Chris Evert vs Evonne Goolagong - 1976 Virginia Slims Year-End Championships!

[smashingthyme]

What a match this must have been--two incredible players at their peak. I think Chris' game is amazing, such precision! And I love watching old clips of Evonne. There aren't very many on Youtube, sadly. I don't think I've ever seen a more elegant tennis player than Evonne.

Weird how you have to watch 7 minute of this video before you finally see Evonne winning a point, and then it turns out she actually won the match? I figured she lost love and love! 

[preciousjey]

finally i viewed it til the end

[BTURNER1961]

This tennis is sublime. When Evonne was really concentrating, bringing forth her most creative stuff and she was one of the few who could hang with Chris from the backcourt. Goolagong was not known a as a tactician in the same league as King or Evert but in some of her matches vs Evert she shows great court sense and an acute understanding of the geometry and spin.

[hankm77]

who are the commentators here?

[goolagong68]

one of their best matches and set the tone for their last really great yer as rivals although they did play many more grand slam matches....

[goolagong68]

Go Gong, a great match by both but Evonne was Everts only competition in 75-76

[craigferris1]

Oh this is so biased. Did Evonne not win one point????????????

[MARKBPHARM]

@craigferris1 Yes, indeed a bit lopsided isn't it? Especially considering the fact that Evonne actually won this match!

[craigferris1]

I didn't realise she won the match. Glad she did. :)

[hardsam68]

Evonne did ok against Evert. Only 13 wins but thats a lot more than just about everyone else. She beat her onece at the US open, twice at Wimbledon and once at the Australian, thats not bad and also twice in Virgina Slims finals

[bqndc]

Wow, these two hit harder than I do, and I use graphite rackets! It's so nice to see simple form on the groundstrokes and still hit deep. I'd be happy to be hitting like this at this stage in my game.

[krosero]

I don't know, some of Evert's best qualities are missing from these Evert videos. If you don't see her losing points, then coming back winning points, you miss the sense of how she dug her teeth in a match and always came back even when down. If she wins most of the points, there's no sense of comeback.

And that's one of the things that made her what she was. Her ability to come back, to lose a point, win a point, lose another, win another. Always hanging in.

[Nicklas4500]

Amazing - they're both playing so well. Chris moves the ball round but Evonne was so athletic. Incredible players both.

[kangaroosbraun]

You can say what you want but its not always about Chrissie. Im always proud of the way Evonne took her losses against Chris. The Wimbledon final went down to the wire (as did this) although Evonne led 6-5 in the final set and should have won. You say you edit these for Evert fans which appears quite lascivious as you seem to lack respect for anyone else...Your editing is also very biased and you wouldnt even know there was another player at times. Thank god for Wimbedon 1980 !

[spacecolt]

@kangaroosbraun - I dont think that's a fair assessment. If you read the 'more info' they praised Evonne above Martina!! These are videos from Evert's facebook page...so they were made for Evert fans. I don't think they are dismissing other players...there is just a reason the videos were made and it isn't to display the others.

[kangaroosbraun]

@spacecolt I agree Evonne shold have won wimby that year having led 6-5 in the final set......the greeting at the end of this match says a lot and you can see Chris must have really liked Gong. I alwyas found their rivalry more stimulating than Navratilova and Evert