Chris Evert d. Billie Jean King - 1982 Wimbledon SF

It was a crafty 38-year-old Billie Jean King that Chris faced in the semis of Wimbledon in 1982. Billie altered pace and variety of shot-making, junk balling the backhand to prevent Chris from getting grooved, and approached up the center of the court to cut down passing angles, all making this a tough test on a major occasion. A 3rd set rain delay at 5-2 deuce ensured this was a classic that had everything that can happen. Chris won the match on her 5th match point.

dvd footage courtesy of chrisevert.net

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• chris
• evert
• billie
• jean
• king
• wimbledon
• classic
• ice
• maiden
• princess
• women's
• tennis

[Marchjoy1963]

I love the commentary from Ann Jones, I have always preferred the BBC coverage to NBC which is what we have in Canada now, but until the late 80's it was BBC. I wish CBC would go back to BBC !

[yescanto]

I can't get over some of the shots that Chris is making with her wood raquet !

[lukesilver5369]

That's the year where Chris looked best imo

[bqndc]

In this match, it appears that Chris disposes of her shots faster with the wood racket than she did with her graphite. It's almost like her swing speed with the wood racket was higher than with the graphite.

[Ariamaluum]

@RachelDavisMatthews. I tell what is really hard is to create spin especially topspin with the same pace as a flat shot.

[RachelDavisMatthews]

My Tennis Club in So Cal. has a Wooden Racquet dubs tourney every year, and I cant believe the players from back then didn't all have wrist injuries. You get so little power with the wood racquets and to hit passing shots like Evert is so underated by critics, her angles, finness, and touch esp. when playing with a wooden racket is nothing short of phenominal. And I'll say the same of Martina re: her volleys and serve when playing w/wood.

[sebbyknight]

This remind me of Seles Navratilova semi 1992. I may get a lot of trolly nonsense for that comment but I like the gentle ironies of matches echoing each other down the generations.

[teelineshort]

@TheVerbalVolley I still disagree. BJK did not always credit her rivals, Court in particular, and she used gamesmanship a great deal. Jones, Bueno, Wade and others have cited this. She most certainly did criticize Court's 11 Australian titles and bemoaned that she could have won more GS but she chose not to play in them! It is noticeable BJK increased her GS singles tally when Court was on maternity leave. I don't EVER remember Court mentioning or citing this but it is clearly a fact.

[TheVerbalVolley]

@teelineshort Uhmmm...Billie never decried other players records....She always gave (and continues to give) credit where credit is due...She was known for saying that every generation of players is better than the one that preceded it...She has also said (on numerous occasions) that she is not even in the same league as Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova or Margaret Court. I think that is a very objectve critique of ones career in comparisons to their contemporaries...

[XRedxxBull]

It makes me laugh how much tennis has changed. Then we saw alot of simple and percise serve and volley now we see more powerful shots that tend to lead to more double faults.

[y11971alex]

@copsondonuts Notice Mrs King also "mmm," and Mrs Lloyd goes "hhh."

[copsondonuts]

neat to watch....these days the women's tennis is all AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH­HHHH OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHH­HHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH­HHHHHHHH OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH­HHHHHH