How tennis greats fared post-marriage

In the first instalment of our article, we talked about the ladies bringing luck (or not) to the courts for their men. Now it’s the ladies themselves. Let’s see how they balanced their careers with their personal lives.

We’ll talk about five beauties on and off the court and their lives with tennis and marriage.

Chris Evert — Chris Evert, a winner of 18 Grand Slam singles titles, turned pro in 1972. At the age of 16, she became the youngest tennis player to reach the semi-finals of the US Open. She ruled for seven years as the number 1 player in the world.

Evert was romantically paired with Jimmy Connors in 1974, when they won Wimbledon singles title individually. But their engagement couldn’t last long and they broke it off later in that year.

Evert continued to be the world’s No. 1 player for the next five years. She won her second French Open and the first of four straight US Open titles by defeating Evonne Goolagong Cawley in a three-set final.

1976 was a remarkable year for Evert as she won both Wimbledon and the US Open title, defeating Goolagong in exhilarating matches on grass and clay courts. Evert dominated the game and with her calm persona on court, she earned the nickname of the “Ice Maiden” of tennis. She won two more US Open titles in 1977 and 1978.

Evert got married to John Lloyd in 1979. She won 10 of her 18 Grand Slams after getting married to Lloyd. That year she won the French Open, defeating Turnbull in a close match, and she lost to Navratilova in the Wimbledon final. She went on to win 9 more Grand Slams in the next seven years. Her last Grand Slam win was the French Open in the year 1986. A year after that she divorced Lloyd.

In 1988, Evert married Andy Mill. This was the year she made it to her last Grand Slam final, at the Australian Open, where Steffi Graf beat her for the title.

The US Open of 1989 was the last Grand Slam Evert played, losing in the quarterfinals to Zina Garrison by a score of 6–7, 2–6. Evert retired from the professional arena the same year.

Evonne Goolagong-Cawley - She is a former Australian tennis professional. She won a total of seven Grand Slam singles titles. During the 1970s, she reached seventeen Grand Slam singles finals, a record for any player; man or woman. From 1973 to 1978 she reached the finals in almost every Grand Slam tournament she played. She was one of the leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Goolagong tied the knot with Roger Cawley in 1975; she is the only mother to have won the Wimbledon title. She gave birth to her daughter in 1977 and won the 1980 Wimbledon title.

Post 1980, Goolagong’s performances started fading. She reached four consecutive US Open finals and lost all of them. She returned in 1983 to play her last Grand Slam singles tournament but unfortunately, she lost to Chris Evert.