30 Most Intriguing Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Chris Evert

25 June 2019, 3:10 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

Chris Evert, with 18 Grand Slam singles championships and three doubles titles, till date holds the record of most consecutive years - a total of 13 years, to win at least one Grand Slam title. Here are some facts about the former professional tennis player:

She was an outstanding American tennis player who dominated the sport in the mid-and late 1970s. Evert was noted for popularizing the two-handed backhand stroke.
She was born Christine Marie Evert on December 21, 1954, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, to Colette Thompson and Jimmy Evert.
She attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale and later joined the Auburn University in Alabama with a full athletic scholarship for tennis.
Evert started taking tennis lessons at a young age of five from her father who was a professional tennis coach. All her siblings’ brother, John, sisters Jeanne and Clare were terrific players who have won the prestigious Orange Bowl Tournament in Miami.
Around the of age of 10 she joined the clinic run by Maureen Connolly, and by sheer hard work and endless hours of dedication she became the #1 nationally ranked player in the Girl’s 14-under Division in 1969.
As a 15 year old she participated in her first senior tournament at her home town and reached the semifinals before losing to Mary-Ann Eisel in three sets. She went on to win the national sixteen and under championship.
In an eight player clay court tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina, Evert defeated Francoise Durr and Margaret Court, the then World No.1 player and the Grand Slam singles champion, 7-6, 7-6 in semifinals.
A month after she turned 18 years of age she signed a four-year contract with Puritan Fashion Corporation worth $50,000 a year to endorse a line of sportswear.
Evert was in romance with a fellow tennis player Jimmy Connors and the wedding was planned for November 8, 1974. However the wedding was called-off by Connors, who later revealed that she unilaterally decided to terminate the pregnancy of their child.
She dated among other, a president’s son, Jack Ford, an actor, Burt Reynolds, and had an affair with a married British ex-rock star, Adam Faith.

Evert made her debut in the WTA tournament at the Rome, Italy on April 20, 1970 and went on to win her first title on August 17, 1970, at the South Orange, New Jersey, USA, defeating K. Benson of USA, 6-2, 6-3 in the finals.
Evert made her Grand Slam debut at the age of 16 year at the 1971 U.S. Open, where she made it to the semi-finals before losing to Billie Jean King, 6-3, 6-2. She went to compete in 19 consecutive U.S. Open tournaments, winning 6 titles out of 9 finals.
Playing in her first French Open as second seed in 1973, Evert reached the finals before losing to Margaret Court in three sets. However in the following year she won her first of seven titles in nine appearances.
In the year 1972, Evert was seeded fourth at the grass court tournament, the Wimbledon Championship and lived up to the billing by reaching the semi-finals. A year later she reached the finals and in 1974, she won her first of three titles.
She has the unique distinction of reaching the finals every time she made her appearances at the Australian Open. She won two titles in 1982 and 84 in six appearances for 30-4, win-loss match ratio at the Open.
Evert served as President of the Women’s Tennis Association for two tenures in 1975-76 and again in 1983-91. She was honored with the ‘Flo Hyman Award,’ on February 2, 1990 by President George H.W. Bush, who called her ‘the role model for our nations’ young women.’
She retired from the tour after losing a quarterfinals match to Zina Garrison at the 1989 U.S. Open. In 1995, Evert was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the fourth player ever to be elected unanimously.
In 1979 she married the British tennis player John Lloyd and changed her name to Chris Evert Lloyd. After five years of wedlock they both separated in 1984 and divorced in April 1987, as she struggled to balance marriage and tennis commitments.
In 1988, she married two time Olympic downhill skier Andy Mill and they are blessed with three sons, Alexander, Nicholas and Colton. On December 4, 2006, they separated legally after Evert settled Mill with $7 million in cash and securities.
She once again entered into wedlock on June 28, 2008, with Australian golfer Greg Norman. The marriage didn’t last long and on October 8, 2009 it ended in divorce.

Evert became the first player, male or female, to win 1,000 singles matches and compiled the second most career match wins with 1,309, behind Martina Navratilova who won 1,442 matches.
She has won 18 major Championships with at least one major singles title, a record 13 years in a row. She is tied for fifth-best in women’s all time list.
Evert is the first to cross the 150 plus mark in singles title and finished with 157, as second-most behind Navratilova’s 167 titles. Her .900 winning percentage is best in history, male or female.
During her career she has won 18 Grand Slam singles titles out of 157 titles. Apart from dominating in the singles, she also won 32 doubles titles and won WTA Tour Championships four times and helped U.S. win the Federation Cup eight times.
Though she was successful in all surfaces, she was dominant on clay court. Beginning in August 1973, she won 125 consecutive matches on clay, losing only eight sets in all.
Evert was the first female player to reach $1 million in career prize money in 1976. She was ranked either No.1 or No.2 in the world from 1975 to 1986 for total of 260 weeks.
She won a then-record 55 consecutive matches which she achieved in 1974. Martina Navratilova being her major rival winning 43 of the 80 meetings between them.
Evert was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the year four times in 1974, 75, 77 and in 1980. In the year 1985, the Women’s Sports Foundation voted her as ‘Greatest Women Athlete of the Last 25 Years.’
Evert owns the Evert Tennis Academy with her brother John, in Boca Raton, Florida and coaches the Saint Andrew’s School’s high school tennis team. Since 2011, she has been associated with ESPN as a tennis commentator.
Evert’s calm and steely demeanor on court earned her the nickname ‘Ice Maiden’ of tennis. According to Billie Jean Kings, ‘she doesn’t play games or sets, she plays points.