Word: everts
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...Evert's popularity has far transcended tennis. She may be the most famous woman athlete in the U.S. and is almost certainly the most respected. She is admired by her peers, who last week re-elected her president of the Women's International Tennis Association, the players' governing body, and by corporations, twelve of which have signed her as a spokeswoman. She is adored by fans...
...Evert won 157 singles championships, more than any other player, male or female. She competed in more than 1,400 career matches and won almost 90% of them. For 13 straight years, she took at least one of the four annual Grand Slam titles; for 14 straight years, she ranked first, second or third in the world. Her favorite victory came at age 15 over Margaret Smith Court, mere weeks after Court completed a sweep of the Grand Slams. But her finest moment was probably in the final of the 1986 French Open, when she fought back from...
...Evert thinks it a great joke that she was not voted "Most Athletic" of her high school graduating class. In truth, her game relied more on mental agility than physical force. She paced the base line and outwaited opponents, rather than take high-risk shots or rush the net seeking quick winners. She was ordinary in strength of serve and speed of hand and foot. But she was extraordinary in the precision and timing of her passing shots, her high, looping moon balls, her lobs that landed as if by radar in unreachable corners of the court. Above...
...dieted, lifted weights and practiced against men. Her career, launched at a time when many still professed to find something unfeminine in getting into shape and wanting to win, has helped legitimize running and sweating as suitable activities for two generations of women. Moralists hail her sportsmanship. In victory, Evert is exultant but not arrogant. In defeat, she congratulates opponents; she does not whine about maladies and misfortune. She has delighted feminists by regarding herself as a career woman and traditionalists by caring so openly about marriage and future babies...
With nothing left to prove, Evert has made her final year a kind of royal circuit. Yet she remains competitive enough that she nearly derailed the yearlong stately procession. After losing in April to 15-year-old Monica Seles, Evert feared her skills and toughness were eroding so rapidly that she should quit at once. Bypassing her beloved French Open, she watched at home as Seles proved herself no fluke but a budding superstar by reaching the semifinals; then losing to her seemed less shameful and ominous. Evert went on to Wimbledon, a tournament that had been her nemesis...