Chris Evert supports Caitlin Clark after $850 million-worth WNBA owner raises questions on her TIME Athlete of the Year award
Chris Evert has come out in support of WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark after WNBA owner Sheila Johnson made some controversial comments on her receiving the TIME Athlete of the Year award.
Johnson, worth $850 million, is a vice-chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns a sports company that manages the Washington Mystics in the WNBA. The company also manages the Washington Wizards in the NBA and the Washington Capitals in the NHL.
Earlier last week, Caitlin Clark was awarded the TIME magazine's top honor, the first ever WNBA player to achieve the feat. Playing for the Indiana Fever, 2024 was an incredible year for Clark, who made it to the WNBA All-Star team and won the Rookie of the Year award in the league. Although Fever did not win the league, Clark has been unanimously praised for popularizing women's basketball in the USA as well as the world.
Regardless, Sheila Johnson did not think Clark should have been TIME's Athlete of the Year, stating in an interview with CNN that the award should have gone to the WNBA as a whole.
“Caitlin Clark was named [Time Magazine] Athlete of the year. Why couldn’t they have put the whole WNBA on that cover and said ‘The WNBA is the league of the year’?” she said.
Her comments were not taken well by fans, who called her out for undermining the superlative achievements of a star athlete who has caught the imagination of the world.
Chris Evert also backed the criticism, stating on social media that Caitlin Clark deserved the award for the contributions she made to WNBA in 2024, both on and off the court.
"Caitlin Clark deserves this award because of her talent and contributions both on and off the court..." Evert wrote.
Caitlin Clark drew reactions from Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek for winning TIME Athlete of the Year
Meanwhile, the tennis community has embraced Caitlin Clark wholeheartedly after her TIME Athlete of the Year win. Coco Gauff reacted to her achievement by sending her heart-eyes emojis to show her approval, while Iga Swiatek extended her congratulations to the WNBA star saying:
"Extraordinary achievement. Respect."
As for their own 2024 seasons were concerned, Gauff and Swiatek had mixed fortunes over the course of the year. Although Swiatek won the French Open, she lost the World No. 1 spot to Aryna Sabalenka at the end of the year. Gauff, even though she did not win a Slam, ended 2024 on a high with a title run at the WTA Finals in Riyadh.