It players: Margaret Court and Chris Evert
- Margaret Court, one of the greats
Margaret Court was born in 1942. At that time, the Australian was considered the best women’s tennis player of all time. His long reach and impressive movement made his service volley deadly in those days. Its strength was a key asset that allowed it to generate very efficient overhead. Court had claimed nine Grand Slam singles titles prior to the Open Era, and by 1964 he had already achieved career Grand Slam singles titles in all three tennis disciplines; he had won all four major tournaments in singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
The advent of the open era, in 1968, did not end his dominance of the game. In 1969, the only major title she failed to claim was Wimbledon, but in 1970 she became the first woman to complete a Grand Slam in the Open era, winning at Forest Hills in September, defeating Rosie Casals in the final (6-2, 2-6, 6-1).
Chris Evert was born in 1954 in Florida. Coached by his father, he developed a game based on consistency, keeping his opponent away from the net with his deep shots and punishing them with big passes if they tried to take the net off guard. Ranked No. 1 in the U.S. under-14 rankings in 1969, Evert won the 16-and-under national championship in 1970 and was invited to play in an eight-player clay court tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The placeCharlotte, North Carolina
The Charlotte International Open was established in 1967. Originally held in the spring on clay courts, it was moved to September 1970. The defending champion was the great Margaret Court, who had just won the Grand Slam of the calendar year.
The facts
In September 1970, Margaret Court was virtually unbeatable. Since the beginning of the year, she had already won titles in 21 tournaments, including four major events, thus completing the first Grand Slam of the open era of women’s tennis (previously won by Maureen Connolly in 1953). For this Grand Slam victory, she defeated Kerry Melville Reed in the final of the Australian Open, Helga Nissen Mastoff in the final of the French Open, Billie Jean King in the final of Wimbledon, and Rosemary Casals in the final of the US Open. No one in Charlotte believed that a kid like 15-year-old Chris Evert could do any harm to the great Margaret Court.
However, the American prodigy destroyed 1967 Roland Garros champion Francoise Dury 6-1, 6-0 in the first round. The court was warned that the teenager should be taken seriously. Meanwhile, Evert, with his extremely consistent and deep two-handed backhand, believed in his chances. It soon became clear that her deep shots were going to be a problem for Court, who couldn’t get to the net as easily as usual. The world No. 1, perhaps exhausted after a long and successful season, showed signs of nervousness as evidenced by his 14 double faults on the day. Taking advantage of Court’s average performance, Evert won in two sets, 7-6, 7-6, to achieve a feat dubbed “the biggest upset of the year”. The New York Times.
What next?
Although he would remain one of the best players in the world, Court’s dominance on the tour would not continue unabated. He would retire in 1977 with a total of 64 Grand Slam titles, including 24 in singles, a record that still stands. In 2003, a 6,000-seat stadium was named after him at Melbourne Park at the Australian Open. He would become a Christian minister in Perth and later find himself in several controversies due to homophobic comments.
Chris Evert claimed his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros in 1974 before winning Wimbledon the same year. She lifted the trophy three times in a row at Forest Hills in 1975, 1976 and 1977, becoming the only woman to ever win the US Open on clay as the tournament moved to the hard courts of Flushing Meadows in 1978. on both red and green dirt. The “Ice Maiden” would go on to become one of the greatest players of all time, finishing with no fewer than 18 Grand Slam titles in 1989.
The two later met in the 1973 Roland Garros final, where Court won 6-7(5), 7-6(6), 6-4.
