Chris Evert won eighteen grand slam singles tournaments in her career (two Australian Opens, seven French Opens, three Wimbledon Championships, and six US Opens), and was runner-up in sixteen other finals (giving her 34 final appearances). Evert competed in 56 Grand Slam singles tournaments, reaching the semifinals or better in 52 of them.
1971-1973: Early Grand Slam career
1971 Evert made her Grand Slam debut at age 16 at the 1971 US Open; she received an invitation after winning the national sixteen-and-under championship. After an easy straight-sets win over Edda Buding in the first round, she faced the American No. 4 Mary-Ann Eisel in the second round. Evert saved six match points, with Eisel at one point serving at 6–4, 6–5, 40–0 in the second set, before coming back to win 4–6, 7–6, 6–1. She made two further comebacks from a set down, against Françoise Dürr and Lesley Hunt, before losing in straight sets to Billie Jean King in the semifinals. The match was played before a crowd of 13,500 fans in attendance, which included then-Vice President Spiro Agnew. After the match, King said to Evert: "Don't let it bother you Chris. You've got your whole life ahead of you." This defeat ended a 46-match winning streak built up through a variety of professional and junior tour events.
1972 Evert made her first semifinal at Wimbledon against Evonne Goolagong. Evert was up one set, 3–1 in the second set but Goolagong rallied back to win the match 4–6, 6–3, 6–4. After the match, Evert said, "I will be playing Evonne many times again, and next time the pressure will be on her. There are plenty more Wimbledons ahead."
At the US Open, she reached the semifinals again, losing to Kerry Melville 6–4, 6–2.
1973 Evert played in her first ever Grand Slam final at the French Open, losing to Margaret Court in a hard-fought match 6–7, 7–6, 6–4. She later praised Court for “gut-sing out the match”.
At Wimbledon, Evert lost in the final against defending champion Billie Jean King. The match was delayed by a day and Evert said “I was up for the match a little better yesterday... Today I wasn't 100 per cent eager to play.” Evert conceded a lopsided first set 6–0 in just 17-minutes. In the second set, King broke Evert's serve to go up 2–0 but was broken back at 4–2. King eventually won the set in the twelfth game at 7–5, giving her a fifth Wimbledon singles title. Evert said of King, “she was too tough... She didn't make a single error. She played great.”
At the US Open, Evert once again reached the semifinals. Playing against Margaret Court, she lost a tight first set 7–5. In the second set, Evert made many passing shots against Court, exploiting poor court tactics by her opponent to win the set 7–5. In the third set, Court went back to the game plan she used to win the first set. Court broke Evert's serve in the fourth game, and took the set 6–2. Court went on to win the final, her fifth US Open and her last Grand Slam title.
1974–1976: Imposing dominance
1974 Evert played her first Australian Open in 1974, losing in the final against Evonne Goolagong 7–6, 4–6, 6–0. Evert hit a bad lob at 5–6 in the first-set tiebreaker, giving the set to Goolagong. Evert took an early 4–1 lead to push for a third set. In the deciding set, she failed to win a single game, saying afterward that she played "a bit sloppy".
At the French Open, Evert won her first Grand Slam title against her friend Olga Morozova in the final 6–1, 6–2. In the second set, Morozova broke Evert's serve in the fifth and seventh games but failed to hold her own serve during the entire set. Throughout the match, Morozova's net approaches were stymied by Evert's effective passing shots and lobs. Morozova was also Evert's doubles partner at the event, which they won against Gail Lovera and Katja Ebbinghaus 6–4, 2–6, 6–1. This was the first Grand Slam doubles title in Evert's career.
At Wimbledon, Evert survived a second-round scare against Lesley Hunt, defeating her 8–6, 5–7, 11–9. She then proceeded to reach the final, where she again defeated Morozova, 6–1, 6–4.
In September, Evert, seeded first for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament, reached the semifinals of the US Open, where she was defeated by Goolagong 6–0, 6–7, 6–3.
1975 At the French Open, Evert successfully defended her title. In the final, she played Martina Navratilova in their first of 14 Grand Slam finals. Evert played a poor first set, which Navratilova won 6–2. She then regained her focus and cruised through the next two sets, winning the title 2–6, 6–2, 6–1. Evert and Navratilova partnered up to win the women's doubles title, beating Julie Anthony and Olga Morozova 6–3, 6–2.
Evert failed to defend her title at 1975 Wimbledon Championships losing to Billie Jean King in the semi-finals 2–6, 6–2, 6–3.
At the US Open, she lost only eight games in her first four matches. In the semifinals, she defeated Navratilova 6–4, 6–4. In the final, she beat Evonne Goolagong Cawley 5–7, 6–4, 6–2 to win her first of four consecutive US Open titles. 1975 was notable for being the first US Open to be played on clay, Evert's best surface.
1976 Evert did not play at the French Open, electing instead to participate in World Team Tennis. At Wimbledon, Evert cruised through her first five rounds before meeting Martina Navratilova in the semifinals. She defeated Navratilova 6–3, 4–6, 6–4 in their first of nine meetings at Wimbledon. Evert went on to defeat Evonne Goolagong Cawley in a tightly contested final, 6–3, 4–6, 8–6. In the third set, Evert served for the championship at 5–4 but three straight unforced errors gave the break to Cawley. Evert was able to break again at 6-6 and close out the match on her serve. Evert and Navratilova also partnered up to win the women's doubles title, defeating Billie Jean King and Betty Stöve 6–3, 6–2. While this was Evert's last doubles Grand Slam title, Navratilova would go on to have a highly successful doubles career, winning another six Wimbledon championships with partners Billie Jean King and Pam Shriver.
At the US Open, Evert again faced Cawley in the final. This time, she won in decisive fashion, defeating Cawley 6–3, 6–0. Evert lost only 12 games during the entire tournament, setting a record for the fewest games lost by a Grand Slam champion in Open Era history, although she only played six matches due to the draw having 96 players instead of 128 as is standard today. Evert later called 1976 "the best year of my life."
1977–1979: New challengers
1977 As in 1976, Evert participated in World Team Tennis instead of playing at the French Open.
Evert failed to defend her Wimbledon title, losing to Virginia Wade 6–2, 4–6, 6–1 in the semi-finals. During the match, she committed 25 unforced errors, including six double faults. A disappointed Evert later commented: "I could not reach deep inside of myself and pull out what I needed to win the match."
At the US Open, she cruised through her first four matches, losing only eight games. In the quarterfinals, she dispatched four-time winner Billie Jean King 6–2, 6–0. In the final, Evert defeated 12th-seed Wendy Turnbull 7–6, 6–2, becoming the first player to win three consecutive US Open women's singles titles since Maureen Connolly in 1953. This was Evert's third consecutive US Open victory, and her seventh Grand Slam title.
1978 Evert again elected to play World Team Tennis in May instead of the French Open.
At Wimbledon, she defeated Virginia Wade in the semifinals in a rematch of their encounter the previous year. Martina Navratilova then beat Evert in the championship match 2–6, 6–4, 7–5. Evert led 4–2 in the final set but Navratilova rallied back to win her first Grand Slam title. With that win, Navratilova overtook Evert for the world No. 1 ranking for the first time in her career. After the match, Evert told the press that "[Navratilova] played her best when she got behind. She never got flustered. In the past, I've been the consistent one when the going got tough. Today it was different."
At the US Open, she reached the final without losing a set. She then defeated sixteen-year-old Pam Shriver in the final 7–5, 6–4 to win her fourth consecutive US Open title. Evert led 4–3 with a break in the first set but was broken back after making three double faults. After the match, Evert said "I was disgusted with those three double-faults... when I get nervous, serving is one of the first things that goes. But even at 5-4, I felt very confident. I didn't think there was any way I could lose." That win was Evert's first major hard court title, as the US Open was moved that year from the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills to the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, where it remains to this day. Evert remains the only female player in the Open Era to win the US Open four consecutive times.
1979 In May, Evert came back to the French Open after a four-year absence. She reached the final without difficulty, with the exception of a first-set loss to Ivanna Madruga in the third round. Playing in 90-degree weather, Evert dispatched fourth-seed Wendy Turnbull 6–2, 6–0 in the final in just 63 minutes. Evert said of winning her third French title that "this is a good tournament for me to win because I haven't done anything spectacular this year... it should help to build my confidence before Wimbledon although playing on grass will be completely different."
At Wimbledon, Evert reached the final without losing a set and again faced Navratilova for the title. Navratilova defeated Evert 6–4, 6–4.
At the US Open, Evert lost in the final to 16 year-old Tracy Austin 6–4, 6–3, putting an end to her 31-match winning streak at the tournament.
1980–1986: Peak of rivalry with Navratilova
1980 At the French Open, Evert lost two sets on the road to the final, against Bettina Bunge in the third round and against seventh-seed Hana Mandlíková in the semifinals. In the final, she defeated 1978 French Open Champion Virginia Ruzici 6–0, 6–3. The match featured lengthy rallies between Evert and Ruzici that frequently lasted 20 to 30 shots. After the match, Evert commented: "at the start of this year, I didn't know what my future would be... but this win has give me my confidence back in time for Wimbledon."
At Wimbledon, Evert, seeded third after being overtaken by Tracy Austin in the WTA ranking, faced Martina Navratilova for the third consecutive year, this time in the semifinals. Evert defeated Navratilova 4–6, 6–4, 6–2. In the final, she was defeated by Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6–1, 7–6. Evert failed to win her serve throughout the first set. The match was also notable for being the first Wimbledon singles final, men's or women's, to end on a tiebreak.
Coming to the US Open without the title of defending champion for the first time in five years, Evert won her first five matches without the loss of a set. She then played a highly anticipated semifinal against Tracy Austin in a rematch of the previous year's final. After losing the first set, Evert won 12 of the following 14 games and defeated Austin 4–6, 6–1, 6–1. She then defeated Hana Mandlíková 5–7, 6–1, 6–1 in the championship match.
1981 At the 1981 French Open, Evert failed to make the final for the first time in her career, losing to Hana Mandlíková in the semifinals 7–5, 6–4.
At Wimbledon, Evert, seeded first, cruised to the final, defeating Mima Jaušovec and Pam Shriver in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. She then beat Hana Mandlíková in the final 6–2, 6–2, avenging her loss at the French Open a month prior. Evert held her serve during the entirety of the match. Throughout the fortnight, she did not lose a set and only lost 26 games in total.
In September, Evert was defeated in the semifinals of the US Open by Martina Navratilova 7–5, 4–6, 6–4, ending a streak of six consecutive finals in New York.