50 Fun Facts About Chris Evert

In 1976 Evert became the first woman in tennis to pass which mark in career prize money?

$1 million. In 1972, still a schoolgirl amateur, she had won the tour's season-ending championship but could not accept its first prize.

Who was Evert's greatest rival?

Martina Navratilova. They met 80 times, starting when the Czech was a 16-year-old newcomer, and stayed close friends through the fiercest rivalry in the women's game.

On which surface was Evert most dominant?

Clay. She learned the game on the slow public clay courts of her Florida home town, and the surface suited a patient baseliner who simply outlasted her opponents.

Evert's manner on court earned her which nickname?

Ice Maiden. Her father had coached her never to show emotion on court, so that opponents could not tell what she was thinking, and she kept the poker face all her career.

Which stroke did Evert help make standard on the women's tour?

Two-handed backhand. As a small girl she was not strong enough to swing the racket with one hand, so she used two, and a generation of young players copied her.

Evert was engaged in 1974 to which men's tennis star?

Jimmy Connors. The engaged couple both won the singles title at the same major that summer, but the wedding planned for that autumn was called off.

Which network did Evert join as a tennis analyst in 2011?

She joined ESPN's tennis coverage in 2011; she has also been publisher of Tennis magazine and runs an academy in Boca Raton with her brother John.

In which Florida city was Evert born?

Fort Lauderdale. Her father was the teaching professional at the city's public Holiday Park courts, which is how she came to start lessons at about five.

Who beat Evert in the 1980 Wimbledon final to become the first mother to win the title since 1914?

Evonne Goolagong. The Australian had lost the 1976 final to Evert in three sets, then came back four years later, with a young daughter, to win the rematch.

How many Grand Slam singles titles did Evert win in total?

18. The last two came in Paris in 1985 and 1986, both in three-set finals against the great rival who had not long before beaten her 13 times in a row.

Which golfer did Evert marry in 2008?

Greg Norman. The Australian was her third husband, but the couple announced their separation after only 15 months and were divorced before the end of 2009.

Who broke Evert's record of seven French Open singles titles in 2013?

Rafael Nadal. Evert's record had stood for 27 years; she set it in 1986 at the age of 31, beating her greatest rival in the final for the second year running.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame says opponents might best have described Evert as a "human" what?

Backboard. She seldom went for outright winners, simply sending every ball back deep and accurately until the other player made the mistake.

Who beat Evert in the last Grand Slam match of her career, a quarterfinal at the 1989 US Open?

Zina Garrison. She won in straight sets, then cried and apologised at courtside for doing it, and the two left the court with their arms around each other.

Which British player beat top seed Evert in the 1977 Wimbledon semifinals and went on to win the title?

Virginia Wade. It was Wimbledon's centenary and the Queen's Silver Jubilee year, and Wade won the final with the monarch making a rare visit to Centre Court.

Evert married which British tennis player in 1979?

John Lloyd. She played as Chris Evert Lloyd for eight years, while he said he struggled with going from being a tennis player to being "Evert's husband".

Evert's record as the oldest women's world No. 1 was broken in 2013 by whom?

Serena Williams. Evert had last held the top spot weeks before turning 31, in 1985; Williams passed that at 31 after coming back from foot surgery and blood clots in her lungs.

Evert served eleven years as president of which body?

She was also the very first No. 1 when the association's computer rankings began in November 1975.

Which Hollywood star did Evert date in the 1970s, after her broken engagement and before her first marriage?

Burt Reynolds. She also went out with Jack Ford, a president's son, a private life quite unlike the buttoned-up image she showed on court.

Which 15-year-old beat Evert in a 1989 final in Houston to win her first professional title?

Monica Seles. She outlasted the retiring champion from the baseline in three sets, the first title of a run that took her to world No. 1 within two years.

Which ex-president attended Evert's Hall of Fame induction in 1995?

George Bush. As president he had presented her with an award at the White House in 1990, telling her she was "the role model for our nation's young women".

Which two majors did Evert win in 1974, her first Grand Slam titles?

French Open and Wimbledon. She had lost both finals a year earlier; this time she won them back to back, in the middle of what was then the longest winning streak in the women's game.

Whom did Evert beat in the finals of both the 1980 US Open and Wimbledon in 1981?

Hana Mandlíková. In between, the young Czech got her own back by ending a long unbeaten run of Evert's in the 1981 French Open semifinals, on her way to that title.

Evert completed the career Grand Slam by winning which tournament in 1982?

Australian Open. She had entered it only twice before, in 1974 and 1981, and lost the final both times.

The 1986 book about Evert's first marriage was co-written by the daughter of which British prime minister?

Margaret Thatcher. Carol Thatcher, a journalist, wrote it with the couple after they had separated and got back together; they divorced the year after it came out.

Evert's record winning streak on her best surface, from 1973 to 1979, ran to how many matches?

125. The run lasted almost six years and 24 tournaments, even though she skipped the biggest event on that surface, the French Open, three years running in the middle of it.

Who beat 16-year-old Evert in the 1971 US Open semifinal?

Billie Jean King. Evert, an amateur still at high school, had come from behind in three matches running and saved six match points in one of them before the top seed stopped her.

Evert said which basketball star, the trainer of her greatest rival, had taught that rival to hate her?

Nancy Lieberman. Her fitness and mental programme helped turn the rivalry around in the early 1980s, and Evert answered by taking up weight training herself.

Evert and her brother John founded their tennis academy in which Florida city?

Boca Raton. The academy came to draw young players from other states: Madison Keys was ten when she moved from Illinois to Florida to train there.

Evert's second husband, whom she married in 1988, was a star in which sport?

Downhill skiing. Andy Mill was a former Olympic racer whose career had been ended by a crash; her greatest rival introduced them at a New Year's Eve party in Aspen.

Who ended Evert's six-year winning streak on one surface at the 1979 Italian Open?

Tracy Austin. The 16-year-old won their semifinal in a deciding-set tiebreak, and four months later beat Evert again in the final of the US Open.

Which 16-year-old did Evert beat in the 1978 US Open final for her fourth straight title?

Pam Shriver. The high-school student had knocked out the top seed in the semifinals, but Evert's baseline game held her off 7–5, 6–4.

Evert won the last US Open played at Forest Hills in 1977 and, a year later, the first at which venue?

Flushing Meadows. The move also changed the courts to a hard surface, so she won the same title on two different surfaces in back-to-back years.

Who beat Evert in her last match at Wimbledon, a semifinal in 1989?

Steffi Graf. Evert had won their first six meetings without dropping a set, but the German never lost to her again, and this was the champion's goodbye to Centre Court.

Two months after her last tour match in 1989, Evert hosted which American TV show?

Saturday Night Live. The player known for never showing emotion on court fronted the comedy sketch show, with Eurythmics as the musical guest.

Which organisation named Evert the greatest female athlete of the previous 25 years in 1985?

Women's Sports Foundation. That summer, at 30, she backed the vote up by winning the French Open again, beating her greatest rival in a three-set final.

In 2022 Evert revealed she had which cancer, the disease that had killed her sister two years earlier?

Ovarian cancer. It was found at an early stage only because genetic testing after her sister's death had led her to have preventive surgery.

Evert was the first woman to be sole winner of which magazine's sportsperson of the year award?

Sports Illustrated. She earned it in 1976 by winning Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year for the only time in her career; four years earlier a woman had shared the award.

Evert skipped the French Open from 1976 to 1978 to play in which competition?

World TeamTennis. She signed for the Phoenix franchise of the new mixed-team league, and even after missing three years in Paris she finished with a record seven French titles.

Which of Evert's siblings also played professional tennis?

Jeanne. All five Evert children were coached by their father and reached national junior finals, but only Chris's younger sister followed her onto the professional tour.

Evert was the first player, man or woman, to win how many professional singles matches?

1,000. "Losing hurts me," she once said, and she lost only about one match in ten across her whole career, finishing on 1,309 wins.

A racehorse named after Evert won what in 1974?

US Filly Triple Crown. A clothing boss who had just signed the young Evert to endorse his sportswear named the filly after her, and it also won a 1974 match race by 50 lengths.

Who beat Evert in the 1983 Wimbledon third round, ending her 34-major semifinal run?

Kathy Jordan. Evert arrived holding the other three major titles, so the straight-sets upset also cost her the chance to hold all four at the same time.

Evert's father and first coach, Jimmy, had been an All-American tennis player at which university?

Notre Dame. He won the Canadian national title in 1947, then moved to Florida and ran one city's public tennis programme for 49 years, teaching all five of his children there.

At 15, Evert beat which world No. 1 in 1970?

Margaret Court. The schoolgirl won 7–6, 7–6 at a small invitational tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina, just after Court had completed the Grand Slam, and was picked for the United States team the following year.

Evert's only Olympic appearance came when tennis returned to the Games as a full medal sport, in which city?

Seoul. She was 33 and seeded second behind the eventual gold medallist, but went out in the third round and left without a medal.

Who was Evert's opponent in her final match, the 1989 Fed Cup final?

Conchita Martínez. Evert, 34, beat the 17-year-old Spaniard in straight sets in Tokyo to help the United States win the cup, and never played a competitive match again.

Evert won a major doubles title with which Soviet player?

Olga Morozova. That same summer Evert beat her own doubles partner in two major singles finals within a few weeks of each other.

Evert reached two US Open semifinals as an amateur before turning professional on what occasion?

Her 18th birthday. She turned professional that day in December 1972, won her first professional tournament three months later and only then finished high school.

Evert's first marriage was strained by her affair with which British singer-actor?

Adam Faith. The former pop star was married himself; Evert and her husband separated over it, got back together for a time and finally divorced in 1987.