Evert Takes Her Place In Hall With Bush Doing The Honors
For someone whose game was basic baseline - some called it boring - Chris Evert sure made a showy entrance into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
On Sunday, former President George Bush presented Evert with her enshrinement certificate at the site where America’s first national championship was held.
“This weekend is not only about the results, but the beginning,” Evert said.
However, the results of her 18-year career were staggering.
She won at least one Grand Slam tournament singles title every year between 1974 and 1986 - three times at Wimbledon, twice at the Australian Open, a record seven French Opens and six U.S. Opens. Add three Grand Slam doubles victories - two with arch-rival Martina Navratilova - and 139 other professional singles titles and the “boring baseline” tag simply disappears.
“I belong here,” Evert said of the Hall of Fame. “This is one big happy family.”
And her entire family shared the occasion with her. Besides her husband, former Olympic skier Andy Mill, others watching the ceremony included her parents, Jim and Colette, and most of her siblings and their families.
Sunday’s festivity was a rare time when a former president played what he called “a cameo role.”
“I don’t do news conferences. I don’t do issues. I do what I like to do in life,” Bush said shortly after arriving in Newport, once the playground of America’s richest families. “I came here as a tennis fan, sometime player and friend and avid supporter of Chris.”
In that, Bush joined the throngs who paid tribute to a woman who was ranked No. 1 in the world eight times during her career.
Following the ceremony, Bush and Evert went to a practice court and played a friendly doubles match against Hall of Fame vice president Pam Shriver, still a touring pro, and Mill.
Until she retired, Evert said she didn’t have time to consider the titles she was busy winning.
Known for her tenacity and her poise, two Evert records may never be matched, let alone broken.
She won 125 consecutive matches on clay from August 1973 to May 1979, when she lost to Tracy Austin in the Italian Open semifinals. Ironically, Austin, whose career was halted by injury, entered the Hall of Fame three years ago, although she’s younger than Evert.
Another unapproachable Evert record is her reaching the semifinals or better in 52 of the 56 Grand Slam tournaments in which she played.
“I don’t miss the pressure,” she said. “It’s not the best thing and it begins playing tricks with you. But I miss playing great tennis. Because I worked so hard … there’s no moment like it.”
It may have seemed like it, but Evert didn’t win all the time. She lost 146 matches, although it took almost 19 years to do it. And while she displayed a poker face to the public and her opponents, Evert admits she was emotional and cried “because I had won or because I had lost.”
There were the last two of her French Open wins - in 1985 and 1986 - against Navratilova. There was her semifinal victory over Tracy Austin at the 1980 U.S. Open “after I had lost to her five straight times and thought I would never be able to beat her.”
xxxx LOOKING BACK Highlights of Chris Evert’s 18-year tennis career: Won her first singles title in 1971 by beating Laurie Fleming, 6-2, 6-1, in Fort Lauderdale event. Won her 1,000th career victory in the 1984 Australian Open, defeating Pascale Paradis, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2. She was the first male or female to reach this milestone. Won her 1,200th career victory in the first round of the 1988 U.S. Open, defeating Niege Dias, 6-1, 6-0. Won her 100th match at the U.S. Open in 1989, the first in 108 years of U.S. tennis championships, by beating Patricia Tarabini 6-2, 6-4. Won at least one Grand Slam singles title per year for 13 years (1974-86) Won 18 Grand Slam singles titles. Won three Grand Slam doubles titles (1974 French Open with Olga Morozova; 1975 French Open with Martina Navratilova; 1976 Wimbledon with Navratilova). Ranked No. 1 November 1975-July 1978; January-March 1979; June-August 1979; November 1980-May 1982; June-October 1985. Has the best record on clay of any player for any single surface with a 125-match win streak set from August 1973 to May 1979, until Tracy Austin defeated her, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 at the 1979 Italian Open semifinals.