When Passion Meets Performance Episode 6 Chris Evert Rolex x WTA

What keeps me invested in tennis is I feel like I know it. I mean, it's my strength. I mean, I don't cook very well. You know, I don't do a lot of other sports very well. But I mean, I feel like because I got so much out of tennis and so many benefits, and I was very lucky and fortunate. Look, I'm not the best when it comes to how to teach a serve or the new grips or the new rackets and strings. And, you know, I'm not the best coach for that. But I am a good coach when it comes to mentoring because I've been there, done that, and I've felt the pressure before. I feel like this is my number one priority after my kids. You know, this is a business, but it's also a real passion of mine. The most valuable thing I think I learned as a player was resilience. Getting through the downs and, you know, being patient with myself. But I think resilience is a good word to describe any kind of a tennis professional. And also, I think sportsmanship. You're human, you're going to lose, but don't take anything away from your opponent. Thank you. I think you felt a little sorry for me out there, the way you were clapping. I just like to say congratulations to Martina. I definitely could have played better, but even at my best, I don't think I could have beaten her today. She, on this court especially, she has such a great serve. And, you know, she puts me on the defensive the whole time. So she's really in top form and, you know, I think she has a really great chance next week. You want to still keep the racket face open. My brother John and I started the Academy about 30 years ago. And we kind of wanted to honor my dad's, Jimmy Evert's, legacy. He was with Holiday Park, he was the head pro and the head coach. And Holiday Park was like the mecca of junior tennis. Even though we are a tennis academy, we wanted to create an atmosphere of like family. Why didn't you teach me that serve? Forty years ago. No. Because you opted to go to a slice second serve. Okay. When I'm in town and I'm not working at slams, I'm here every morning. Or I'll skip a morning and be here in the afternoon and watch them play matches. I try to go to some tournaments on the weekends to see how they compete. Anybody playing on the red clay this summer? Or is it only, you're all playing, are you going to Europe? Awesome. Well, that's a reward, huh? I mean, is that the one great thing about being a tennis player and being a teenager? How many, you know, you get to travel the world. Right? You'd be grateful for that. The early 70s, I was a teenager. I was so naive. And I was the new girl on the block. And I really had had no experience or no knowledge. I remember thinking to myself, that Billie Jean King, she's so smart. She's such a great leader. I remember feeling how really, really lucky we were to have her. Because she started the whole thing. I was like in 10th grade. What did I know? Our generation, Martina and I, we reaped all the benefits of that era. They did all the hard work. But we were valuable in that we were the next generation. Look at that, from a yard behind the baseline. Who would expect it from Chris Everett? But, just another facet. I really had to know how to play tennis well to be number one in the world for seven years. So, I think that gets kind of, you know, underestimated a little bit. I mean, I basically was about controlling the point and placement over power. I wasn't the most powerful. I wasn't the quickest on my feet. I had the ability, I think, to force my opponents into making errors. And keeping them deep in the court. So, I think consistency and the mental part was my strength. Hi, boys. Good to see you. Where do you guys think, is your strength mental or physical? All right, go down. Mental or physical? Physical. Mental. Physical. Mental. Kind of between. Both, both. Physical. Mental. Wow, that's kind of split. That's kind of split. I asked the girls. The girls, they said mostly their strength was mostly physical and their weakness was mostly mental. And that's all about competing, right? Getting tight and how you deal with the nerves, how you deal with pressure. How did you learn to manage that and to play with it? You're making yourself too important sometimes when you're nervous. It's like you have to create a story in your mind of calmness. And you have to block everything else out of your mind, not be distracted. And be in the moment. And that's why tennis is, I think, more mental than physical. Because you've got to train your brain to do that in matches. Okay? How does the atmosphere and the feeling feel when playing in the Grand Slams? With all the crowd and the fans cheering for you? It's different. It's a different atmosphere than any other tournament. I learned an interesting lesson. I was walking onto center court at the U.S. Open, Arthur Ashe Stadium. And there were like, I don't know, 25,000 fans. And I was so nervous. I was so nervous. And my coach at the time was Dennis Ralston. And he told me, Chrissy, pressure is only what you put on yourself. These people are not putting pressure on you. They are going to watch your match and be entertained. And then they're going to go home and forget about you. They're going to go home and make dinner for their kids and help their kids with homework and deal with their own problems. You're not in their lives. That kind of changed my perspective like, oh, I'm going to play for myself now. I'm not going to worry about the crowd and if they're for me or against me or how they're feeling about me. I'm not going to allow myself to feel pressure from them. I'm just going to go out and play my game. Chris Everett. So I have to say, since 1971, when your interviews were absolutely lousy when you were 16 years old, you had nothing to say. Now you've got too much to say. But we do love you, Chris Everett. Perfection is a tough word. You know, I don't know if that's humanly possible to be perfect. Tennis is like this. Tennis isn't like that. You know, you're going to have wins. You're going to have losses. But the beauty of tennis is there's a tournament next week. I mean, that's the beauty of tennis. How'd you play? I played really well. I won singles and doubles. You won the tournament? Yeah. Oh, awesome. Thank you. All right, good job. Thank you, thank you. All right. Thank you. You know what my dad used to say about when you go play a tournament and you win it or you play a good tournament, it's worth three months of practice. Yeah, I completely agree. Yeah, because it's all about confidence now. I completely agree. All right, good job, Charlotte. Thank you so much. For somebody who doesn't love play, that's darn good. Well, I think my dad got me to number one in the world, and me. I did, but my dad did also. I mean, he was my inspiration. I listened to him. I was brought up on clay. So, on clay, you didn't miss, you know, and I learned footwork. I learned consistency. I learned concentration, all from playing on clay as a young kid. And my dad always stressed that. He always used to say, you know, in those days it was true, the one who makes the least amount of errors is probably going to win the match. I've been approached at times to coach professionals, pros, and I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world.