Miscellany

The tour's "Looking Back at a Legend" series is now featuring one of my all-time favorite players--the great Evonne Goolagong.

Oracene Price says that her favorite player to watch (outside of Venus and Serena, of course) is Jelena Jankovic.

You can see some of Alona Bondarenko's wedding photos here.

Now that Pilot Pen has withdrawn its sponsorship, the New Haven tournament is looking for a sponsor.

Defending champion Kim Clijsters says she may have some strapping on her leg at the U.S. Open, but that she is fully fit.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is having trouble with her shoulder, as well as her hip. Pavlyuchenkova withdrew from New Haven competition.

How things have changed

Those who saw the 1976 World Invitational Tennis Classic match between Chris Evert and Evonne Goolagong on Tennis Channel last night got more than tennis. Billie Jean King (in a Pam Shriver afro) was one of the commentators, and the interview and analysis style was dramatically different from what we hear today. It was, in fact, a breath of fresh air.

After Goolagong threw away the first set, King sat down with her on her bench and said--in so many words--"you really made a mess of that one." She had. Halfway through the set, it occurred to Goolagong that she was using her husband's racquet, an absent-minded act that only added to her reputation as being someone who wasn't focused enough on what she was doing.

For her part, Evert put on a tennis clinic. Before Navratilova came into her own, it was Goolagong's volleying that drove Evert mad, and the two were rivals. But at the Sea Pines Resort in Hilton Head that day, it was all about Evert.

The interviews after the match were especially revealing. King reminded Goolagong that her critics say she does not care enough, and that she wouldn't worry adequately about the 6-1, 6-1 score of the match she just played. "I wish I could worry more," said Goolagong.

When King asked for Evert and father Jimmy Evert to come over for an interview, she didn't say word one to the winner, but spoke instead to her father. Jimmy Evert insisted he didn't try to tell Chris what to do, that they just had "casual conversations." Chris Evert was standing between them, and the look on her face was priceless; she stopped just short of rolling her eyes for the camera.

The Sea Pines Resort, by the way, is where the Family Circle Cup used to be held.

Evert and Goolagong on Tennis Channel

For U.S. readers who have Tennis Channel, there is a treat for you tonight at 9:30 EST. Three-time Wimbledon champion Chris Evert and two-time Wimbledon champion Evonne Goolagong (they were rival before Martina came along) are on display in the 1976 World Invitational Tennis Classic.

A lovely piece on the great Evonne Goolagong

Evonne Goolagong is one of my two favorite female tennis players of all time. Every generation produces one player of extraordinary grace, and Goolagong was that player for her generation. Steve Flink of Tennis Channel interviews Goolagong and writes about her. As he recalls, hers was one of the great one-handed backhands of the tour's history. Goolagong, like Evert and some other players of that time, did not attend all four of the majors every year. Had she done so, she would doubtless have more than seven majors to her record. But probably not the U.S. Open: Goolagong was the finalist at the Open four years in a row, and then finally gave up and retired.

The story Flink tells about Goolagong's match against Mona Schallau is wonderful, and it is pure Evonne Goolagong. The little Aboriginal girl who stood outside the fence and watched people play tennis--the child who was given a racquet by Bill Kurtzman when he saw her peering through that fence, and who was then allowed to play, despite her race--became one of the greatest tennis players of all time. The tour's "Sunshine Supergirl," who had to endure both racism and sexism in her career, now works with indigenous children in her Goolagong Development Camp. Lucky kids.

Maria not the only colorful figure to skip Melbourne

While we are all digesting the unfortunate news that defending champion Maria Sharapova will not participate in the Australian Open, here is some more unfortunate news, but of a lesser nature: Bethanie Mattek will not be there, either. My understanding is that the recently-married Mattek decided that--since she has no points to defend--she will skip the year's first major.

Skipping majors used to be something that was done often, and especially by Evonne Goolagong, who simply had other things she wanted to do. Chris Evert skipped several, too. Like many players, she often skipped the Australian Open when it was held during the Christmas holidays, and she missed a few French Opens because she was playing World Team Tennis. Just think how many majors both of these women would have won if they had played in all of them.

But I digress...Mattek will be missed by those of us who follow her progress and enjoy her presence. Mattek is articulate and interesting--more so than many of her peers--and I look forward to seeing her compete in 2009.

Also, this is not the first time Bethanie Mattek has disappeared for a while. She dropped off the tour in the latter part of 2007 so that she could pursue agility training, with an emphasis on yoga. She returned the next year, a much better player.

Tour corrects Goolagong oopsie, sets tennis history straight

It always struck me as a bit odd that the great Evonne Goolagong (who later became Goolagong Cawley) was never number one in the world. Well, it turns out that she was, if only for a brief period. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour found some lost paperwork, and discovered that for two weeks in 1976, Goolagong was 8/10 of a point ahead of then-number one Chris Evert.

So, since the beginning of computer rankings in 1975, Goolagong is now one of sixteen women to have attained the status of being number one in the world. The tour has presented her with a Waterford crystal trophy, which the Australian player called "the best Christmas present."

And once again, I give you this charming 1981 tribute to Goolagong, the player who first drew me into a lifetime of enthusiasm for women's tennis.

A notable U.S. Open quote from 1976

"She seems to think that she'll get a nosebleed if she comes to the net, so she hangs back there like a battleship shelling a port miles away. Boom, boom, boom, over and over again, harder and harder. I wondered where the power came from."

Evonne Goolagong, on her loss in the final to Chris Evert

Goolagong was a finalist at the U.S. Open for four consecutive years. She never won it.

A delightful tribute to Evonne Goolagong

Evonne Goolagong is one of my favorite players of all time. Here is a charming 1981 tribute to her.

A Wimbledon match I enjoyed a lot today

This afternoon, I watched the BBC broadcast of the 1972 Wimbledon semifinal between Chris Evert and defending champion Evonne Goolagong, two of my all-time favorite players. It was shocking to recall how different everything was: There were wooden racquets, of course (oh, for those days...), the players took their breaks standing up with a towel and a paper cup they had to fill with water, and there was no need for a trainer to come out. The commentator repeatedly referred to Evert as "the little girl," proving that--though we haven't really come that far--at least today's commentators are not quite that sexist.

The tennis dresses were wonderful, and Goolagong's was part of an entire ensemble that included a very smart jacket. I'm sure there are people today who would laugh at the players' outfits, but I thought they were both quite attractive. In fact, it would be nice if they were replicated for a couple of contemporary players to wear.

17-year-old Chris Evert already had an expressionless face, regardless of how things went, though she did become a bit tense when her 6-4, 3-0 lead disappeared. And Goolagong was her mellow, good-humored self, regardless of how things went. The first set was bad for the Australian, who made a number of errors and tended to let Evert control from the baseline. But after she got herself and her serve-and-volley game together, she began to glide around the court in that special way she had, hitting those fabulous volleys with ease. I think of her sometimes when I see Amelie Mauresmo gliding from side to side and gracefully finishing points at the net.

Goolagong won the match, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, though she would go on to lose in the final to Billie Jean King. In fact, Goolagong would not win Wimbledon again until 1980, and her opponent in that final would be Chris Evert.

After watching today's power players whack very fast balls, take numerous injury time-outs and scream loudly with every point, it was a real treat to watch Evert and Goolagong play this exciting match on grass, with all the drama but none of the trauma.