"My mother was intimidated by Chris Evert" - John Lloyd
Around five years after breaking up with tennis great Jimmy Connors, 18-time Grand Slam champion Chris Evert married former British No. 1 John Lloyd in 1979. However, the couple filed for divorce eight years later in 1987.
68-year-old Lloyd released his autobiography, Dear John, a few months ago and was a guest on the Rock n Roll Tennis podcast recently. When host Keith Fraser asked Lloyd if his mother liked Evert when they started dating, he said that it took some time since she was intimidated by the tennis star.
"She did, but it took a while only because she was intimidated," Lloyd said. "My dad took about five minutes because he was a huge tennis fan and he adored her and thought that she was the greatest ever. But my mother was kind of very weary, but she was always weary about anybody I went out with. Chris was great with her, Chris was very affectionate with her and she certainly won her over after a while. But getting ladies past my mother was not easy. I tried to avoid it as much as I could."
Chris Evert entered her second marriage with former Alpine ski racer Andy Mill in 1988 and parted ways with him in 2006. She married Australian entrepreneur and retired professional golfer Greg Norman in 2008 but it didn't work out and the two got a divorce the next year.
"I went into a world that was way out of my league" - John Lloyd on why his marriage with Chris Evert ended
During a recent interview with Tennis365, John Lloyd spoke about why his marriage to former World No. 1 Chris Evert failed. He admitted to his ego getting in the way as Evert was considered one of the best players and was almost always in the limelight. Lloyd stated that he was often referred to as 'Mr. Evert' when he traveled to different locations around the world.
"I went into a world that was way out of my league," Lloyd said. "I think I had a little bit of preparation, but it wasn’t the same as being married to a world star who was famous beyond belief. You don’t think of it at the time and then you go to places. When you marry someone who’s as famous as that, you have to swallow your ego and leave it at the front door. There were times when I was referred to Mr. Evert, and all that sort of stuff."