Word: everts
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When Christine Marie Evert strolled onto the grass of her first U.S. Open as a ponytailed, poker-faced 16-year-old amateur from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, a European journalist cracked, "Shirley Temple is alive and well and living in Forest Hills." Eighteen years later, the tournament is no longer played on grass or at Forest Hills, and teen wonders have become as common as imitation-Evert two-fisted backhands. But Evert is still playing, and she is still, like Temple before her, America's sweetheart...
Even now she sometimes wears a ponytail, and age has only crispened that aquiline, no-nonsense visage. But in a game dominated by youth, Evert, 34, has become the matron saint. Entering this year's Open, which she said would be her adieu to the big time, she all but renounced any chance to win. She is being judged, and is judging herself, by a different standard: the grace of her departure. Like all great athletes, she has not so much succumbed to the ravages of time as allowed its passage to burnish her achievements into legend...
...number-one singles Christina Dragomirescu still didn't get a rest. She lost to Jennifer Santrock, the eighth-ranked singles player in the nation, 6-0, 6-1, while deLone fell to Claire Evert, 6-4, 6-2, at the number-two slot...
...comparison, someone like Chris Evert, whose father belonged to a country club, is given significant advantages. She is able to play at an indoor tennis court, with good tennis rackets, new tennis balls, and other equipment...
Unconcerned by such questions, Graf blew through the tournament. The always formidable challenge of a semi-final appointment with Evert evaporated when the American caught a stomach flu and had to default. Then came the meeting with Sabatini, who had beaten Graf twice so far this year -- the only person to do so. But not this time. Graf was uneven -- "In the second set, I was not so tough" -- but finished overwhelmingly. When the Open was finally closed, Graf had lost just 23 games in six matches. That was all the more restful for Graf, who is off to Seoul...