Why Doesn't Chris Evert's Legacy Receive Respect Today?

I am a big Chris Evert fan. I only started watching tennis in 2004 and immediately came to love Lindsay Davenport and Roger Federer. During my third or fourth year at college, I started using YouTube to look for older tennis matches that I never had a chance to see. That's when I came across Chris Evert.

Sure, before that I had heard of her, but I didn't know much about her. After watching a number of videos, I stumbled across chrisevert.net, a valuable archive of videos, statistics, analysis, and anecdotes pertaining to Chris. More importantly, the website offers some reasons that Chris and her legacy are so important for tennis today. After that, I really became a Chris Evert fan.

I say all that to ask this question: why doesn't Chris Evert's legacy receive respect today? At the outset, I want to say that I am not defending or advocating Evert as the greatest female player of all time. While I think she is in the running for that status and that many people have solid reasons for drawing that conclusion, I myself have a couple reservations that prevent me from according her that status.

Instead, what is it about Evert's legacy that so many current tennis fans forget or even dislike? The other day, whether it was on Talk Tennis or another forum, I came across a shocking comment: no one today seriously considers Margaret Court or Chris Evert to be among the best players of all time. Yet tennis historians and authorities includes Chris in the top 10, and most of them include her in the top 3, with Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova. Steve Flink rates Evert as the third best, behind Graf and Navratilova, in that order.

Do you dislike Chris Evert and her tennis accomplishments? If so, why? If not, what legacy do you think she has left for tennis to appreciate or emulate? Just curious. Thanks for your comments!
 

BTURNER

Legend
Well I don't think my answer will surprise many here. Evert's great legacy is her consistent high level of play throughout her entire career. Problem is this is not a value very highly rated by Americans who prefer to talk about the single highest elevation of Mt Everest to the highest average elevation of a mountain range, no matter how beautiful the scenery or diverse the wildlife at a slightly lower elevation may or may not be.

this is not an attribute only American tennis fans share, it goes to baseball, football, basketball. We give respectfull nods towards consistent quality but oooh and ahhh at something else.
 

ollinger

G.O.A.T.
Let me put it another way -- her game was as exciting to watch as a metronome, whether one is American or not, and she was not even the best of her era. She had a career losing record against Navratilove, nowhere moreso than in grand slam finals where she was 4-10 against Martina. She was a consistent player from the baseline and this was enough to win many tournaments. Marginal serve, adequate volley.
 

BTURNER

Legend
Let me put it another way -- her game was as exciting to watch as a metronome, whether one is American or not, and she was not even the best of her era. She had a career losing record against Navratilove, nowhere moreso than in grand slam finals where she was 4-10 against Martina. She was a consistent player from the baseline and this was enough to win many tournaments. Marginal serve, adequate volley.

I have to ask how much of Evert have you watched?
 

Joe Pike

Banned
I am a big Chris Evert fan. I only started watching tennis in 2004 and immediately came to love Lindsay Davenport and Roger Federer. During my third or fourth year at college, I started using YouTube to look for older tennis matches that I never had a chance to see. That's when I came across Chris Evert.

Sure, before that I had heard of her, but I didn't know much about her. After watching a number of videos, I stumbled across chrisevert.net, a valuable archive of videos, statistics, analysis, and anecdotes pertaining to Chris. More importantly, the website offers some reasons that Chris and her legacy are so important for tennis today. After that, I really became a Chris Evert fan.

I say all that to ask this question: why doesn't Chris Evert's legacy receive respect today? At the outset, I want to say that I am not defending or advocating Evert as the greatest female player of all time. While I think she is in the running for that status and that many people have solid reasons for drawing that conclusion, I myself have a couple reservations that prevent me from according her that status.

Instead, what is it about Evert's legacy that so many current tennis fans forget or even dislike? The other day, whether it was on Talk Tennis or another forum, I came across a shocking comment: no one today seriously considers Margaret Court or Chris Evert to be among the best players of all time. Yet tennis historians and authorities includes Chris in the top 10, and most of them include her in the top 3, with Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova. Steve Flink rates Evert as the third best, behind Graf and Navratilova, in that order.

Do you dislike Chris Evert and her tennis accomplishments? If so, why? If not, what legacy do you think she has left for tennis to appreciate or emulate? Just curious. Thanks for your comments!


Serena would have beaten Chris with today's racquets, Chris would have beaten Serena with 1980's racquets. So we can't say who was "better".

What we can say is that Chris is "greater".
Together with Court, Navratilova and Graf she is one of the Big Four of professional tennis. I have never heard of anyone who denies that (with the exception of some Serenatards and Selestards maybe ...).
 

ollinger

G.O.A.T.
TURNER
How much of Evert have I watched? Her entire career. I got interested in tennis in the late 60s, saw her from the beginning, watched throughout her career, always found her game a bore. This is not to say she wasn't tremendously disciplined and consistent.
 

BTURNER

Legend
TURNER
How much of Evert have I watched? Her entire career. I got interested in tennis in the late 60s, saw her from the beginning, watched throughout her career, always found her game a bore. This is not to say she wasn't tremendously disciplined and consistent.

did you find it more boring than Austin's, Jaegers, Capriati's etc? Is it her style of tennis or the way she played it?
 
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kiki

Banned
I am a big Chris Evert fan. I only started watching tennis in 2004 and immediately came to love Lindsay Davenport and Roger Federer. During my third or fourth year at college, I started using YouTube to look for older tennis matches that I never had a chance to see. That's when I came across Chris Evert.

Sure, before that I had heard of her, but I didn't know much about her. After watching a number of videos, I stumbled across chrisevert.net, a valuable archive of videos, statistics, analysis, and anecdotes pertaining to Chris. More importantly, the website offers some reasons that Chris and her legacy are so important for tennis today. After that, I really became a Chris Evert fan.

I say all that to ask this question: why doesn't Chris Evert's legacy receive respect today? At the outset, I want to say that I am not defending or advocating Evert as the greatest female player of all time. While I think she is in the running for that status and that many people have solid reasons for drawing that conclusion, I myself have a couple reservations that prevent me from according her that status.

Instead, what is it about Evert's legacy that so many current tennis fans forget or even dislike? The other day, whether it was on Talk Tennis or another forum, I came across a shocking comment: no one today seriously considers Margaret Court or Chris Evert to be among the best players of all time. Yet tennis historians and authorities includes Chris in the top 10, and most of them include her in the top 3, with Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova. Steve Flink rates Evert as the third best, behind Graf and Navratilova, in that order.

Do you dislike Chris Evert and her tennis accomplishments? If so, why? If not, what legacy do you think she has left for tennis to appreciate or emulate? Just curious. Thanks for your comments!

The best legacy of Chris Evert was on court.Many, Many top players she played an inspirational role and, within their particular features, they played like clones:Austin,Jaeger,Capriati,Rinaldi,Hingis in the tactical sense, Seles in the two fisted Bh, Henin...That´s the prove of how influential she was.
 
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NadalAgassi

Guest
Evert and Court are both underrated and Graf and Navratilova both overrated. The 4 should actually be seen as quite equal, in fact IMO Graf is the weakest link of those 4. However most people see Graf and Navratilova on their own and way ahead of the other 2. Navratilova is judged only on her peak level of play and dominance of an incredibly weak field in the mid 80s which other than a past her prime Chris which due to the pitiful field Martina could completely cater her game to try and beat and a streaky and also overrated Mandlikova was a sea of nobodies who were weak even for regular top 10 standards, while the other areas her career falls short to other 3 I mentioned are ignored. Graf had the luckiest set of circumstances ever, rising when Chris was nearly retired and Martina was also starting to slow down, then having Seles stabbed and most of the other top players fall off around the same point, and then being saved by injuries from the next generation. Even with all that she failed to set any major records. Both are great players still of course but the perception they are so much better than Chris and Margaret is wrong.
 
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Joe Pike

Banned
Evert and Court are both underrated and Graf and Navratilova both overrated. The 4 should actually be seen as quite equal, in fact IMO Graf is the weakest link of those 4. However most people see Graf and Navratilova on their own and way ahead of the other 2.


Graf is extremely underrated, IMO.
People forget that Court, Evert and Navratilova had almost no injuries during their careers while Steffi had to cope with tons of illnesses and injuries. Not even talking about her nasty off-court distractions (dad's scandals, death threats).
 
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NadalAgassi

Guest
Graf is extremely underrated, IMO.
People forget that Court, Evert and Navratilova had almost no injuries during their careers while Steffi had to cope with tons of illnesses and injuries. Not even talking about her nasty off-court distractions (dad's scandals, death threats).

If you want to play that game Navratilova had to deal with her defection and had alot of weight problems the whole first half of her career. Along with dealing with being a lesbian which wasnt so accepted back then.

Court had to miss time for a couple pregnancies and another brief retirement.

Evert missed the Australian and French many times during the height of her dominance in the mid to late 70s, and thus likely alot more slams.
 

Joe Pike

Banned
... Graf had the luckiest set of circumstances ever, ... Even with all that she failed to set any major records. ...


Only Golden Grand Slam ever.
Most slams in open era.
Each slam won at least a record 4 times.
Most weeks as #1.
Most consecutive weeks as #1.
Most year end #1's.
FO/Wim/USO slam combo a record 4 times.
Won 3+ slams in a record 5 years.

Yeah, no major records ... :):)
 

Joe Pike

Banned
If you want to play that game Navratilova had to deal with her defection and had alot of weight problems the whole first half of her career. Along with dealing with being a lesbian which wasnt so accepted back then.

Court had to miss time for a couple pregnancies and another brief retirement.

Evert missed the Australian and French many times during the height of her dominance in the mid to late 70s, and thus likely alot more slams.


Weight problems, being lesbian, being pregnant, not wanting to play slams - yes, that was really shocking.

You forgot "not being allowed to grunt" and "quarter final opponent raised her hand" ...
 
N

NadalAgassi

Guest
Weight problems, being lesbian, being pregnant, not wanting to play slams - yes, that was really shocking.

Better excuses than a crazy dad. And for the record there are crazier dads in tennis than Mr. Graf. Want to speculate what Mary Pierce could have achieved without her pyscho dad who beat the crap out of her daily growing up, or Jennifer without Mr. Capriati who treated his daughter like a cash cow.
 

BTURNER

Legend
The OP post asks about Court under appreciated here. For the life of me I can't figure that one out. If you throw half or two thirds of those Australians in the garbage heap, you still have a GOAT worthy record. Incredibly consistent in reaching finals regardless of surface, with a winning H to H record against virtually every woman for the better part of two decades(except Evert) and for those who laud doubles or that calender slam - she's got those too! Certainly the Champion S/v with the best backcourt skills - dominating the clay tour - and every shot the game can imagine with a wood racket. Anyone care to argue that a player spanning Darlene Hard and Maria Bueno through King, Wade, Goolagong even Evert and Navratilova lucked out in in an easy era?
 
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I think it's time. everyone respects what she has done, but after a few decades the memories fade. in a few years also nobody will talk about graf or seles anymore.
 

kiki

Banned
Yep that's what happened to Laver, and Tilden, and Budge.

..and that is why our duty is to portray their flag and memories to the next generation of tennis fans, if they are open minded enough to see there is life out of Federer,Nadal,Serena,Justine... there is even life outside Roddick and Hewitt¡¡¡
 

boredone3456

G.O.A.T.
Despite Chris's consistency the main reason I do not put her at the GOAT spot is due to Martina Navratilova. Chris at one point lead the H2H something like 22-4 and then in the end Martina lead the H2H 43-39? (off the top of my head but its something like that). Also, Martina dominated Evert in terms of being able to beat her in slam finals, and at her peak she was a cut above the competition which included Evert. Now, you can say what you want about Martina's competition, but you can play the weak competition card for pretty much anybody if you spun things right. If Chris had been able to beat Martina in 1 more of those slam finals or had ended with a winning H2H, then I would consider it, but even if that were case it would all depend on where the win(s) happened.

As it is now, Chris is overlooked because in the end she comes off 2nd fiddle to Martina because of what I stated above: Losing H2H, Losing slam final H2H, fewer overall titles, fewer official weeks at number 1...Chris was great but in the end she comes up short in to many places. You could say if Martina had never been around then Chris would have cakewalked to heaven knows how many slams, but I think she had said she was going to retire early and it was Martina who made her stay...so even then....

Plus Everyone loves Steffi...sooo, Chris does get in many cases knocked down to a battle for 3rd on the GOAT list with Court and in some cases Wills. I personally put her in 3rd.
 
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