Chris Evert reveals how rival Billie Jean King was the only person that helped her survive on the women’s tennis tour
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Chris Evert (R) and Billie Jean King
Chris Evert recently revealed in a podcast how her rival and later doubles partner Billie Jean King was the only person on the women’s tour who didn’t feel threatened by her competitiveness and domination of the game, adding that it was the necessary interference that helped change her image on the tour.
Evert played the US Open for the first time as a 16-year-old in 1971 and was already the talk of the town when she was beaten by King, who then went on to win the tournament.
While speaking on the podcast, ‘Design Matters with Debbie Millman‘, Evert said, “Because I was getting all the press. I was on the cover of Newsweek. You know, I was the ‘It girl’. Nobody had seen a young girl do so well until then. A young school girl, an all-American girl. I was the promoter’s dream, I was the sponsor’s dream and the reason was that the other women professionals had done all the work to provide a professional tour for 200-300 women. They had provided a way to support the sport and the women. They knocked on sponsors’ doors and got great sponsorships.“
“She said ‘listen, Chrissie is putting money in our pockets. She is bringing more people to the table, to the matches, she is bringing more sponsorship, more money, more publicity, more TV, and this is very important for the growth of the game of women’s tennis. You are lucky that she’s there’. I think that kind of changed their philosophy a little bit. King was the one person that wasn’t threatened by me,” Evert added.
Chris Evert did not think Serena Williams had the most accomplished career
In a recent interview, 18-time grand slam champion, Evert opened up about her struggles with cancer and developments in women’s tennis. She thoroughly discussed Serena Williams‘ professional career, saying, “She’s 40-years old. She’s lost to players she would normally beat and she hasn’t trained because of injuries. She also has so many wonderful things in her life and so, instead of getting frustrated and sinking down the rankings, this is a perfect time for her to go out.”
When asked if Williams is the greatest player of all time, Evert further said, “It’s such a tough question. In her era, she is the greatest of all time. Then there’s the most accomplished career – how many tournaments you won and how consistent you were and I always include Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova alongside Serena because in my era they were the greatest of all time.”
“Now, there’s a different philosophy. It’s all about the grand slams. Is Serena the best tennis player until this point? Absolutely. But it’s complicated when you compare careers and wins and eras. I’m not sure she has the most accomplished career,” Evert added.
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Ashish Maggo
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