I've been trying to figure out if I ever saw Evert play either Graf or Seles. Seems to me she must have but I have no memory. Can anyone provide me with their recollections, particularly if she ever played them in the Slams. I'd think if Evert had played them as they established themselves, it would have been hard for Chris to stay with them. Tell me if I'm wrong.

I know of two. Evert's last Slam final was at the '88 Australian against Graf. I'm pretty sure she played a tough first set and lost 7-6, 6-1. She had beaten Martina in the semi's.

And Evert's last US Open ('89) she played Seles along the way. Third round I believe. People were worried because Seles had beaten Evert earlier in the year. Evert won before losing to Zina Garrison in the QF.

[ September 20, 2002: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

I can't actually remember seeing any of these matches, but I found their head-to-heads on tennis corner. I feel like I ought to have seen Evert play Graf (surely I saw the Wimbledon SF at least?), since they played fourteen times. I'm awfully impressed by your memory, George.

Evert vs Seles
Boca Raton, '88 Evert won 6-2, 6-1
Houston '89 Seles won 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
US Open '89 Evert won 6-0, 6-2 (4th round)

Evert vs Graf - 14 meetings with Evert winning the first six, Graf the last eight. Just listing the slams
French Open '85 (4th rd) - Evert 6-2, 6-3
Australian '88 (F) - Graf 6-1, 7-6
Wimbledon '89 (SF) - Graf 6-2, 6-1

Graf obviously dominated Evert (of course, she dominated almost everybody in those years), but in fairness Chris was 31 when Graf first beat her.

Chris played Steffi very close in several of the eight losses. In her final year on tour (89), they played in Boca Raton and Chris was serving for the lead late in the third set. She actually squandered a couple of game points and lost 6-4. The Wimbledon semi was their final meeting, and came after Chris had to claw her way through the quarters. She was not really playing great tennis, so the score was not a surprise.

The Seles match at the Open that year was classic Chris. She really just outhit and outshined Monica in every category that day. It was an amazing match to watch. Afterward, the announcers stated that if Chris played at that level for her final three matches, she would probably win the tournament. Unfortunately, she came out two days later really flat and exited to Zina. She played Fed Cup later that year and swept her singles matches. She did not play either Seles or Graf.

Chris stayed with the power up to the end, but lacked the patience to outlast Monica and Steffi. She skipped her final French Open (after a record seven wins), because she did not want to hit balls out there all day. That was rather telling as she lived for clay throughout her career.

In the end, it would have been a great storybook ending to see Chris do what Pete did a couple of weeks ago. However, she really was past her burnout point and was very erratic in her play throughout 89. She made it to three finals early in the year and lost to Graf, Sabatini, and Seles. That seemed to do her in as she played very few matches afterward. I think she played only four tournaments the rest of the year, losing her opening match twice.

I could be wrong, but if my memory holds, most of those games in that Wimbledon semi with Graf went to deuce, she just lost them all.

I watched the '88 Aussie Open final recently. The first few games were competitive and then it rained. They closed the roof and Graf ran all over her as the court played faster. Chrissie was down a set and 5-1 before she rain off 5 straight games to take it to a tiebreaker. She played Graf's backhand relentlessly until she had opened up the forehand side, and then dared Graf to go for it.

Chrissie looked tiny next to Serena and Venus out there this year.

As Graf and then Seles came on, Chris was truly in her final days. It was a passing of the torch for sure. Chrissie was way past her peak when Steffi hit hers and was gone from the game when Monica hit her peak.

Martina N., however, had several terrific matches with both Steffi and Monica which was quite lucky for us tennis fans to be able to see...

I have those Chris-Graf matches on tape (1988 Australian and 1989 Wimbledon) and have the Chris-Monica match from Chris' last Open (89), and it's definitely interesting to watch looking back knowing how Graf and Monica went on to develop.

The Chris-Monica match from that Open, Monica was a mere child then, but had actually beaten Chris on clay earlier in the year, and this was the time in Chris' career where, like someone mentioned, she had no patience, and the moonballers (Arantxa, Monica) could have their way with her. Monica's strategy for that Open match was to moonball. She would even get a short ball and moonball it. Funny to watch, because now I'm used to seeing Monica take those short balls and nail some incredible angle at a zillion miles an hour. That day she was just taking short balls and moonballing them! Chris wanted no part of that and took Monica apart.

Alas, Chris couldn't maintain that high level the next day against Zina. A factor in Chris' decision to bow out was that she couldn't maintain the intensity 2 matches in a row at that point. She played a super first set against Zina, was up 5-2 I believe, then lost 7-6, 6-2. I also have that one on tape, but don't like to watch it. Painful for everyone involved!

OK, sorry to ramble, couldn't resist jumping in on a Chris thread!

Monica moonballing? What a concept. Although, by rewatching the 91 JenCap Monica semi during this US Open, Monica did mix things up quite a bit more back then...of course she also ran down an incredible number of balls before hitting one of her fierce groundstrokes...

With all the focus on power these days, people forget just how brilliant a player Chrissie Evert was...a smart cookie...

As far as some of Chrissie's matches with Graf... I recall the Aussie final in '88. Chrissie's amazing string of games to send it to a tiebreaker after being down 6-1, 5-1 appeared to be where she pretty much started swinging for the fences since she was so far behind, and she really surprised Graf with her go for broke shotmaking. I think we've all had the experience of getting spanked on the court, then taking that approach and making a better match of it before losing.

As for her '89 W semi, that was the only time I ever saw Evert where albeit stoic, she had a look on her face like she felt she didn't have a chance.

I grew up a big fan of Chrissie, and it wasn't a lot of fun to see her lose so badly.

The 89 Wimbledon semi was not a fun match to watch. It was funny -- early in the second set she started playing Steffi more even. Bud Collins said at that moment, "If she could just see how close she is, maybe she could change the direction of the match." Unfortunately, I think she felt fortunate just to be in the semis. Not a typical Chris attitude.

Against Graf, her all-time worst year was 1987. Steffi spanked her consistently. 2 and 1 at the Lipton/Miami event. 2 and 1 in Fed Cup. 3 and 4 in LA. Chris had trouble competing in those matches. Not so much the 88 and 89 versions.

There really was nobody who Chris hated to see across the court even in the end. One of the things that was great about watching her, is that she could put together a winning strategy against any style of play. And could adjust her game when necessary. So unlike today's players. She and Martina were capable of so much more overall. They did not hit the ball past everybody. They really outplayed them.

Oh, the happy to watch tennis days.

[quote]Originally posted by George_vikingfan:

I know of two. Evert's last Slam final was at the '88 Australian against Graf. I'm pretty sure she played a tough first set and lost 7-6, 6-1.

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Actually, it was 6-1,7-6 in that final. I remember Chrissie coming back from 6-1,5-1 down to make it a match. They had to shut the roof because of rain and Chrissie just couldn't hang with Steffi's blistering pace.

I think Chrissie, in general, had the groundies to hang with Graf. The big difference was that at age 33, Evert was a step or two slower than Graf. IMO, a younger Evert would have been smart enough to exploit Graf's relatively weak backhand slice.