Chris Evert: 'I would put money on Ash Barty completing a Career Grand Slam' - Legends’ Voice
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ByEurosport
Updated 28/01/2022 at 11:17 GMT
Chris Evert also described facing and beating Martina Navratilova to win her maiden title in Melbourne. "I think we brought out the best in one another. We always got really pumped up and excited; we knew it was very special before walking out on court. It was a rivalry that everyone was talking about, so we knew how good it was."
Highlights: Barty cruises past Keys and into Australian Open final
On Saturday, Ash Barty and Danielle Collins will face one another in the 2022 Australian Open final. Rewind 40 years and fans witnessed a three-set classic between two of the greatest players of all time, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.
The match went in Chris’ favour to not only mark her maiden title in Melbourne and 13th Grand Slam title, but also a coveted Career Grand Slam.
In the first-ever edition of Legends’ Voice, Chris reflects on the achievement, her iconic rivalry with Martina and comparisons to the women’s game of today:
40 years ago, the Australian Open was a very different tournament. For starters, it was on grass and played at Kooyong Stadium, five miles down the road from Melbourne Park. Then it was either played just after Christmas or a couple of weeks before, so a lot of players opted to stay home. Grand Slams also weren’t looked upon with as much importance as they are now and in the early 80s, we were heavily invested in supporting the earlier stages of the WTA Tour, which meant we placed WTA tournaments on the same playing field as Grand Slams.
I believe I only played the tournament six times during an 18-year career, but obviously if I was playing in this day and age, I would have played it a lot more because now it’s just so heavily regarded to win a major.
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Chris won the Australian Open on her third appearance, aged 26. It was third time lucky after finishing runner-up to Yvonne Goolagong in 1974 and Martina in 1981. She also went on to win the tournament for a second time in 1984, defeating Helen Sukova
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In my day, Wimbledon was the one everyone wanted to win, but nowadays I think every Slam is pretty equal in its stature. But the Australian Open has probably evolved more than any other Grand Slam in the past ten to twenty years. It’s the happy Slam! Everyone’s so relaxed and the players really appreciate the crowd.
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Fans get behind world No.1 Barty in her 2022 semi-final
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The 1982 final was a significant win for me, especially after Martina beat me the previous year in the final, 7-5 in the third! And any time I beat her on grass was pretty huge. Her game was tailor-made for the surface and she’s won more Grand Slams than anybody else on it. She really is the greatest female grass-court player we’ve ever seen, so it was always a challenge and I always had to play better than my A-game to beat her.
Back in the early 80s, we were pretty even in terms of our rivalry so it was a pretty tight match-up. Our matches were always three-setters and we pretty much went back and forth, and this one was no different. This one added another twist though; she was the world No.1 at the time and had beaten me in our previous two Grand Slam finals on grass, so I definitely went in as the underdog.
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The 1982 final in Melbourne was the pair’s 37th head-to-head. By the end of their careers, they met 80 times, with Martina leading the final head-to-head 43-37. They both won an epic 18 Grand Slam singles titles each.
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By having each other in our eras, I think we brought out the best in one another. We always got really pumped up and excited; we knew it was very special before walking out on court. It was a rivalry that everyone was talking about, so we knew how good it was - not only for us, but also the game of tennis and of course, women’s tennis.
The fact that we had different styles - she was an aggressive serve-volleyer and I was a consistent baseliner - added an element that was different as well. She brought her set of fans and I brought my set of fans, and a lot of the fans were outside of the tennis world, so we kind of opened up the tennis audience.
For the future of women’s tennis, I look at three great scenarios:
1. You have a player that’s dominant and for that, you just have to look at Serena. She was so dominant and that was great for the women’s game because our TV ratings went off the charts and that’s the biggest indicator
2. You have a rivalry like mine and Martina’s - because you get those two sets of fans and it makes it exciting
3. You have a boat-load of talent and it’s just like, WOW, who’s going to win?!
We seem to be having that third scenario right now, which means it’s definitely a lot harder to achieve the Career Grand Slam.
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By defeating Martina in the 1982 final, Chris claimed the Career Grand Slam. Only ten female players (and four since Chris) have achieved this feat, with Maria Sharapova being the last player to do so in 2012 (pictured)
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This isn’t necessarily bad for the game, but it makes the accolade so much bigger. The Career Grand Slam is huge. It takes the pressure off. It’s like you win two, you’re going for the third and then when you win that, you’d hate to end your career winning three out of the four… you’ve just got to go for that last elusive fourth one and make it complete… then you’re a complete champion.
If I were to put money on anybody achieving it today, it would be (Ash) Barty because she’s got an all-court game, great defense and offense. She’s proven that by winning Wimbledon, she’s great on fast surfaces and by winning the French Open, she’s great on slow surfaces, so she’s going to be good on the surfaces that are midway between those two extremes.
It’s tougher right now because there’s just such more depth. In our day, it would be someone in the Top 4 winning a Grand Slam, but now it’s someone in the Top 30 - or even look at Emma (Raducanu) at the US Open! I would admire somebody even more if they did win the four today.
Follow Chris Evert on Instagram (@chrissieevert) and Twitter (@chrissievert)
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