Chris Evert reveals the power she held in women’s tennis and why she doesn’t crave it any more

Kevin Palmer 18 Jun 2025 11:24 AM

Cheis Evert, Jasmine Paolini, Iga Swiatek and Martina Navratilova at the 2024 French Open

The big decisions in tennis tend to be made by the sport’s governing bodies, but that was not the story when Chris Evert was the queen of the women’s game.

Evert was one of the first true global superstars of world sport and confirmed as much when she became the first female athlete to win over $1m in a single year in 1976, with the influence she wielded coming with a big influence over the direction of the sport.

Alongside her great rival and now close friend Martina Navratilova, Evert was a huge voice when decisions were discussed by those charged with running the WTA Tour.

So much so that if Evert and Navratilova were not happy with a change of direction in the sport, they had the power to halt it.

The discussion over a crowded tournament schedule is a big talking point and the decision to move the WTA Finals to Saudi Arabia are among the divisive issues dominating the tennis agenda over the last few months, with former world No 1 Evert telling Tennis365 she had the power to sway decisions when she was one of the leading names in the sport.

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“We had a lot more influence back then than players do now,”  Evert told Tennis365, in an interview conducted while she was working for TNT Sports at Roland Garros.

“We were a much smaller group of people and if Martina or I said we didn’t want something to happen, it didn’t happen.

“Now, the sport is such a big business and we are talking about billions of dollars involved in tennis all over the globe with endorsements, sponsorships and TV.

“So it’s better that we have professionals running that side of the game and those who are on the players’ council with the WTA Tour can also have an input.”

Evert and Navratilova spoke out against the move to take the Saudi offer to move the WTA Tour finals to the Arab nation, with their comments voicing concerns over the country’s human rights record adding to the talking point around the decision.

“Martina and I disagreed with that decision on Saudi Arabia and we spoke out about it,” said Evert. “Now the decision has been made, that’s it. We won’t keep coming back saying we don’t agree with it. That’s not my role any more.

“I am not as involved in tennis as I once was. If there is a big issue I am well informed on and feel strongly enough about, then I will speak up. As for the rule changes in tennis and the politics around the sport, I don’t want to get involved in that.

“I have a life outside of tennis now and I’m happy with that. It is fantastic to have a platform to speak on issues that I care deeply about and having recovered from cancer, the chance to speak about that and encourage early detection for all forms of cancer is something I’m totally happy to speak out on.”

Evert went on to compare women’s tennis in 2025 to the slower-paced sport she played, as she admits the levels of excellence in the game are now at a different level.

“I always go back to Mark Spitz winning seven gold medals at the 1972 Games in Munich and now we see women swimming the same distance quicker than he ever did,” said Evert.

“So, of course, things change and that is the case in every sport. The standards always go up.

“With new technology, new information, improvements in sports science and better training methods, standards have gone up. Tennis players are now training like Olympic athletes. We never trained like that when I started in the sport.

“We went into the gym and did our 10lbs weights and we ran two miles and tried to stay fit the best we could, but the training, physically and everything around the game now looks very different.”

Read more of Tennis365’s exclusive interview with Chris Evert in the next few days.