Chris Evert's Career Hard Court Record Ain't too Shabby!

[DMan]

Earlier this year, BTURNER created a great discussion, highlighting the most amazing and dominant single surface record in the history of the game, and one of the most dominating sporting achievements ever (those are my words!)

Well, I did some research, and prepare to be impressed (or reminded of) Chris Evert's consistent greatness.


A summary of Chris Evert’s hard court stats, in 3 stages


W-L record from November 1973 – November 1982

129-5 (96.3%)

24 titles

* Obviously not as good as her clay court record for roughly the same period of time, but to have suffered a mere 5 losses on hard courts in nearly a decade is phenomenal.

* Won 39 consecutive matches on hard courts from Nov 1973 – Oct 1977.

* Won every hard court tournament entered from Nov 1973 – Sep 1979 (15 titles) until she lost 1979 US Open final to Tracy Austin.

* Dianne Fromholtz (1977 Colgate Championships RR), Tracy Austin (1979 US Open F and 1981 Canadian Open F [note corrected this from original post - they played in Canadian Open FINAL, not SF]), and Martina Navratilova (1979 Phoenix F and 1981 US Open SF) were the only players to beat Evert on a hard court during this time. Evert had winning H2H against those 3 players on hard courts during this time frame: 4-1 v Fromholtz, 4-2 v Austin, 4-2 v Navratilova).


W-L record from January 1983 – November 1986

83-8 (91.2%)

8 titles

* This time frame saw an increase in the # of hard court events played. Evert was ranked #1 or #2 in this period. Martina Navratilova’s record in the same time frame was 91-5 – outstanding but still not as good as Evert’s from ’73-’82.

* From Nov 1973 – Nov 1986 (13 years), Chris Evert NEVER lost before the SF of any hard court event!

* The first time Chris lost consecutive matches to the same player on a hard court in her entire career was in summer of 1983, when Martina beat her in 3 consecutive tournament finals – VS of LA, Canadian Open, and the US Open. This was during Martina’s most absolute dominant period of her entire career.

* Chris Evert won 94% of her hard court matches for 13 years, from Nov 1973 – Nov 1986. Only 5 players claimed victories over her during this time: Fromholtz, Austin, Navratilova, Mandlikova (1985 US Open SF), and Helena Sukova (1986 US Open SF).


W-L record from January 1987 – October 1989

71-16 (81.6%)

* Separated this time frame to illustrate that as Evert aged and her ranking dropped, her hard court winning percentage dipped as well. Evert also won just 1 hard court event in this timeframe.

* In 1989, Evert lost her opening match at two hard court events (Palm Springs and the Canadian Open) the only time she entered a hard court tournament without earning a victory.

* Evert ended her professional playing career in 1989 with a winning streak on hard courts, recording 5 victories for the US in the Federation Cup.


In fact, IMHO, Evert’s career hard court record is second only to her clay court record among all Open era female pros on a specific surface. I say this with respect and admiration for Martina Navratilova’s grass court dominance, but with a qualification. As great as Martina was on grass, her phenomenal grass court winning streak, her 6 consecutive Wimbledon and Eastbourne titles, there just weren’t enough grass court tournaments to warrant rating Martina’s grass court record as a statistically viable measure. And Evert was more consistent on hard courts than Martina was on grass. As great as Martina was on grass, she had some humbling and bad grass court losses in her career: 1977 Wimbledon QF to Betty Stove; 1979 Chichester QF (while ranked #1) to King 6-1,6-2; 1980 Eastbourne 3R (while ranked #1) to Stove; 1980 Sydney QF to Shriver; 1980 Australian Open SF to Turnbull; 1981 Surbiton SF to Nagelsen; 1981 Eastbourne SF to Jaeger, plus Evert beat Navratilova on grass 3 times from 1979-1982 when Martina was #1.


It is true that in the early 1970s, the women did not compete that often on hard courts. And, three of the four majors were on grass until 1975. But given that the current game now features two of the four majors on hard courts, most of the Olympic events have been on hard courts, four of the big Masters/Mandatory premiere events are on hard courts, as well as the fact it is considered to be a surface that enables all playing styles to compete effectively, I believe hard courts are a more reliable, relevant benchmark of surface proficiency, dominance, and greatness.

 

[DMan]

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.

 

[scootad.]

I wish I was old enough to get to watch tennis during the late 70's -mid 80s Evert/Navratilova rivalry. When I read about it, it seemed like such an exciting time.

When I watch old clips of Evert on youtube, I'm in awe of how smooth her groundstroke technique was. She always had the same swing every time and was so precise, hitting shots consistently deep and changing the direction of the ball so easily.

 

[BTURNER]

I never thought to do this kind of work on her hard court career. Her clay career was always so obvious and her grass game so underappreciated that it demanded a renovated look. I cannot thank DMan enough for the time and effort here. I will be saving this thread for some time as a reference. This record is much more impressive than I realized. Hard courts were well suited to her ground strokes and return game with the comfortable and sure bounce and moderate speed. She always looked at ease and fully confident in her movement. The only drawback was that she had to be more judicious with her drop .

I did note that her hard court results seemed to slip a hint earlier in her career than the other surfaces. But on reflection I doubt it was surface driven. When she reached the newly surfaced 88 Aussie final on hard, it was her first major hardcourt final in four years. The Open was her worst major from 1985 to the end of her career. A Semifinal loss to Hana ( she seemed a bit tentative). She got routined by Helena in one of her worst major matches I saw her play, then a QF loss to McNeil, a default to Graf, and a QF loss to Garrison. I think this was a result of age,the time of year, and some injuries ( Helena) as well as some inspired play by McNeil, Garrison and of course Hana. She had some great moments and matches at the Lipton, Los Angeles over Martina 6-2,6-1, Sabatini the next year with a bread stick in the last two sets Boca Raton breaking Graf's straight set record for the year, and of course the annihilation of Seles in '89.

Again thanks for the analysis and effort, Dman.

 

[boredone3456]

To put it simply, Chris is remember for her clay ability first in most peoples minds. However in spite of this all of her achievements on hard courts, such as there were during her time, were right up there with those clay court results. She was arguably as good on hard as she was on clay, the difference was her opponents games were more suited to hard courts so they could be a bigger pain to her on that surface than clay. Chris's best was still better than 96% of those around her anyway, but they could test her a little more consistently on hard. At the end of the day, she still is arguable as the best hard court player of all time with really only Serena, Steffi, Seles and Martina up there in that discussion with her.

You want the surface she was probably weakest on, it was likely grass, maybe carpet, but grass so suited all the serve and volleyers it was the one she was most likely to struggle on anyway, and even on it she was still lights out deadly when she set her mind to it and has a very respectable record.

 

[Deleted member 735320]

I think she succeeded on clay and hard courts because she had impeccable timing, stroke production and foot work. Her serve was not a weapon but her opponent's serves were not as heavy from 1973-1982 or later either because of wooden rackets. Add her mental tenacity that she would rather "die than lose" and she was near impossible to beat. She played a lot but never really had injuries until late in the career and only a burnout in 1980. I assume all these events were outside which favored her specifically.(astigmatic) Bud Collins said it best when comparing men to women champions. Once the man drops from the top he is free from the pressure and relenting competition. He said when Martina passed Chris she never said anything but she wanted back on top.

 

[BTURNER]

To put it simply, Chris is remember for her clay ability first in most peoples minds. However in spite of this all of her achievements on hard courts, such as there were during her time, were right up there with those clay court results. She was arguably as good on hard as she was on clay, the difference was her opponents games were more suited to hard courts so they could be a bigger pain to her on that surface than clay. Chris's best was still better than 96% of those around her anyway, but they could test her a little more consistently on hard. At the end of the day, she still is arguable as the best hard court player of all time with really only Serena, Steffi, Seles and Martina up there in that discussion with her.

You want the surface she was probably weakest on, it was likely grass, maybe carpet, but grass so suited all the serve and volleyers it was the one she was most likely to struggle on anyway, and even on it she was still lights out deadly when she set her mind to it and has a very respectable record.

There is a quite a disparity between her career w/l stat on carpet and any of the other three. Evert was every bit as consistent on grass as she was on clay or hard. She just had trouble with that lefty hook serve, she kept seeing in final (78), after final(79), after final (Aussie 81)after final(82),after final (84) after final(Aussie 84), after final(85) after semifinal(87) after semifinal (88) Serve/volleyers outside of the very top one or two or three seeds. had no greater chance of taking her out on grass than anywhere else.

 

[DMan]

To put it simply, Chris is remember for her clay ability first in most peoples minds. However in spite of this all of her achievements on hard courts, such as there were during her time, were right up there with those clay court results. She was arguably as good on hard as she was on clay, the difference was her opponents games were more suited to hard courts so they could be a bigger pain to her on that surface than clay. Chris's best was still better than 96% of those around her anyway, but they could test her a little more consistently on hard. At the end of the day, she still is arguable as the best hard court player of all time with really only Serena, Steffi, Seles and Martina up there in that discussion with her.

You want the surface she was probably weakest on, it was likely grass, maybe carpet, but grass so suited all the serve and volleyers it was the one she was most likely to struggle on anyway, and even on it she was still lights out deadly when she set her mind to it and has a very respectable record.

It seems like the logical answer, and one Chris might admit to. But as BTURNER notes, indoor carpet was the toughest surface for Evert, not grass. If you take a close look at her grass court results, they are pretty phenomenal as well. And Evert played in the era when 3 of the 4 majors were on grass, and there were numerous tournaments played on grass. Now they have a 3 week grass court season and that's it. Plus the grass they play on today is nothing like the slick, very low and poor bouncing courts Chris competed on. Plus the fact that Evert had to content with superior serve-and-volley players in her time - and S&V'ers are practically extinct today. Evert more than held her own on grass, beating everyone of her rivals on the surface more than once.

Indoor carpet - where the Virginia Slims/Avon tours held the majority of their events from 1974-1983 - were the toughest for Evert, IMHO, because:
1. Indoors - which was a neutralizer, and Evert was better adapting outdoors than any of her competitors.
2. Indoor carpet played very fast. Was easier for one player to get hot and hit right through Chris.
3. Speed of carpet tended to be fast, which didn't necessarily favor Chris, who was better at matches where rallies lasted more than 4-6 shots.

 

[PDJ]

It seems like the logical answer, and one Chris might admit to. But as BTURNER notes, indoor carpet was the toughest surface for Evert, not grass. If you take a close look at her grass court results, they are pretty phenomenal as well. And Evert played in the era when 3 of the 4 majors were on grass, and there were numerous tournaments played on grass. Now they have a 3 week grass court season and that's it. Plus the grass they play on today is nothing like the slick, very low and poor bouncing courts Chris competed on. Plus the fact that Evert had to content with superior serve-and-volley players in her time - and S&V'ers are practically extinct today. Evert more than held her own on grass, beating everyone of her rivals on the surface more than once.

Indoor carpet - where the Virginia Slims/Avon tours held the majority of their events from 1974-1983 - were the toughest for Evert, IMHO, because:
1. Indoors - which was a neutralizer, and Evert was better adapting outdoors than any of her competitors.
2. Indoor carpet played very fast. Was easier for one player to get hot and hit right through Chris.
3. Speed of carpet tended to be fast, which didn't necessarily favor Chris, who was better at matches where rallies lasted more than 4-6 shots.

That's really interesting re Wimbledon grass: Evert would have fared a great deal better on the grass as it is now.
And probably better if the AO had always been on a hard court.
That said, she benefitted from the three years the US was on clay.

 

[suwanee4712]

The core of Chris' game, balance, early preparation, and sharp footwork, translate well to any surface. Most hard courts are rather neutral, so it should be a good surface for almost anyone, although that wasn't necessarily true in reality. I don't think that a hard court does anyone any favors in trying to beat Chris.

By Chris' own admission, she did not enjoy playing indoors, and she didn't enjoy winter weeks in cities like Chicago, New York, or Boston. Someone once said that as a Florida girl, Chris needed the sun. That's where she got her energy. And I can think of many players that needed to break a sweat in order to get down to playing their better tennis. That was certainly true of Chris.

 

[BTURNER]

The core of Chris' game, balance, early preparation, and sharp footwork, translate well to any surface. Most hard courts are rather neutral, so it should be a good surface for almost anyone, although that wasn't necessarily true in reality. I don't think that a hard court does anyone any favors in trying to beat Chris.

By Chris' own admission, she did not enjoy playing indoors, and she didn't enjoy winter weeks in cities like Chicago, New York, or Boston. Someone once said that as a Florida girl, Chris needed the sun. That's where she got her energy. And I can think of many players that needed to break a sweat in order to get down to playing their better tennis. That was certainly true of Chris.

The elements were more often kind to her than not. In humid conditions, her economical footwork, and stroke production, as well as her stoic nature, ensured that energy was never wasted either within points or between them. She kept everything very simple and basic while running her opponent all over the continent. While she made few errors in rallies, that did not mean she did not hug the sidelines and baseline with her strokes.

As for the wind, BJK said Evert was the best wind player she ever saw. She had that sixth sense for when the wind would pick up, and when it would die that only learning tennis in a coastal town will teach.

I suspect that the noise of an indoor area was not hospitable to her concentration. Dogs barking, siren's wailing, and planes flying by are nothing, but the enclosed and magnified sounds of people indoors, might be more irritating.

 

[suwanee4712]

Since I said that hard courts probably didn't help anyone against Chris, I totally left the other critical part of the equation out which is what hard courts do for the opponent's game. The one person that immediately comes to mind where it probably helped was Austin. Having grown up on the surface, the true bounces probably helped Austin to set up and hit the ball harder. I think playing on more natural, unpredictable surfaces like grass and clay helped Evert vs.Austin because she was more flexible and able to adapt her stroke better than Tracy probably was.

I hadn't considered King's hard court matches with Chris. She also grew up on the surface, but it sure didn't help her vs. Evert. Perhaps if they were a little closer in age it might have? That's pure speculation though.

Another player with a disappointing hard court record vs. Chris would be Andrea Jaeger. Her wins vs. Chris came on clay and indoors. I would have liked to have seen them play more on grass as Andrea matured because I think grass was also a good surface for her. But hard courts? Andrea probably should've beaten her somewhere on a hard court. I think the lasting memory of Chris defeating her in the 1982 US Open semi is an image that is hard to shake when considering the topic. Although, it was probably a slightly closer match than the score indicated.

 

[DMan]

Since I said that hard courts probably didn't help anyone against Chris, I totally left the other critical part of the equation out which is what hard courts do for the opponent's game. The one person that immediately comes to mind where it probably helped was Austin. Having grown up on the surface, the true bounces probably helped Austin to set up and hit the ball harder. I think playing on more natural, unpredictable surfaces like grass and clay helped Evert vs.Austin because she was more flexible and able to adapt her stroke better than Tracy probably was.

I hadn't considered King's hard court matches with Chris. She also grew up on the surface, but it sure didn't help her vs. Evert. Perhaps if they were a little closer in age it might have? That's pure speculation though.

Another player with a disappointing hard court record vs. Chris would be Andrea Jaeger. Her wins vs. Chris came on clay and indoors. I would have liked to have seen them play more on grass as Andrea matured because I think grass was also a good surface for her. But hard courts? Andrea probably should've beaten her somewhere on a hard court. I think the lasting memory of Chris defeating her in the 1982 US Open semi is an image that is hard to shake when considering the topic. Although, it was probably a slightly closer match than the score indicated.

You would think Austin's chances on hard court vs Evert would be pretty good, considering Tracy was raised on hardcourts. However, their H2H is 4-2 in favor of Evert

1978 US Open QF: Evert d. Austin 7-5,6-1
1979 Clairol Crown SF: Evert d. Austin 6-1,7-5
1979 Volvo F: Evert d. Austin 6-7,6-4,6-1
1979 US Open F: Austin d. Evert 6-4,6-3
1980 US Open SF: Evert d. Austin 4-6,6-1,6-1
1981 Canadian Open F: Austin d. Evert 6-1,6-4

A few comments. It's too bad they didn't play more often on hardcourts. The fact they didn't wasn't really Chris' fault. Plus Austin was off the tour in mid-1983. That was the year when nearly all the top players competed in the summer hard court events in the US, including a stop in Los Angeles, Tracy's hometown.

Hard court events were held outdoors, and that would always favor Chris over Tracy. The reason why Chris was the better player is because she had more variety, and more flexibility with how she played. The longer the rallies ensued, the more likely the point would go to Evert.

Austin had one lone win over Chris on clay, but the majority of her wins over Evert were on fast indoor carpet. The surface that Tracy was most suited for, and which was Chris' worst surface. Austin had one relatively easy win, their last ever hardcourt match, in the 1981 Canadian Open final. I have a very hard time believing Austin would have defeated Evert on a hardcourt if they had played the same tournaments pre-1983, or if Austin would have been on the tour longer.

As far as Jaeger, I am not surprised at all she fared poorly against Chris on hardcourts. Jaeger, for all her variety and athleticism, wasn't patient enough or clever enough to beat Chris on a hardcourt. They had one close match, otherwise the majority of their hardcourt encounters were relatively easy wins for Chris.

 

[BTURNER]

Something else I just thought of about hard courts. They are the least 'injury forgiving' of all surfaces. If you have a bad back like Austin, bad knees like King, or a groin injury, or foot/ ankle injuries, the fact that there is soo little give on that surface is very frustrating if you have an injury you need to 'baby'. Its also the surface that absorbs the least heat. It reflects it. that's why the court temperature measured on the cement on a hot day is so much hotter than the surrounding air. I doubt you get those 110 or 120 degree surface temperature readings grass or clay. Evert hardly ever had an injury to pamper, a knee to bandage, an ankle brace until after 1986 or later and I can't ever recall her cramping. That was always somebody else. Again she tended to run you around more than you ran her around.