Introduction: The Making of a Legend

Few athletes have left as indelible a mark on tennis as Chris Evert. Over a professional career spanning from 1971 to 1989, Evert amassed 18 Grand Slam singles titles and a 1,309–145 win-loss record—one of the best in the history of the sport. Her technique was not static; it adapted to the changing rhythms of the women’s game, the emergence of new rivals, and her own physical and emotional maturation. Evert began as a baseline prodigy on the red clay of Florida, relying on consistency and precision. But by the time she retired, she had transformed into an all-court player capable of winning on grass, hard courts, and clay. This article traces the careful, deliberate evolution of Chris Evert’s technique, examining how a one-dimensional teenager became a complete champion without ever abandoning the two-handed backhand that defined her career.

Early Career: The Baseline Prodigy

Beginnings at the Evert Tennis Academy

Chris Evert grew up in a tennis family—her father Jimmy Evert was a teaching pro at Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale—so her technical foundation was laid early. From the age of five, she spent hours on the red clay, grooving strokes that would define an era. The most iconic element of her early game was the two-handed backhand, a stroke she adopted because she was too small to wield a single-handed drive with authority. That backhand became a weapon of precision, capable of redirecting pace and changing direction with unnerving accuracy. Her father drilled repetition, forcing her to hit the same crosscourt rally for thirty minutes without missing. This discipline created a muscle memory that lasted her entire career.

In her teenage years, Evert’s forehand was flat and compact, using an Eastern grip with minimal wrist action. Her footwork was already world-class—she used chopping steps and a low center of gravity to recover laterally. She rarely attempted winners; her strategy revolved around consistency. As she later said, “I learned to hate missing a ball more than I loved hitting a winner.” This mindset produced an unforced error count that remains legendary: in the 1976 US Open final, she made only four unforced errors. By 1971, at age 16, she reached the US Open semifinals, defeating Billie Jean King by staying calm and extending every rally.

The Baseline Armour

The early Evert was, in many ways, a human backboard. Her groundstroke technique was built for high-percentage tennis:

  • Two-handed backhand: Long, smooth takeback; the non-dominant hand provided stability and extra rotation. Contact point slightly in front of the body, allowing for heavy spin when needed. She could hit down the line or crosscourt with equal ease.
  • Forehand: Eastern grip, relatively short backswing, minimal wrist action. The ball came off the racquet flat and deep into opponent’s court, often within two feet of the baseline.
  • Footwork: Chopping steps, maintaining the split step even when not jumping. She moved laterally with a low center of gravity, enabling quick recovery. Her recovery step—a small cross-over step—became known as the “Evert step” in coaching clinics.

At this stage, Evert’s serve was purely a rally starter—she relied on placement over power, often slicing the ball wide to pull opponents off court. Net play was almost nonexistent; she considered volleying a last resort. Yet this hyper-consistent style won her three consecutive US Open titles (1975–1977) and her first Wimbledon in 1974. She also won the French Open four times between 1974 and 1980 using this baseline approach. Her ability to keep the ball in play longer than anyone else made her nearly unbeatable on slower surfaces.

Mid-Career Adjustments: Adding Layers

The Serve Transformation

By the late 1970s, rivals like Martina Navratilova and Tracy Austin began attacking Evert’s serve with more aggression. Evert realized that a mere placement serve would not hold up against power returners, especially on fast grass and hard courts. Working with her father and later coach Dennis Ralston, she overhauled her service motion over several off-seasons:

  • Greater shoulder rotation: Evert engaged her legs and trunk more, generating additional racquet head speed. She filmed her motion and compared it to male servers, increasing her coil by about 30 degrees.
  • Kick serve: She developed a topspin-slice second serve that bounced high to the backhand side, neutralizing returners who stepped in. This became essential on clay, where high-bouncing serves to the backhand disrupted opponents.
  • Ball toss consistency: She shifted her toss slightly forward to ensure she contacted the ball on the rise, adding 3–5 mph without sacrificing placement. She drilled this toss repeatedly with her brother John Evert.

The result: by 1980, Evert was winning an extra 3–4 service games per tournament. According to Tennis Abstract data, her hold percentage improved from 78% (1975) to over 86% (mid-1980s). She still was not an ace machine—her best ace count in a season was 34—but she had turned her serve from a liability into a reliable point starter. In 1981 at Wimbledon, she lost only two service games in five matches before the final.

Coming to the Net

Another significant mid-career adjustment was Evert’s willingness to volley. She had always approached only when she had a short ball, but after losing a series of matches to Navratilova at the net, she incorporated a more aggressive transition game. She practiced volley drills with male practice partners, focusing on footwork for split-step timing and low volley technique. By 1982, Evert’s net approach percentage had risen to about 15%, compared to under 5% earlier. Although she never fully mastered overheads—her overhead percentage was still below 60%—she became a competent volleyer, especially on low backhand volleys where her two-handed grip transitioned seamlessly into a stable block volley. In the 1982 French Open final, she won 12 of 16 net approaches against Andrea Jaeger.

Coaching Changes and Mental Approach

After splitting from her father as her primary coach in 1979, Evert worked with Ralston and later with her brother John Evert. Each brought nuances to her technique: Ralston emphasized pattern play, forcing Evert to construct points instead of just rallying; he introduced the idea of hitting inside-in on short balls. Her brother helped her adapt to hard courts by shortening her backswing and focusing on recovery steps. Throughout these changes, Evert retained her famously stoic court demeanor—an asset that allowed her to integrate technical changes without emotional disruption. She kept a notebook on every practice session, logging what worked and what did not. This methodical approach allowed her to track progress over months and years.

Adapting to Rivals: Navratilova, Austin, and Graf

The Navratilova Challenge

No rivalry tested Evert’s technique more than the 80-match saga with Martina Navratilova (Evert trailed 43–37 overall, but led 29–26 on clay). Navratilova’s serve-and-volley style forced Evert to add more topspin to her passing shots. She lengthened her backhand follow-through, brushing up the back of the ball to create heavy spin that dipped at Navratilova’s feet. On the forehand side, she began using a semi-Western grip for topspin drives down the line, especially when Navratilova came in behind a wide serve. This technical shift was subtle but crucial—it forced Navratilova to volley upward instead of down, giving Evert more time to get into position for the next ball.

Evert also changed her return position: she stood two feet farther back on second serves to maximize time, and she began using a chip return on the backhand to buy extra milliseconds. This adjustment, while passive-looking, was highly effective in neutralizing Navratilova’s wide serves. The WTA’s historical analysis notes that Evert’s return games against Navratilova improved from below 30% to above 40% after 1982. In their 1985 French Open final—perhaps Evert’s greatest tactical win—she used drop shots and sharp angles to force Navratilova to hit up on every volley, winning 6–3, 6–4.

Battling Tracy Austin

Tracy Austin (4–5 against Evert) was a different beast—a baseline counterpuncher who could redirect pace. To handle Austin’s speed, Evert developed a short-angle crosscourt forehand that pulled Austin wide, opening the court for a down-the-line backhand. She also introduced a drop shot to break the rhythm, a shot she seldom used before. In the 1981 US Open final, Evert used this new pattern to win the first set 6–1 before Austin retired due to injury. Evert later said Austin forced her to “think more creatively” about point construction.

Facing Steffi Graf

Against Steffi Graf (4–6 head-to-head), Evert faced the booming forehand for the first time. Graf’s power made Evert’s usual deep rally balls too easy to attack. She countered by slicing her backhand low and short to Graf’s backhand side, forcing her to generate spin in awkward positions. Evert also began using more body serves to jam Graf on the ad side. In the 1988 Australian Open quarterfinals, Evert used heavy topspin on her forehand to push Graf behind the baseline, winning three of the first four games before Graf pulled away physically. Evert’s willingness to change her defensive technique—anticipating, sliding, and slicing—showed a veteran adapting to the power era. She also added a topspin lob to her repertoire, which she used successfully at the 1989 French Open against younger players.

Later Career: Offensive Evolution

Increasing Topspin and Pace

By the mid-1980s, the game had sped up dramatically. Evert, now in her late 20s, could no longer outlast every opponent from the baseline. She responded by increasing her racquet head speed and using more topspin on both wings. Her forehand, previously flat and linear, became a looping, heavy weapon that kicked up to shoulder height on clay. She also started using a denser string pattern—18×20 instead of her earlier 16×19—to handle the extra spin without losing control. This evolution allowed her to take the ball on the rise, shortening points and preventing opponents from dictating. In 1986, she won the French Open by averaging only 4.2 shots per rally, down from 6.8 in 1979.

Her footwork also evolved: she incorporated a "double hop" on the backhand side, a short, quick adjustment step that allowed her to hit while moving backward. This kept her balanced when pushed deep. She also began using a semi-open stance on the forehand, enabling quicker recovery to center court. These biomechanical changes were small but cumulatively transformed her from a defensive clay-courter into an all-surface champion. She won two of her four Australian Open titles after turning 30, including the 1988 title where she beat Helena Sukova with aggressive chip-and-charge tactics.

Physical Adjustments for Longevity

Evert also adjusted her off-court training. She increased her strength work, focusing on shoulder and leg endurance to handle longer rallies. She incorporated yoga-inspired stretches to maintain flexibility in her hips, which helped her get low on the backhand side. She also changed her diet, reducing sugar to manage energy levels for three-set matches. These physical adjustments allowed her to compete at the top level until age 34.

The 1988–89 Farewell

In her final seasons, Evert’s technique had become a hybrid: the patience of her youth, the serve of her prime, and the offense of her twilight. She would still rally tenaciously, but now she could step inside the baseline and hit winners off both wings. Her last match, at the 1989 US Open, was a loss to fellow American Zina Garrison in the quarterfinals—but Evert won the first set 6–1 playing attacking tennis, including seven forehand winners. It was a fitting end: the baseliner who had learned to attack, and who never stopped refining her strokes.

Legacy of Technique

Influence on Modern Tennis

Chris Evert’s technical evolution—especially her two-handed backhand and baseline counterpunching—is directly visible in the games of players like Iga Swiatek, Justine Henin, and Andy Murray. Her emphasis on footwork preparation and high-percentage shot selection became a template for the modern "offensive baseliner." Swiatek’s heavy topspin forehand and her ability to stay balanced while recovering mirror Evert’s later-career adjustments. Henin’s single-handed backhand was an anomaly, but her footwork patterns—especially the recovery step—were directly inspired by watching Evert practice at Roland Garros. Tennis.com’s retrospective notes that Evert's ability to seamlessly add topspin and approach patterns without losing consistency remains a textbook example of career-long skill development.

Mechanical Lessons for Coaches

Analysts still study Evert’s footwork on clay, especially how she loaded her weight on the back leg before pivoting into the two-handed backhand. Many junior academies teach the “Evert step”—a small cross-over step for recovery that she perfected over a decade. Her evolution from pure consistency to a blend of offense and defense demonstrates that technique is never static; it must respond to the opponent, the surface, and the player’s own aging body. Coaches use her serve transformation as a case study: you can change a fundamental stroke even after winning multiple Grand Slams if you commit to the process over two years.

  • From defensive to all-court: Evert’s net frequency increased from 3% to 18% across her career. In her final three seasons, she won 72% of her net approaches.
  • Serve power: Her average first-serve speed rose from about 78 mph (1975) to 86 mph (1985), while second-serve spin rate increased by 200 rpm according to ball tracking data.
  • Topspin usage: By 1986, nearly 70% of her groundstrokes had measurable topspin, compared to less than 30% in 1973. Her average rally speed increased from 52 mph to 58 mph.

Chris Evert’s career proves that even the most iconic technique can be refined, adapted, and reinvented. She left the game not as a one-trick baseline pony but as a complete player who could win on grass, clay, and hard courts. Her legacy is not just the trophies, but the relentless drive to evolve—a lesson every athlete can carry forward.

Conclusion: The Master of Adaptation

The evolution of Chris Evert’s technique from a teenage baseline machine to a mature, multi-dimensional champion is one of tennis’s great stories. She never allowed success to freeze her game in time. Instead, she studied her weaknesses—serve, net play, topspin, overheads—and methodically upgraded each component. The result was a career that bridged two eras of women’s tennis, influencing generations of players who came after. For those who study the game, Evert remains a masterclass in how to evolve without losing your identity. As The New York Times noted at her retirement, “She didn’t just play the game—she reshaped it, one stroke at a time.” Evert’s technical journey reminds us that greatness is not a fixed state; it is a continuous process of adaptation, patience, and the quiet willingness to remake yourself.