Chris Evert
The record book is nearly bursting at the seams to contain all the records that Chris Evert either set or broke throughout her career.
Chris Evert’s career spanned the inaugural years of Open tennis and into the modern era, enabling her to compete against the “old” guard players like Virginia Wade, Evonne Goolagong, Rosie Casals, King, and Navratilova and the “young” hotshot breed of power hitters, like Stefanie Graf and Monica Seles.
Around two years after she turned professional, during the 1974 and 1975 seasons, she broke through, winning 16 WTA championships each year. 1974 was particularly impressive as Evert reeled off a 55-match winning streak (fifth best in history), won the 1974 French and Wimbledon titles, advanced to the Australian finals, and made the US Open semifinals. She compiled a stunning 103-7 record and won 16 of 24 tournaments she entered.
Although Evert excelled on every surface, the red clay of Roland-Garros was where she truly shined, and where a staggering 7 of her major titles came from. She has the most Open Era singles titles at Roland-Garros for women, and is second overall, behind the “King of the Clay” Rafa Nadal.
Both her first title, as a breakout star two years after she turned pro and last major title won in her mid-thirties were at Roland-Garros. Two of her Roland-Garros championship came by defeating longtime rival Martina Navratilova in the championship match. Her most decisive finals performance at the Roland-Garros came with her win over Wendy Turnbull in 1979, where she only dropped two games in the first set to take home the trophy. She would compile a 72-6 match record on the red clay at Roland-Garros, and even more impressive 125-match clay court winning streak that run from August 1973 to May 1979, encompassing 24 tournaments.
In just under two decades on tour as a professional, Evert was never ranked lower than No. 4 in the world and ended the year ranked No. 1 seven times (1974-1978, 1980, 1981). She was never beaten in the first or second round of a major tournament and was a semifinalist in 52 of the 56 majors she played. She ended her career with 18 major singles titles, 157 tour-level singles titles, and 1,309 wins, with a .900 winning percentage. During a 13-year span in her nearly 20-year career, she won at least one major singles title for a record 13 years in a row, from 1974 to 1986.