Chris Evert<\/a>, should be given a statue.<\/p>\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2216301509-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by FRANCK FIFE\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, first off, they need to give her a statue, too. If Rafa [Nadal] has a statue there, then Chris [Evert] should have a statue, also, as the winningest female. That\u2019s number one,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Just as Nadal won the most French Open titles of any male player, Evert won the most of any female player.<\/p>\n
RankNameTitlesYears won1Chris Evert71974-19862Steffi Graf61987-1999T-3Iga Swiatek42020-2024T-3Justine Henin42003-2007T-5Serena Williams32002-2015T-5Arantxa Sanchez Vicario31989-1998T-5Monica Seles31990-1992T-5Margaret Court31969-1973T-9Maria Sharapova22012-2014T-9Martina Navratilova21982-1984Multiple French Open women\u2019s singles champions (Open Era)<\/p>\n
Navratilova proceeded to explain what made Evert so hard to beat at the French Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cChris just didn\u2019t miss. She was very accurate with her shots. She moved effortlessly. She grew up on the clay. So for an American, she certainly knew how to slide and how to use her feet,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHer balls were low, so it was hard to find an opening because you were always hitting lower balls. The ball was not sitting up, and you had to really \u2014 it was hard to create an opening. The serve maybe could have been a weakness on other surfaces, but on the clay, you couldn\u2019t really attack it because the ball stayed low, once again, and she defended so well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen of course, there was probably the best return in the game until Monica Seles maybe came around. She had no weaknesses. Her forehand wasn\u2019t as good as her backhand, but it wasn\u2019t a weakness. It just wasn\u2019t as good as her backhand.<\/p>\n
![\"Chris](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-1376252200-1024x676.jpg\")
Photo by Cole\/Allsport\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cShe moved beautifully, and then she had the drop shot when she got you on your heels. She\u2019s well inside the baseline, hitting drop shots that you never even had a chance to run for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of all, she just didn\u2019t miss. So it was hard not to beat yourself because she just got everything back, and then she could attack, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beating Evert at Roland Garros was an almost impossible task\u2026 for most players.<\/p>\n
Chris Evert lost to Martina Navratilova in the final of the 1984 French Open<\/p>\n
After losing to Evert in the final of the French Open nine years earlier, Navratilova finally got her revenge in 1984.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was one of the best wins for me because number one, I completed the four majors in a row, got a pretty good bonus, but it was about beating Chris on clay in Paris,\u201d said Navratilova.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had done it at other places on clay, but never in Paris. Yeah, that was a hard out.\u201d<\/p>\n
In total, the pair played four French Open finals against each other, with Evert winning their head-to-head 3-1.<\/p>\n
1975 French Open F \u2013 Chris Evert bt. Martina Navratilova (2-6, 6-2, 6-1)1984 French Open F \u2013 Martina Navratilova bt. Chris Evert (6-3, 6-1)1985 French Open F \u2013 Chris Evert bt. Martina Navratilova (6-3, 6-7, 7-5)1986 French Open F \u2013 Chris Evert bt. Martina Navratilova (2-6, 6-3, 6-3)<\/p>\n
We may never see another rivalry quite like Navratilova and Evert\u2019s, especially at the French Open.<\/p>\n
Only time will tell what the stars of today can produce, but it will certainly be worth tuning in for when the 2026 French Open begins on Sunday, May 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rafael Nadal carved out a seemingly untouchable Roland Garros legacy during his tennis career. The Spanish legend won…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[6563,7384,9398,6767,101,118,56,54,55,6546],"class_list":{"0":"post-159607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-chris-evert","9":"tag-french-open","10":"tag-martina-navratilova","11":"tag-rafael-nadal","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-tennis","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom","17":"tag-wta"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2216301844-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by FRANCK FIFE\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n