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Chris Evert Thread

392K views 3K replies 139 participants last post by  samn 
#1 · (Edited)
Well Steffi, Jana and Martina N all have threads in their names so I started a thread for Chris Evert.




:bounce:
 
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#2,768 ·
Palm Beach Gardens hosted official tour events but, based on this article, I am inclined to believe the 1985 event was an exhibition event.

 
#2,769 ·
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#2,771 ·
Yeah, Chrissie earned $50,000 per match played in that exhibition, which was a pretty large sum of money for 1985. For her to earn prize money at the same rate at the US Open, for instance, she'd have had to wait until 1990 and then win the whole shebang that year to earn the winner's cheque of $350,000.
 
#2,772 ·
I found a bad scan of these photos (from Richard Evans' "Open Tennis") on my laptop. Chris was so photogenic in her youth and her smile lights up the camera.

Is the picture in the lower left from that infamous 6-1 6-2 loss to Pammy's BFF, Tracy Austin, in the 1981 Toyota semis? I've read reports which describe Evert has having worn a black (or some dark-coloured) outfit and looking a bit morose during the entire match. There is also a sign behind her that seems to say "Toyota", so is this perhaps a photo from that match?

185810
 
#2,774 · (Edited)
The only complaint I had about Evert in 1981 was I thought she was a bit too thin. She was the thinnest in 1981 for sure.

The 1985 exho at Palm Beach actually had equal or more money for doubles I think. Pam writes about it in Passing Shots-playing with "whacko Hana" Mandlikova.
 
#2,775 ·
Yeah, Hana wasn't too happy about that 'wacko' comment. To be fair, having just watched the Hana v. Pam match from Palm Beach Gardens, Hana had every right to be annoyed as Pammy was acting like a total A*h** throughout their match and acting as if it was her 'poor play' and not Hana's genius that was deciding the match. Rarely has their been two players with more opposing styles and approaches to the game. On one side of the court, pure beauty, grace and style and on the other side, all flailing arms and elbows.
 
#2,777 ·
My favourite Chrissie look is from 1982. I thought she looked lovely during her Wimbledon semi-final against BJK.
 
#2,779 ·
I'd go for the French in 1983. That headband look. Or maybe the era where she wore Burt Reyolds "Babe" necklace.

She knew how to manipulate. In 1973 a reporter asked how much she weighed (WORST question EVER to a lady IMO). She said "120". "But I'd really like to weight 118. Can't you just put 118?" She put her arm on his knee as she said it. LOL. Slick one that Chrissie.
 
#2,781 ·
I liked the 1983 Olivia Newton John look, as it was the last time she ever resembled the young Chris Evert... which I mean by looking effortlessly attractive and natural with soft flowing, undamaged youthful hair. That Terrible Fall she turned a corner and never was able to find her way back. She got The World’s Ugliest Deep Fried Perm and then the whopper, a Mullet from K-Mart’s after Christmas’83 blue light special isle. It was hideous and the first time I felt embarrassed for her.
Then the next year Chlorox was added to the routine and she became Trailer Parc Patsy who most likely dated her cousin Pat! Poor Chris. I think she had no idea how trashy she looked until Matrix added her name to their SoCal tournament and gave her a makeover in 1992. Suddenly she had soft, healthy looking hair again... and, I remember thinking ‘Oh, there’s Pretty Chris again, it’s about time gurl!’
haha
 
#2,782 ·
I liked the 1983 Olivia Newton John look, as it was the last time she ever resembled the young Chris Evert... which I mean by looking effortlessly attractive and natural with soft flowing, undamaged youthful hair. That Terrible Fall she turned a corner and never was able to find her way back. She got The World’s Ugliest Deep Fried Perm and then the whopper, a Mullet from K-Mart’s after Christmas’83 blue light special isle. It was hideous and the first time I felt embarrassed for her.
Then the next year Chlorox was added to the routine and she became Trailer Parc Patsy who most likely dated her cousin Pat! Poor Chris. I think she had no idea how trashy she looked until Matrix added her name to their SoCal tournament and gave her a makeover in 1992. Suddenly she had soft, healthy looking hair again... and, I remember thinking ‘Oh, there’s Pretty Chris again, it’s about time gurl!’
haha
I thought Chrissie looked terrific with the short perm, 1985 Wimbledon in particular she looked fantastic. Honestly at that time people were mistaking us for twins!
 
#2,784 ·
I thought Chris didn't look too bad at the French in 1985 or when she dished out the Newport smackdown to Pam "I want to play Chris in a Grand Slam semi-final instead of Martina" Shriver. For me 1984 was the nadir in terms of her overall look. Everything about the 1984 US Open final is a disaster: the hair, the unflattering outfit, her tentative play in the closing stages of the second set, the unnecessarily harsh treatment of Martina by the fans.
 
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#2,786 ·
I think that disaster made its world debut at Deerfield and wouldn’t ya know that it was a Showdown of Fried Queen FrizzHeads Starring Our Bonnie Gadusek! You just can’t make this shite up, it’s so good.
On a positive note, this was before Chris borrowed Bonnie’s Dollar General Chlorox so at least the color is natural looking....

 
#2,788 ·
Oh I bet Pammy! Especially that Bonnie! She was probably green with envy!

If you watch the beginning of the video it’s hilarious listening to Mary Carillo and lilting ASMR Lynda Carter discuss how BonnieSue has been trash talking Our Chrissie - saying she was going to beat her sumpthin’ good!
Of course Chris then trashed her six love, just to show her who was The Queen of Floridian Tennis.

Why didn’t Hana learn from BonnieSue just months later? No one trashes Christine Marie E!
 
#2,789 ·
Oh I bet Pammy! Especially that Bonnie! She was probably green with envy!

If you watch the beginning of the video it’s hilarious listening to Mary Carillo and lilting ASMR Lynda Carter discuss how BonnieSue has been trash talking Our Chrissie - saying she was going to beat her sumpthin’ good!
Of course Chris then trashed her six love, just to show her who was The Queen of Floridian Tennis.

Why didn’t Hana learn from BonnieSue just months later? No one trashes Christine Marie E!
I love how Chrissie was so P.O'D that she called Papa Jimmy (may he rest in peace) up from his duties at Holiday Park to make sure Chrissie's game was in working order so she could really turn the screws on the Bonnstress (as I liked to call her).
 
#2,791 ·
Ye gods! Maybe Chrissie went on a bender after being annihilated 6-1 6-3 in the US Open final earlier that summer and this hairdo was an unfortunate choice made whilst in an alcohol-induced daze? Even so the hair in the Gadusek match doesn't look as bad as what was to come in 1984.

Gadusek's visor and permanent knee brace are nice accessories to her own "I'm going to whip Chrissie in her own backyard" look. Hana wasn't the only one who didn't learn anything from "The Public Flogging of Gadusek" dished out by Evert. Didn't Kathy Jordan say stuff like, "Chris is at our level now" during the spring or summer of 84? I also remember reading about Pammy jumping on the "Chris is so beatable now that 'Tini has shown us all how to do it" bandwagon with the other pigeons.
 
#2,792 ·
I can see Hana pulling a stunt like this - she was a much more gifted natural athlete, more naturally talented, stronger, more explosive and had all the goods to beat either Chris or Martina in straights (she had done just that) on any given day (when the stars magically aligned.)

But Bonnie frickin’ Gadusek!? Bonnie Sue must have been a bit loony to think she could outplay Chris on the baseline in Florida! I wonder what she was like at the time... one of those tedious braggarts who is all talk and never delivers, is what I imagine. I wonder if Chris ever interacted with her in the locker room or on any of the tournament grounds? I doubt it.

I kinda understand Kathy Jordan too. Obviously she shouldn’t have said that about Chris during the only season she made all four slam finals (and got back to number one a few months after). But Kathy was talented and always a threat to anyone she played. Nothing like Hana in terms of ability and talent, but she was a threat to everyone. Bonnie Sue on the other hand...:ROFLMAO:
 
#2,793 ·
I think the Bonnstress was trying a different psychological tact than the tried and true, 'I'm just going to play me game' and probably thought she might psych Chrissie out. She also might have been a bit PO'd because Chris had said publicly that her game was 'limited' (for a GG fan such as yourself, Mark, it's a very Barbara Thorndyke comment) and didn't think she could go much higher in the rankings than she already had.
 
#2,796 ·
I thought it was Novotna who said that about Steffi after the australian open? I am sure she regretted it already after Berlin that year.

But what did Chris Evert say that was so bad this week? They were calling her racist and all on twitter but from what I saw she didn't say anthing bad at all. It was stupid.(from the people who accused her. Not Evert herself)
 
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