a semifinal. Court was the World No. 1 player and had just won the Grand Slam
in singles. These results led to Evert's selection for the U.S. Wightman Cup
team, the youngest player ever in the competition.
Evert made her Grand Slam tournament debut at the 1971 U.S. Open
, aged 16, receiving an invitation after winning the national sixteen-and-under championship. After an easy straight-sets win over Edda Buding
in the first round, she faced the American 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 comebacks against Durr (2–6, 6–2, 6–3) and Lesley Hunt
(4–6, 6–2, 6–3), both seasoned professionals, before losing to Billie Jean King
in a semifinal (6–3,6–2). This defeat ended a 46-match winning streak built up through carefully selected participation in junior tour events.
Evert was the runner-up at the French Open and the Wimbledon Tournament in 1973. A year later, she won both those events to claim her first Grand Slam singles titles and won 55 consecutive matches. Her fiancé
at the time, Jimmy Connors
, won the Wimbledon men's singles title that year and media attention surrounded the "Love Match" of tennis that summer (although this relationship proved to be short-lived).
Connors and Evert were also finalists in mixed doubles at the 1974 U.S. Open, although Evert rarely played that event. As time went by, Evert played women's doubles less frequently, preferring to devote her energies to singles tournaments.
For the next five years, Evert was the world's No. 1 player. In 1975, she won the French Open again and the first of four straight U.S. Open titles by defeating Evonne Goolagong Cawley in a three-set final. She also won Wimbledon again in 1976, again beating Goolagong in a three-set final. In all, Evert won 21 of her 33 matches with Goolagong. 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 125 consecutive matches on the surface, with a loss of only 7 sets, a run which continues to stand as the record among both men and women players. The streak was broken on May 12, 1979, in a semifinal of the Italian Open
, when Evert lost to Tracy Austin
6–4, 2–6, 7–6(4) after Evert lost a game point to go up 5–2 in the third set. Evert said after the match, "Not having the record will take some pressure off me, but I am not glad to have lost it." Evert then won 72 consecutive matches on clay before losing in a semifinal of the 1981 French Open to Hana Mandlíková
. Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling
had a similar run of clay court dominance from 1935 through 1939, winning the French Championships three consecutive years (not playing there the other two years) and incurring only one loss on clay during that five year period.
Evert won the French Open singles title a record seven times. Three of her victories came in three-set finals against Navratilova. In 1975, Evert defeated Navratilova to defend her title from the previous year 2–6, 6–2, 6–1. In 1985, Evert prevailed 6–3, 6–7, 7–5, a win that 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 eight 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
four times and helped the United States win the Fed Cup
eight times. Evert's last match was a 6–3, 6–2 win over Conchita Martínez
in the final of the 1989 Fed Cup.
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: seven at the French Open, six at the U.S. Open (three on clay and three on hard surfaces), three at Wimbledon, and two at the Australian Open (both on grass). She reached the finals in 34 and the semifinals in 52 of the 56 Grand Slams events she entered. Between September 1971 (her Grand Slam debut at the U.S. Open) and June 1983 (her twelfth visit to Wimbledon), Evert never failed to reach at least the semifinals of the 34 Grand Slam singles events she participated in. This is an unparalleled record of consistency in the world's biggest tournaments. This record ended in the third round at Wimbledon in 1983, when the All England Club refused Evert's request to delay her match with Kathy Jordan
to recover from food poisoning. This defeat also ended her attempt to be the holder of all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously. (Evert was then the holder of the Australian, U.S., and French titles.)
Evert's overall record in Grand Slam events was 297–38 .887 (72–6 at the French Open, 94–15 at Wimbledon, 101–13 at the U.S. Open (most singles match wins in history), 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 losing 10 of those encounters. (Navratilova defeated Evert at least once in the final of each of the four Grand Slam events, whereas three of Evert's four wins were at the French Open and the fourth was at the Australian Open.) Evert defeated Navratilova in the semifinals of the U.S. Open (1975), Wimbledon (1976 and 1980), and the Australian Open (1988) but lost to Navratilova in the semifinals of the U.S. Open (1981), Wimbledon (1987 and 1988), and the French Open (1987).
During her career versus selected rivals, Evert was: 40–6 against Virginia Wade, 37–43 against Martina Navratilova, 26–13 against Evonne Goolagong Cawley, 24–0 against Virginia Ruzici
, 23–1 against Sue Barker
, 22–0 against Betty Stöve
, 22–1 against Rosemary Casals
, 21–7 against Hana Mandlíková
, 20–1 against Wendy Turnbull
, 19–7 against Billie Jean King (winning the last 11 matches with a loss of only 2 sets), 19–3 against Pam Shriver
, 18–2 against Kerry Melville Reid, 17–2 against Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere, 17–2 against Helena Suková
, 17–3 against Andrea Jaeger
, 16–3 against Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat, 15–0 against Olga Morozova
, 13–0 against Françoise Durr, 9–4 against Margaret Court, 8–9 against Tracy Austin, 7–0 against Mary Joe Fernandez
, 6–3 against Gabriela Sabatini
, 6–5 against Nancy Richey Gunter (winning the last 6 matches), 6–8 against Steffi Graf
(losing the last 8 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, she was the fourth player ever to be unanimously elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame
following a worldwide ballot of 185 sports journalists whilst 1999 saw Evert rated No. 50 among North American athletes of the 20th century. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine
named her fourth on its list of TENNIS Magazine's 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS Era.
, to Colette Thompson and Jimmy Evert
. She is partially of Luxembourgish ancestry. Jimmy was a professional tennis coach, and tennis was a way of life in his family. Chris and her sister Jeanne Evert became professional tennis players, and their brother John Evert attended Auburn University
, in Auburn, Alabama
, on a full athletic scholarship for intercollegiate tennis. Evert is a 1973 graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High School
in Fort Lauderdale.
Early in her career, before she won her first Grand Slam
event, Evert signed a contract with Calvin Klein
to endorse a line of sportswear
. Company president Carl Rosen thought so highly of her that he named a yearling racehorse
in her honor. The horse Chris Evert
went on to win the 1974 U.S. Filly Triple Crown
, be voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding 3-Year-Old Filly
, and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
.
Evert's romance with the top men's player Jimmy Connors
captured the public's imagination in the 1970s, particularly after they both captured the singles titles at Wimbledon
in 1974. Evert and Connors also occasionally played mixed doubles together. In 1974, they were the runners-up at the U.S. Open
. They got engaged, when she was only 19, but the romance did not last. A wedding was planned for November 8, 1974, but it was called off.
In 1979, Evert married the British tennis player John Lloyd
and changed her name to "Chris Evert-Lloyd." After Evert's affair with British singer/actor Adam Faith
, the couple separated , yet the couple reconciled and chronicled their marriage in a biography Lloyd On Lloyd co-authored by Carol Thatcher
. The marriage ended in divorce in 1987.
In 1988, Evert married two-time Olympic downhill skier
Andy Mill
. They have three sons: Alexander James (born October 12, 1991), Nicholas Joseph (born June 8, 1994), and Colton Jack (born June 14, 1996). On November 13, 2006, Evert filed for divorce. The divorce was finalized on December 4, 2006, with Evert paying Mill a settlement of U.S. $7 million in cash and securities.
Evert and Australian golfer Greg Norman
were married on June 28, 2008, in the Bahamas. On October 2, 2009 they announced they were separating after only 15 months, saying in a statement that they "...will remain friends and supportive of one another's family." Their divorce was final on December 8, 2009 after 18 months of marriage. Less than a year later, Norman married Kirsten Kutner on November 6, 2010.
high school tennis team. She is also currently (2009) a contributor to Tennis Magazine. In June, 2011 she joined ESPN as a tennis commentator.
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
singles championships, including a record seven championships at the French Open and a record six championships at the U.S. Open
U.S. Open (tennis)
The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...
. She was the year-ending World No. 1 singles player in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, and 1981.
Evert's career win–loss record in singles matches of 1,309–146 (89.96%) is the best of any professional player, man or woman, in the Open Era. On clay courts
Clay court
A clay court is one of the four different types of tennis court. Clay courts are made of crushed shale, stone or brick. The red clay is slower than the green, or Har-Tru "American" clay. The French Open uses clay courts, making it unique among the Grand Slam tournaments.Clay courts are more common...
her career match win loss rate of 94.05% (316/20) remains a WTA record. In tennis writer Steve Flink's book The Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth Century, he named Evert as the third best female player of the 20th century, after Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
and Martina Navratilova. Evert never lost in the first or second rounds of a Grand Slam singles tournament. She won 157 singles championships. In women's doubles, Evert won three Grand Slam titles and 29 regular tour championships.
Tennis career
Evert began taking tennis lessons when she was five years old from her father, Jimmy EvertJimmy Evert
James "Jimmy" Evert is a tennis coach and former tennis player from the United States. He is the father of Chris Evert, who was one of the world's top women tennis players in the 1970s and 1980s....
(a professional tennis coach who had won the men's singles title at the Canadian Championships
Canada Masters
The Canada Masters , currently sponsored as the Rogers Cup, is an annual tennis tournament held in Canada. The men's competition is a Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. The women's competition is a Premier 5 tournament on the Women's Tennis Association tour...
in 1947). By 1969, she had become the No. 1 ranked 14-under girl in the United States. Evert played her first senior tournament in that year also, reaching the semifinals in her home town of Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
, losing to Mary Ann Eisel 7–5, 3–6, 6–1. (For years, this was the record for the furthest a player had reached in her first senior-level tournament. That record was broken when another Floridian, Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Capriati
Jennifer Marie Capriati is a former world number one ranked professional tennis player, and the winner of three women's singles championships in Grand Slam tournaments. Capriati made her professional debut in 1990 at the age of 14 when she reached the finals of the hard court tournament in Boca...
, reached the final of the tournament in Boca Raton, Florida
Boca Raton, Florida
Boca Raton is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, USA, incorporated in May 1925. In the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 74,764; the 2006 population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 86,396. However, the majority of the people under the postal address of Boca Raton, about...
, in 1990 at the age of 13.) In 1970, Evert won the national sixteen-and-under championship and was invited to play in an eight player clay court tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
. The 15 year-old Evert defeated Françoise Durr
Françoise Durr
Françoise Durr is a retired tennis player from France. She won 26 major singles titles and over 60 doubles titles....
6–1, 6–0 in the first round before defeating Margaret Court 7–6, 7–6 in a semifinal. Court was the World No. 1 player and had just won the Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
in singles. These results led to Evert's selection for the U.S. Wightman Cup
Wightman Cup
The Wightman Cup was a team tennis competition for women contested from 1923 through 1989 between teams from the United States and Great Britain. U.S. player Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman wanted to generate international interest in women's tennis the way Davis Cup did for men's...
team, the youngest player ever in the competition.
Evert made her Grand Slam tournament debut at the 1971 U.S. Open
U.S. Open (tennis)
The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...
, aged 16, receiving an invitation after winning the national sixteen-and-under championship. After an easy straight-sets win over Edda Buding
Edda Buding
Edda Buding is a retired German tennis player of Romanian birth. She received the doubles gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics doubles demonstration event partnered with Helga Niessen Masthoff...
in the first round, she faced the American 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 comebacks against Durr (2–6, 6–2, 6–3) and Lesley Hunt
Lesley Hunt
Lesley Hunt is a former tennis player from Perth, Western Australia.Particularly noted as a junior player, in 1964 at the age of 14 she won a rare double in the Western Australian Women's open, taking both the Open and Junior titles. She won the Australian junior championship in 1967 and 1968...
(4–6, 6–2, 6–3), both seasoned professionals, before losing to Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King is a former professional tennis player from the United States. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King has been an advocate against sexism in sports and society...
in a semifinal (6–3,6–2). This defeat ended a 46-match winning streak built up through carefully selected participation in junior tour events.
Evert was the runner-up at the French Open and the Wimbledon Tournament in 1973. A year later, she won both those events to claim her first Grand Slam singles titles and won 55 consecutive matches. Her fiancé
Engagement
An engagement or betrothal is a promise to marry, and also the period of time between proposal and marriage which may be lengthy or trivial. During this period, a couple is said to be betrothed, affianced, engaged to be married, or simply engaged...
at the time, Jimmy Connors
Jimmy Connors
James Scott "Jimmy" Connors is an American former world no. 1 tennis player....
, won the Wimbledon men's singles title that year and media attention surrounded the "Love Match" of tennis that summer (although this relationship proved to be short-lived).
Connors and Evert were also finalists in mixed doubles at the 1974 U.S. Open, although Evert rarely played that event. As time went by, Evert played women's doubles less frequently, preferring to devote her energies to singles tournaments.
For the next five years, Evert was the world's No. 1 player. In 1975, she won the French Open again and the first of four straight U.S. Open titles by defeating Evonne Goolagong Cawley in a three-set final. She also won Wimbledon again in 1976, again beating Goolagong in a three-set final. In all, Evert won 21 of her 33 matches with Goolagong. 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 125 consecutive matches on the surface, with a loss of only 7 sets, a run which continues to stand as the record among both men and women players. The streak was broken on May 12, 1979, in a semifinal of the Italian Open
Rome Masters
The Italian Open is an annual tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open, with the men's competition being an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, and the women's...
, when Evert lost to Tracy Austin
Tracy Austin
Tracy Ann Austin Holt is a former World No. 1 female professional tennis player from the United States who won the women's singles title at the US Open in 1979 and 1981 and the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon in 1980, before a series of injuries cut her career short.-To 1980:Austin defeated...
6–4, 2–6, 7–6(4) after Evert lost a game point to go up 5–2 in the third set. Evert said after the match, "Not having the record will take some pressure off me, but I am not glad to have lost it." Evert then won 72 consecutive matches on clay before losing in a semifinal of the 1981 French Open to Hana Mandlíková
Hana Mandlíková
Hana Mandlíková is a former Czech professional tennis player from Czechoslovakia and later Australia. During her career, she won four Grand Slam singles titles – two at the Australian Open, one at the French Open, and one at the US Open...
. Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling
Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling
Hildegard "Hilde" Krahwinkel Sperling was a German tennis player, although she became a Danish national after marrying Svend Sperling from Denmark in 1933. She is generally regarded as the second-greatest female German tennis player in history, behind Steffi Graf...
had a similar run of clay court dominance from 1935 through 1939, winning the French Championships three consecutive years (not playing there the other two years) and incurring only one loss on clay during that five year period.
Evert won the French Open singles title a record seven times. Three of her victories came in three-set finals against Navratilova. In 1975, Evert defeated Navratilova to defend her title from the previous year 2–6, 6–2, 6–1. In 1985, Evert prevailed 6–3, 6–7, 7–5, a win that 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 eight 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
WTA Tour Championships
The WTA Tour Championships is a tennis tournament played annually at the end of the season for the top-ranked players on the Women's Tennis Association tour. The month, city and number of players has changed since the first edition in 1972...
four times and helped the United States win the Fed Cup
Fed Cup
Fed Cup is the premier team competition in women's tennis, launched in 1963 to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the International Tennis Federation...
eight times. Evert's last match was a 6–3, 6–2 win over Conchita Martínez
Conchita Martínez
Inmaculada Concepción Martínez Bernat is a former professional tennis player from Monzón, Aragón, Spain. She is the only Spanish woman to have won the singles title at Wimbledon, when she beat Martina Navrátilová in the 1994 Women's Singles. She also was the singles runner-up at the 1998...
in the final of the 1989 Fed Cup.
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: seven at the French Open, six at the U.S. Open (three on clay and three on hard surfaces), three at Wimbledon, and two at the Australian Open (both on grass). She reached the finals in 34 and the semifinals in 52 of the 56 Grand Slams events she entered. Between September 1971 (her Grand Slam debut at the U.S. Open) and June 1983 (her twelfth visit to Wimbledon), Evert never failed to reach at least the semifinals of the 34 Grand Slam singles events she participated in. This is an unparalleled record of consistency in the world's biggest tournaments. This record ended in the third round at Wimbledon in 1983, when the All England Club refused Evert's request to delay her match with Kathy Jordan
Kathy Jordan
Kathryn "Kathy" Jordan is a former American tennis player. During her career, she won 7 Grand Slam titles, 5 of them in women's doubles and 2 of them in mixed doubles...
to recover from food poisoning. This defeat also ended her attempt to be the holder of all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously. (Evert was then the holder of the Australian, U.S., and French titles.)
Evert's overall record in Grand Slam events was 297–38 .887 (72–6 at the French Open, 94–15 at Wimbledon, 101–13 at the U.S. Open (most singles match wins in history), 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 losing 10 of those encounters. (Navratilova defeated Evert at least once in the final of each of the four Grand Slam events, whereas three of Evert's four wins were at the French Open and the fourth was at the Australian Open.) Evert defeated Navratilova in the semifinals of the U.S. Open (1975), Wimbledon (1976 and 1980), and the Australian Open (1988) but lost to Navratilova in the semifinals of the U.S. Open (1981), Wimbledon (1987 and 1988), and the French Open (1987).
During her career versus selected rivals, Evert was: 40–6 against Virginia Wade, 37–43 against Martina Navratilova, 26–13 against Evonne Goolagong Cawley, 24–0 against Virginia Ruzici
Virginia Ruzici
Virginia Ruzici is a former professional tennis player from Romania. She was born in Câmpia Turzii, Romania and turned professional in 1975. One of her main assets on court was her powerful forehand....
, 23–1 against Sue Barker
Sue Barker
Susan Barker, MBE is an English television presenter and former professional tennis player. During her tennis career, she won the women's singles title at the French Open and reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3...
, 22–0 against Betty Stöve
Betty Stöve
Betty Stöve is a former Dutch professional tennis player. She is best remembered for reaching the ladies' singles final at Wimbledon in 1977. She also won ten Grand Slam titles in women's doubles and mixed doubles.-Career:...
, 22–1 against Rosemary Casals
Rosemary Casals
Rosemary "Rosie" Casals is a former American professional tennis player.Rosemary Casals earned her reputation as a rebel in the staid tennis world when she began competing in the early 1960s. During a tennis career that spanned more than two decades, she won more than 90 tournaments and worked for...
, 21–7 against Hana Mandlíková
Hana Mandlíková
Hana Mandlíková is a former Czech professional tennis player from Czechoslovakia and later Australia. During her career, she won four Grand Slam singles titles – two at the Australian Open, one at the French Open, and one at the US Open...
, 20–1 against Wendy Turnbull
Wendy Turnbull
Wendy Turnbull, MBE, is a retired Australian professional tennis player. During her career, she won 9 Grand Slam titles, 4 of them in women's doubles and 5 of them in mixed doubles. She also was a 3-time Grand Slam singles runner-up and won 13 singles titles and 55 doubles titles.-Career:Turnbull...
, 19–7 against Billie Jean King (winning the last 11 matches with a loss of only 2 sets), 19–3 against Pam Shriver
Pam Shriver
Pamela Howard Shriver Lazenby , is a former professional tennis player and is currently a sports broadcaster from the United States for ESPN2. During the 1980s and 1990s, she won 133 top-level titles, including 21 women's doubles titles and one mixed doubles title at Grand Slam tournaments...
, 18–2 against Kerry Melville Reid, 17–2 against Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere, 17–2 against Helena Suková
Helena Suková
Helena Suková is a former professional tennis player from Czechia. During her career, she won 14 Grand Slam titles, 9 of them in women's doubles and 5 of them in mixed doubles...
, 17–3 against Andrea Jaeger
Andrea Jaeger
Andrea Jaeger is a former World No. 2 professional tennis player from the United States whose brief but highly successful tennis career ended prematurely due to major shoulder injuries. Jaeger reached the singles final of Wimbledon in 1983 and the French Open in 1982...
, 16–3 against Dianne Fromholtz Balestrat, 15–0 against Olga Morozova
Olga Morozova
Olga Vasilyevna Morozova is a retired female tennis player who competed for the Soviet Union. She was the runner up in singles at the 1974 French Open and 1974 Wimbledon Championships.-Career:...
, 13–0 against Françoise Durr, 9–4 against Margaret Court, 8–9 against Tracy Austin, 7–0 against Mary Joe Fernandez
Mary Joe Fernández
Mary Joe Fernández Godsick is an American former professional tennis player...
, 6–3 against Gabriela Sabatini
Gabriela Sabatini
Gabriela Beatriz Sabatini is a former professional Argentine tennis player. She was one of the leading players on the women's circuit in the late-1980s and early-1990s...
, 6–5 against Nancy Richey Gunter (winning the last 6 matches), 6–8 against Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf
Steffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
(losing the last 8 matches), and 2–1 against Monica Seles
Monica Seles
Monica Seles is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was born in Novi Sad, Serbia, former Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007...
.
Evert was voted the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year
Associated Press Athlete of the Year
The first Athlete of the Year award in the United States was initiated by the Associated Press in 1931. At a time when women in sports were never given the same recognition as men, the AP offered a male and a female athlete of the year award to either a professional or amateur athlete...
on four occasions and received Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
magazine's "Sportswoman of the Year
Sportsman of the Year
Since its inception in 1954, Sports Illustrated magazine has annually presented the "Sportsman of the Year" award to "the athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and achievement." Both Americans and non-Americans are eligible, though in the past the...
" 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
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association , founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King, is the principal organizing body of Women's Professional Tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women. Its counterpart organization in the men's professional game is the Association of...
from 1975–76, and from 1983 to 1991. In 1995, she was the fourth player ever to be unanimously elected into the International Tennis Hall of Fame
International Tennis Hall of Fame
The International Tennis Hall of Fame is located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. The hall of fame and honors players and contributors to the sport of tennis and includes a museum, grass tennis courts, an indoor tennis facility, and a court tennis facility.-History:The hall of fame and...
following a worldwide ballot of 185 sports journalists whilst 1999 saw Evert rated No. 50 among North American athletes of the 20th century. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine
TENNIS Magazine
Tennis Magazine is an American sports magazine owned by the Miller Publishing Group, LLC. It is a monthly magazine which covers news from the world of tennis.-History:...
named her fourth on its list of TENNIS Magazine's 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS Era.
Personal life
Evert was born in Fort Lauderdale, FloridaFort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
, to Colette Thompson and Jimmy Evert
Jimmy Evert
James "Jimmy" Evert is a tennis coach and former tennis player from the United States. He is the father of Chris Evert, who was one of the world's top women tennis players in the 1970s and 1980s....
. She is partially of Luxembourgish ancestry. Jimmy was a professional tennis coach, and tennis was a way of life in his family. Chris and her sister Jeanne Evert became professional tennis players, and their brother John Evert attended Auburn University
Auburn University
Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
, in Auburn, Alabama
Auburn, Alabama
Auburn is a city in Lee County, Alabama, United States. It is the largest city in eastern Alabama with a 2010 population of 53,380. It is a principal city of the Auburn-Opelika Metropolitan Area...
, on a full athletic scholarship for intercollegiate tennis. Evert is a 1973 graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High School
St. Thomas Aquinas High School (Fort Lauderdale)
St. Thomas Aquinas High School is a private, Roman Catholic, college-preparatory high school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, that educates young men and women in the Catholic tradition of youth formation. The school was founded in 1936 as part of St. Anthony School...
in Fort Lauderdale.
Early in her career, before she won her first Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
event, Evert signed a contract with Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein
Calvin Richard Klein is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc. in 1968. In addition to clothing, Klein has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewelry....
to endorse a line of sportswear
Sportswear
Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons....
. Company president Carl Rosen thought so highly of her that he named a yearling racehorse
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
in her honor. The horse Chris Evert
Chris Evert (horse)
Chris Evert was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred filly racehorse. Carl Rosen , owner of clothing manufacturer Puritan Fashions Corp., purchased the filly at a Keeneland yearling sale. He named her for the rising young star tennis player Chris Evert, whom he had signed to endorse his...
went on to win the 1974 U.S. Filly Triple Crown
Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing
The Triple Tiara of Thoroughbred Racing, formerly known as the Filly Triple Crown, is a set of three horse races in the United States which is open to three year old fillies...
, be voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding 3-Year-Old Filly
Eclipse Award for Outstanding 3-Year-Old Filly
The American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually to a female horse in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971....
, and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
.
Evert's romance with the top men's player Jimmy Connors
Jimmy Connors
James Scott "Jimmy" Connors is an American former world no. 1 tennis player....
captured the public's imagination in the 1970s, particularly after they both captured the singles titles at Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
in 1974. Evert and Connors also occasionally played mixed doubles together. In 1974, they were the runners-up at the U.S. Open
U.S. Open (tennis)
The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...
. They got engaged, when she was only 19, but the romance did not last. A wedding was planned for November 8, 1974, but it was called off.
In 1979, Evert married the British tennis player John Lloyd
John Lloyd (tennis player)
John Lloyd is a former professional tennis player and current television commentator.During his career, he reached one Grand Slam singles final and won three Grand Slam mixed doubles titles...
and changed her name to "Chris Evert-Lloyd." After Evert's affair with British singer/actor Adam Faith
Adam Faith
Terence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith was a Teen idol English singer, actor and later financial journalist. He was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5...
, the couple separated , yet the couple reconciled and chronicled their marriage in a biography Lloyd On Lloyd co-authored by Carol Thatcher
Carol Thatcher
Carol Thatcher is a British journalist, author and media personality. She is the daughter of Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, a former British Prime Minister, and Sir Denis Thatcher, Bt....
. The marriage ended in divorce in 1987.
In 1988, Evert married two-time Olympic downhill skier
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
Andy Mill
Andy Mill
Andy Ray Mill is a former alpine ski racer on the U.S. Ski Team. He was two-time Olympian, competing primarily in the downhill and combined events on the World Cup circuit.-Ski career:...
. They have three sons: Alexander James (born October 12, 1991), Nicholas Joseph (born June 8, 1994), and Colton Jack (born June 14, 1996). On November 13, 2006, Evert filed for divorce. The divorce was finalized on December 4, 2006, with Evert paying Mill a settlement of U.S. $7 million in cash and securities.
Evert and Australian golfer Greg Norman
Greg Norman
Gregory John Norman AO is an Australian professional golfer and entrepreneur who spent 331 weeks as the world's Number 1 ranked golfer in the 1980s and 1990s...
were married on June 28, 2008, in the Bahamas. On October 2, 2009 they announced they were separating after only 15 months, saying in a statement that they "...will remain friends and supportive of one another's family." Their divorce was final on December 8, 2009 after 18 months of marriage. Less than a year later, Norman married Kirsten Kutner on November 6, 2010.
Current work
Evert operates a tennis academy bearing her name in Boca Raton, Florida. She also helps coach the Saint Andrew's SchoolSaint Andrew's School (Boca Raton, Florida)
Saint Andrew's School – An Episcopal school founded in 1961, Saint Andrew’s School is a nationally recognized JK-12 day and boarding college preparatory school known for its academic excellence and education of the whole child – in mind, body, and spirit. It serves 1,300 students from local,...
high school tennis team. She is also currently (2009) a contributor to Tennis Magazine. In June, 2011 she joined ESPN as a tennis commentator.
Records
- These records were attained in Open EraOpen eraOpen era or Open Era may refer to:* Open Era , the period since 1968 where professionals can compete in Grand Slams* Glasnost era, the increased openness in the Soviet Union from the mid-1980s...
of tennis.Grand Slam Years Record accomplished Player tied 1988 Australian Open 1988 Australian OpenThe 1988 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Flinders Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 76th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 11 through 24 January 1988.-Men's Singles:...
1973–88 34 Grand Slam finals overall Stands alone French Open 1974–86 7 titles overall Stands alone French Open 1973–86 9 finals overall Steffi Graf Steffi GrafSteffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...French Open 1983–86 4 consecutive finals Martina Navratilova
Steffi GrafU.S. Open U.S. Open (tennis)The US Open, formally the United States Open Tennis Championships, is a hardcourt tennis tournament which is the modern iteration of one of the oldest tennis championships in the world, the U.S. National Championship, which for men's singles was first contested in 1881...
1975–82 Six titles overall Stands alone U.S. Open 1975–78 Four consecutive titles Stands alone U.S. Open 1975–79 31 consecutive singles victories Stands alone U.S. Open 1975–84 nine finals overall Stands alone U.S. Open 1975–80 six consecutive finals Stands alone U.S. Open 1976, 77, 78 Won US Open three times in straight sets Stands alone Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open 1974–86 At least one Grand Slam title 13 years in a row Stands alone Grand Slam 1974, 76, 81 Won three different slams in straight sets Steffi Graf Steffi GrafSteffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
Lindsay DavenportLindsay DavenportLindsay Ann Davenport is a former World No. 1 American professional tennis player. She has won three Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-best player of the preceding forty years...
Maria SharapovaMaria SharapovaMaria Yuryevna Sharapova ,. is a Russian professional tennis player and a former world no. 1. A US resident since 1994, Sharapova has won 24 WTA singles titles, including three Grand Slam singles titles at the 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open...Grand Slam 1984 Reached all four Grand Slam finals in a calendar year Grand Slam (tennis)The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
Margaret Court
Martina Navratilova
Steffi GrafSteffi GrafSteffi Graf is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24...
Monica SelesMonica SelesMonica Seles is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was born in Novi Sad, Serbia, former Yugoslavia to Hungarian parents. She became a naturalized United States citizen in 1994 and also received Hungarian citizenship in June 2007...
Martina HingisMartina HingisMartina Hingis is a retired Swiss professional tennis player who spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1. She won five Grand Slam singles titles...
Justine HeninWTA Tour 1974-79 |125 match winning streak on any single surface, man or woman (clay) Stands alone WTA Tour 1972-88 |17 consecutive years ranked inside the top 4 Stands alone WTA Tour 1972-89 |Career match winning percentage on clay courts 94.05% (316/20) Stands alone
See also
- Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam finalTennis performance timeline comparison (women)This article presents in a tabular form the career tennis Grand Slam, World Hard Court Championships and Olympic singles results of every woman who has reached the singles final of at least one Grand Slam, World Hard Court Championships or Olympic tournament during her career...
- Luxembourg-American