Sports Then and Now

Chris Evert is No. 1 for the Ladies Tour at the French Open

How do you measure the greatness of an athlete within their respective sport? What factors determine the degree of greatness over a period of time––years or decades?

Further, how do you determine who is No. 1 in any given list or ranking? First you must find a pattern and then you must determine the significant components of the ranking––does each factor merit being used as part of the overall equation?

Sometimes it does, without question––like the score in a game. The highest or lowest score wins as in football or golf.

It is not always a simple task to determine who is the greatest because such discussions invariably have subjective components.

For this ranking, first consider the number of times a woman made it to the French Open finals since 1968 (Open Era) as the initial demarcation of greatness. To be considered she must have made it to the finals of the French Open at least 3 times.

Within the number of appearances, measure the wins against the losses in a given number of tries.

No. 1 Chris Evert ––Nine French Open Finals

Chris Evert winning seven of nine final appearances remains the undisputed leader on the clay at the French Open in Paris surpassing even her male counterparts in some estimations.

Evert won 7 French Open titles in 9 final appearances.

Clay brought out the strengths of Evert’s game––her patience, determination and her ability to construct points. She was tireless and unflappable on the red clay at Stade Roland Garros––hence her nickname, the Iron Princess.

The fact that she owns the clay court record with an 125-match win streak from 1973-1979 illustrates her prowess on the surface. During that run she lost only seven sets.

It was the one surface on which Evert generally prevailed over her arch-rival Martina Navratilova whose one weakness might have been the slow clay. They met in four finals on the red dirt with Evert coming out on top in three––all Evert’s wins over the Czech were three-set finals.

In all Evert appeared in nine finals at the French Open in 1973, 1974, 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, winning them all except in 1973 and 1984.

Evert’s winning percentage stands at 92.4% [73-6].

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Seven of Steffi Graf's 22 career Grand Slam titles came at Wimbledon.

“Will you marry me?” someone called from the stands.

“How much money do you have?” was Steffi’s gravely delivered response, eyes fixed upon her opponent across the net.

The crowd erupted in laughter.  It was Wimbledon, and a crowd, and player, not given to much jocularity.  She’d been dating race car driver, Michael Bartels, for years, with no indication that anything more serious was coming out of it.  It was an impertinent question, an improbable response, and so hugely funny at the time.

For me as a casual spectator (watching it on TV, from the horizontal position on the couch, no less), it was the first indication that the serious, un-smiling, un-’gamine,’ Steffi Graf might be  interested in more than crushing  opponents with hard-core resolve; be more than merely stoic in demeanor.

Stefanie Marie Graf.  Born June 14, 1969.  One of a few well-beloved living legends of this, or any, sport.  Arguably the greatest woman’s champion of all time.  She turned pro at age 13, at age 19 she completed one of the feats of all sports, a Golden Slam – a calendar year Grand Slam of tennis majors and an Olympic Gold medal (1988 – Sydney), that is only a part of her legend.

She retired in 1999, after almost 17 years in the sport, with a total of 22 major titles, second only in history to Margaret Court’s astounding 24.

What distinguished her (see summary at the end of the article), was ability on all surfaces.  Some tennis players are grass court specialists (with a minor on hardcourts), for example. Not Steffi.  She had terrific ability on all surfaces.

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Andre Agassi uses his new book, Open, as a chance to purge his past and look toward the future.

Much has been written about the admission by Andre Agassi in his new autobiography, Open, that he regularly used crystal meth over a period of months in 1997.

While some may see that revelation as significant and choose to use it as an opportunity to pass judgment on Agassi, the incident is actually little more than a relevant footnote in a 386-page memoir that serves as a self-introduction by a person we all thought we already knew.

While there have been greater tennis players, no other tennis star has so permeated the fabric of American culture as has this flamboyant character from Las Vegas. For more than 20 years, Agassi has transcended tennis and in the process become one of those rare American sports icons that is known not only by fans of his particular sport, but also by people who would be shocked to learn that all tennis matches aren’t played on hard courts.

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The 1980s were a Golden Era for Professional Tennis.

It was the best of times – Tennis in the Eighties – when the thrill of tense tiebreaks entered everyman’s domicile, highlighted by exotic locales like Paris, Melbourne, London and New York.

The 1980s tennis also ushered in exciting yet exasperating players whose on-court conduct thrilled, engaged and enraged fans across the globe.

The ’80s energized the popularity base and took tennis out of country clubs and landed estates and into public parks and arenas.  It became a sport in contrast to an amenable pastime.

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