Chris Evert facts for kids
Evert in the 1980s
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| Full name | Christine Marie Evert |
|---|---|
| Country (sports) |  United States |
| Residence | Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. |
| Born | December 21, 1954 Fort Lauderdale, Florida, U.S. |
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) |
| Turned pro | 1972 |
| Retired | 1989 |
| Plays | Right-handed (two-handed backhand) |
| Coach | Jimmy Evert Dennis Ralston |
| Prize money | ,895,195 |
| Int. Tennis HoF | 1995 (member page) |
| Singles | |
| Career record | 1309–146 (90%) |
| Career titles | 157 |
| Highest ranking | No. 1 (November 3, 1975) |
| Grand Slam singles results | |
| Australian Open | W (1982, 1984) |
| French Open | W (1974, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1986) |
| Wimbledon | W (1974, 1976, 1981) |
| US Open | W (1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982) |
| Other tournaments | |
| Tour Finals | W (1972, 1973, 1975, 1977) |
| Olympic Games | 3R (1988) |
| Doubles | |
| Career record | 117–39 (75%) |
| Career titles | 32 |
| Highest ranking | No. 13 (September 12, 1988) |
| Grand Slam doubles results | |
| Australian Open | F (1988) |
| French Open | W (1974, 1975) |
| Wimbledon | W (1976) |
| US Open | SF (1973, 1975, 1979) |
| Team competitions | |
| Fed Cup | W (1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1989) |
Christine Marie Evert (born December 21, 1954) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. Many people think she is one of the greatest tennis players ever. She was ranked No. 1 in singles for 260 weeks. She also finished seven years as the top-ranked player.
Chris Evert won 157 singles titles. This includes 18 major singles titles, also known as Grand Slams. She holds the record for seven French Open titles and shares the record for six US Open titles. Along with Martina Navratilova, her biggest rival, Evert was a top player in women's tennis from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s.
Evert played in 34 major singles finals, which is a record for women's tennis. She reached the semifinals or better in 52 of the 56 Grand Slams she played. This included 34 straight Grand Slams from 1971 to 1983. She never lost in the first or second round of a major tournament. Chris Evert holds the record for winning at least one major title for 13 years in a row. Her career winning percentage in singles matches was 89.97% (1309 wins and 146 losses). This is the second highest in the Open Era of tennis. On clay courts, her winning percentage of 94.55% (382 wins and 22 losses) is still a WTA Tour record. She also won three major doubles titles.
Evert was the president of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for eleven years. She received the Philippe Chatrier award and was added to the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Today, Evert is a tennis analyst for ESPN. She also has her own line of tennis and active clothing.
Contents
Early Life and Family Background
Chris Evert was born in 1954 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Her parents were Colette and Jimmy Evert. Her family was very involved in tennis. Her father was a professional tennis coach.
Tennis was a big part of the Evert family's life. Chris and her sister Jeanne both became professional tennis players. Their brothers and youngest sister also played tennis in college on scholarships. Chris, John, Jeanne, and Clare all won titles at the famous Junior Orange Bowl in Florida.
Chris Evert's Tennis Career
Chris Evert started learning tennis from her father when she was five years old. Her father, Jimmy Evert, had won the Canadian Championships in 1947. By 1969, Chris was the top-ranked girl under 14 in the United States. That same year, she played in her first senior tournament in Fort Lauderdale. She reached the semifinals, which was a record for a player in their first senior event for many years.
In 1970, Evert won the national 16-and-under championship. She was then invited to a clay-court tournament in North Carolina. The 15-year-old Evert beat Françoise Dürr and then surprised everyone by defeating Margaret Court. Court was the world No. 1 player and had just won all four Grand Slams that year. Because of these wins, Evert was chosen for the U.S. Wightman Cup team. She was the youngest player ever to join the team.
Evert played in her first Grand Slam tournament at the 1971 US Open when she was 16. She received an invitation after winning the national 16-and-under championship. In the second round, she faced Mary-Ann Eisel and saved six match points before winning the match. She continued to win tough matches against experienced players. Her amazing run ended when she lost to top seed Billie Jean King in the semifinals. This loss broke her 46-match winning streak.
In 1973, Evert was the runner-up at the French Open and Wimbledon. A year later, in 1974, she won both of those events. This was part of her record-setting 55-match winning streak. She won eight other tournaments during this streak. She ended 1974 with 100 wins and only 7 losses. She won 16 tournaments, including two Grand Slams. She was also a finalist in her first Australian Open and reached the semifinals at the US Open for the fourth year in a row. She was named the year-end number one player by most tennis experts.
For the next five years, Chris Evert was the world's No.1 player. In 1975, she won her second French Open. She also won the first of her four straight US Open titles. In November 1975, the official WTA computer ranking system started, and Evert was the first No. 1. She spent a total of 260 weeks at number one. Ten years after first reaching the top, she became No. 1 again in November 1985. She was 30 years and 11 months old, making her the oldest woman to reach WTA number one at that time.
Evert's strong play and calm attitude on the court earned her the nickname "Ice Maiden." She was ranked number one in the world at the end of seven different years by Tennis magazine and World Tennis magazine.
The year 1976 was special for Evert. It was the only time in her career she won both Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year. She won a tough three-set final at Wimbledon and then easily beat her opponent at the US Open. Her performance in 1976 earned her the title of Sportsman of the Year from Sports Illustrated. She was the first woman to receive this honor by herself.
In 1977 and 1978, Evert continued to be a dominant force in women's tennis. She won two more US Open titles. She won the last US Open played on clay in 1977. Then she won the first US Open played on hard courts in 1978. During these two years, she won 18 of 25 tournaments. She had an amazing record of 126 wins and only 7 losses.
Chris Evert was successful on all court surfaces. However, she was most dominant on clay courts. Starting in August 1973, she won 125 matches in a row on clay. She lost only eight sets during this incredible streak. This record still stands for both men and women players. The streak ended on May 12, 1979, when she lost to Tracy Austin in a semifinal. Evert said that not having the record would take some pressure off her. She then started another clay court winning streak of 64 matches.
Evert's record of seven French Open singles titles stood for 27 years. It was broken by Rafael Nadal in 2013. She still holds the record for most French Open singles titles for female players. She also held the record for most clay court Grand Slam titles (10). This included seven French Opens and all three US Opens played on clay from 1975 to 1977.
Evert won at least one Grand Slam singles title every year for 13 years in a row, from 1974 through 1986. During this time, she sometimes chose not to play in the Australian Open or French Open. This was because the importance of these tournaments changed over time.
Between 1971 and 1983, Evert always reached at least the semifinals of the 34 Grand Slam singles events she entered. This streak ended at Wimbledon in 1983. She lost in the third round after getting food poisoning. In total, Evert played in 56 Grand Slam singles events. She failed to reach the semifinals only four times.
Chris Evert reached a record 34 Grand Slam finals. She won 18 Grand Slam singles titles. These include seven French Open titles (a record for women), six US Open titles (an Open Era record shared with Serena Williams), three Wimbledon titles, and two Australian Open titles. She also won three Grand Slam doubles titles.
Evert played fewer tournaments in 1989 and retired after the US Open. When she retired, she had won 18 Grand Slam singles titles. She also had 157 singles titles and 32 doubles titles. Evert won the WTA Tour Championships four times. She also helped the United States win the Fed Cup eight times. Her last match was a win over Conchita Martínez in the 1989 Fed Cup final.
Famous Rivalries
Chris Evert had many memorable matches against other top players. Her most famous rivalry was with Martina Navratilova. They played each other 80 times, with Navratilova winning 43 matches and Evert winning 37. Other notable rivalries included matches against Evonne Goolagong Cawley, Billie Jean King, and Tracy Austin.
Awards and Recognitions
Chris Evert was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year four times. In 1976, she was the first female athlete to be the only person to receive Sports Illustrated magazine's "Sportswoman of the Year" award. In 1985, she was voted the "Greatest Woman Athlete of the Last 25 Years." Evert was president of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) from 1975 to 1976 and from 1983 to 1991.
In 1995, she was chosen for the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She was the fourth player ever to be voted in unanimously. In 1997, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) gave her its highest award, the Philippe Chatrier Award, for her contributions to tennis. In 2005, Tennis magazine ranked her fourth on its list of the 40 Greatest Players of the Tennis era.
In 2012, Tennis Channel ranked Evert ninth on its list of the 100 Greatest Players of all time. In 2013, she received a special award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame. This award recognized her amazing achievements on and off the court.
Playing Style
Chris Evert was a baseline player. This means she usually stayed at the back of the court. She was known for her very consistent play. The International Tennis Hall of Fame described her as a "human backboard" because she could return almost any shot. Evert was one of the first players to play mostly from the baseline. Later in her career, she started coming to the net more often.
Evert hit her forehand flat, with good depth and power. As tennis rackets improved, she started adding more topspin to her forehand. She was also one of the first women to use a two-handed backhand successfully. This shot gave her great power and consistency.
Evert did not hit many winning shots directly. Instead, she focused on returning balls with amazing accuracy. She also made very few mistakes. Her serve was not powerful, but it was reliable and accurate. Evert also had a very effective drop shot. She was excellent at hitting passing shots, which kept her opponents from rushing the net. Evert's best strengths were her speed, footwork, court coverage, fitness, consistency, and mental toughness. She was called the "Ice Princess" because of her calm and elegant style. Her favorite surface was clay, where her defensive style worked very well.
Personal Life
Before winning her first Grand Slam, Chris Evert signed a deal with Puritan Fashions. They named a young racehorse "Chris Evert" in her honor. This horse went on to win the 1974 U.S. Filly Triple Crown. The horse was also inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
In the 1970s, Evert's relationship with top men's player Jimmy Connors was very famous. They both won the 1974 singles titles at Wimbledon. They even played mixed doubles together sometimes. They were engaged, but their wedding was called off.
During a match at the 1978 US Open, a diamond bracelet Evert was wearing fell off her wrist. She said, "I dropped my tennis bracelet." Since then, diamond line bracelets have also been called "tennis bracelets."
In 1979, Evert married British tennis player John Lloyd. She changed her name to Chris Evert Lloyd. The couple later divorced in 1987.
In 1988, Evert married American skier Andy Mill. They had three sons together. They divorced in 2006.
On June 28, 2008, Evert married Australian golfer Greg Norman. They separated after 15 months and divorced in December 2009.
In 2021, Chris Evert supported a group working on policies for women's sports. In 2022, she shared that she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She completed chemotherapy treatment and her doctors were hopeful. In December 2023, she announced that her cancer had returned and she was undergoing treatment again. She is a brave survivor.
Current Work
Chris Evert owns the Evert Tennis Academy with her brother John in Boca Raton, Florida. She also helps coach the high school tennis team at Saint Andrew's School. She writes for Tennis magazine and is also its publisher. In June 2011, she joined ESPN as a tennis commentator for Grand Slam tournaments. In 2015, she launched a line of tennis and active clothing called Chrissie by Tail.
On June 10, 2023, Evert presented the trophy at the Women's French Open Singles tournament to Iga Świątek. Evert had won one of her own seven French Open titles forty years earlier in 1983.
Images for kids
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Evert in the 1980s
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John Lloyd and Evert in Fort Lauderdale, circa 1978
- WTA Tour records
- List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players
- List of female tennis players
- List of tennis rivalries
- Tennis records of the Open Era – Women's singles
- Open Era tennis records – women's singles
- Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final
