Evert and the importance of Grand Slams in her era: "It was not a priority for us"

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Chris Evert, one of the greatest legends of women's and world tennis, both for her titles and for her fight to improve the quality of the women's circuit, was deeply involved in the creation of the WTA in 1973, driven by Billie Jean King. Additionally, she was the world number one on four occasions and achieved 18 Grand Slams, seven of which were at Roland Garros.

Evert was at the prestigious Parisian event as a commentator for TNT Sports and during her stay took the opportunity to give some interviews. One of them was with Tennis365 where she talked about the difference in priorities between today's tennis and that of her era: "Winning Grand Slams was not a priority for us at that time. We were trying to create a circuit that possibly allowed 200-300 women to have a circuit that would enable them to make a living."

She also explained the reasons why many players decided to skip the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, a fact that benefited Margaret Court, who managed to win 24 majors, the same as Novak Djokovic, with 11 of them in Melbourne, one more than the Serbian.

"I missed 12 Australian Opens and three French Opens because our priority was to play the Virginia Slims Tour and try to turn it into a platform that could sustain women's professional tennis. Men had people doing it for them, building their circuit. We had to do it," says the 70-year-old former tennis player.

The Virginia Slims Tour, where it all began

The Virginia Slims Tour was the initial project that later led to the WTA circuit. Created in 1970 by Gladys Heldman and a group of nine players, known as the "Original 9", laid the foundation for achieving pay equality between men and women.

"It is the merit of Billie Jean King and the women who paved the way with her to have created a professional circuit that gave women the opportunity to make a good living. There were no other professional women's sports at the time, so what they did created a legacy that has had an impact not only on tennis but on so many sports to this day. Our sport paved the way, there is no doubt about that," Evert points out.

She also took the opportunity to discuss some changes that could occur on the men's circuit: "In the early seventies, as I was starting to play tennis, for the first time we were awarded the same prize money as men at the US Open. It was a great moment. Now we have it at all Grand Slam tournaments, and I don't hear many people questioning it. Maybe we could ask if men should play best of three sets instead of five, but I'm not sure. Tennis has been around for a long time and doesn't want too much change," concludes Chris Evert, who always knew what her main goal was during her career.
 

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