Did someone call my name?
I did create this thread a few years ago. 'Chris Evert's hardcourt record ain't too shabby'. And yes, I rank Evert ahead of Navratilova on hard courts, looking at their career records on the surface.
Plus this:
A hard court career retrospective for Chris Evert. Chris was a "tough out" whenever she competed. That was absolutely and incredibly true as soon as she stepped on to a clay court. But after realizing what she achieved on hard courts, it's quite stunning to realize:
-> How few players were able to beat her once, let alone more than once on a hard court.
-> Never lost before SF of hard court event before 1987
Through the mid 1970s, the women had a smattering of pro events on hard courts. Most were in California and the southwest (Phoenix and Tucson), plus one Virginia Slims event in Hawaii. The US Open switched to hard courts in 1978, but wasn’t until 1979 that any sort of hard court series in the U.S. developed. The Miami event – first known as Lipton didn’t start until 1985, which was at the tail end of Evert’s career.
In 1973, Evert lost to Margaret Court in the finals of the first World Invitational Classic – the made-for-ABC TV exo – on Hilton Head Island in September. The event was staged on a hard court laid out over the Har-Tru, but switched to the natural Har-Tru clay surface the next year. Following that loss, Evert’s phenomenal hard court success began. She won the 1973 South African Open (which at the time was a main event for men and women) beating Evonne Goolagong 6-3,6-3 in the final. After losing the Italian, French, and Wimbledon finals that year, the South African Open represented Evert’s first big international tour title, and helped springboard her ascension to number one in 1974.
Competing regularly for the first time on the Virginia Slims tour in 1974, Evert started off the year by crushing Billie jean King on hard courts at the January Virginia Slims of Mission Viejo 6-3,6-1. This was significant in that King was raised on hard courts, and yet in their first H2H on the surface, Evert handily beat her chief rival on the surface King learned to play on. Chris won 2 other hard court events in 1974. In January 1975 she edged Billie Jean in an excruciatingly close final of the 4-woman event, the L’Eggs World Series, in Austin, Texas 4-6,6-3,7-6. She also claimed the Mission Viejo title again in 1975. At the start of 1976, Evert crushed Martina Navratilova and Evonne Goolagong with a loss of just 9 games in 4 sets against her top two rivals, scoring a 6-0 set against both to claim her second title at the big money event ($50,000 winner's purse) at the L’Eggs World Series. She won the Phoenix title in 1976. In the fall of 1976, the WTA held the Colgate Inaugural in Palm Springs, the launching pad for the Colgate series, the precursor of today’s WTA Tour encompassing the four majors and all other tour events. The Colgate event was the richest women’s prize money tournament to date, and featured all the top players – except Evonne Goolagong who announced she was pregnant. Billie Jean King came out of retirement to play in the event. Evert cruised to the hard court title, losing only 14 games in the event.
Chris amassed a 39 match winning streak on hard courts from November 1973 through October 1977 (which included straight set wins over Sue Barker (#4) and Martina Navratilova (#2) in the L’Eggs World Series event in April 1977. The streak was snapped by Dianne Fromholtz in the opening match of the round robin competition of the 1977 Colgate Series Championships. Evert rebounded by beating Virginia Wade and Martina Navratilova (6-4,6-1) to advance to the final from her round robin group, and then blitzed Billie Jean King 6-2,6-2 in the finals. In 1978 Evert won the two biggest hard court tournaments, the US Open played on hard courts at Flushing Meadows for the first time (trouncing Tracy Austin, Wendy Turnbull, and Pam Shriver in the final 3 rounds) as well as not dropping a set in winning the Colgate Series Championships in Palm Springs for the second year in a row, cruising by Martina Navratilova 6-3,6-3 in the finals.
Her hard court dominance continued into 1979, with the advent of more hard court tournaments. Evert won the Clairol Crown in San Diego (which replaced the L’Eggs World Series as the premier 4-woman big prize money event) triumphing over Austin and Fromholtz. Chris staged a dramatic come from behind win over Austin in the finals of the US Open warm up event in Mahwah, New Jersey, rallying from a 6-7, 2-4 deficit to win 6-7,6-4,6-1. In advancing to the 1979 US Open finals (via a 6-1,6-0 demolition of Billie Jean King in the SF), Chris extended her hard court winning streak to 26 matches. However, Austin surprised her in the US Open finals 6-4,6-3. Tracy Austin, who was raised on California hard courts, managed only 2 career wins (in 6 matches) against Evert on the cement. Evert would gain revenge following the first defeat, beating Austin 4-6,6-1,6-1 in the 1980 US Open SF. Austin was a streak buster again when she toppled Chris in the finals of the 1981 Canadian Open, ending Chris’ 23 match hard court streak. That represented Austin’s 2nd and final hard court win over Evert. Martina scored just her second win over Chris on hard courts in the SF of the 1981 US Open.
Following her defeat in the 1981 US Open, Chris did what she usually accomplished when losing a close match – going on a tear and ratcheting up more wins – this time 36 consecutive hard court wins from Oct 1981 – July 1983, annexing the Lynda Carter Maybelline Classic (Oct 81), Atlanta, US Open, Lynda Carter Maybelline, Florida Federal Open, 5 Fed Cup wins (1982), and 4 victories en route to the finals of the 1983 Virginia Slims of Los Angeles final, where she fell to Martina. Navratilova was the only player to beat Chris on hard courts from the 1981 US Open until Hana Mandlikova recorded the 1st of her only 2 wins over Chris on hard courts in the 1985 US Open semis.
Hard courts were the surface that Chris ended her long 13 match losing streak to Martina, defeating her in the finals of the 1985 Virginia Slims of Florida event. Martina beat Chris in the finals of the inaugural Lipton event in Miami 2 weeks later, but Chris won titles at the 1985 Canadian Open (where all the top players competed), as well as the 1986 Virginia Slims of Florida and 1986 Lipton, toppling Steffi Graf in straight sets in both events.
*MORE: Evert NEVER lost to King, Goolagong, Wade, or Jaeger on a hard court. As previously noted, King was raised on hard courts, and only managed to win two sets against Evert (both 6-4) and in 3 of the 5 losses to Evert on hard courts, King managed to win a total of only 9 games. Jaeger was good enough to win some sets but lost 8x to Evert on hard courts!
Bottom line: Chris wasn’t just tough on opponents on a clay court. She was nearly as ruthless and merciless on a hard court as well.
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