Evonne Goolagong

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Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley AO MBE (born July 31, 1951, in Griffith, New South Wales, Australia) was one of the world's leading female tennis players in the 1970s and early-1980s. She won 14 Grand Slam titles: seven in singles (four Australian Open, two Wimbledon and one French Open), six in women's doubles, and one in mixed doubles.

Contents 1 Personal life 2 Career 3 Grand Slam singles finals 3.1 Wins (7) 3.2 Runner-ups (11) 4 Grand Slam doubles tournaments 5 Grand Slam singles tournament timeline 5.1 See also 6 Singles titles (68) 7 External links

[edit] Personal life

She was born Evonne Goolagong in 1951 (she became known by the name Evonne Goolagong Cawley following her marriage to the British tennis player Roger Cawley in 1975). She is one of eight children from an Australian Aboriginal family, being a member of the Wiradjuri people. She grew up in the small country town of Barellan, New South Wales. Her father, Kenny Goolagong, was an itinerant sheep shearer. Although Aboriginal people faced widespread discrimination in rural Australia at this time, Evonne was able to play tennis in Barellan from childhood thanks to a kindly resident, Bill Kurtzman, who saw her peering through the fence at the local courts and encouraged her to come in and play. In 1967, the proprietor of a tennis school in Sydney, Vic Edwards, tipped off by two of his assistants, traveled upcountry to take a look at the young Evonne and immediately saw her potential. He convinced her parents to allow Evonne to move to Sydney, where she was coached by Edwards and lived in his household

[edit] Career

After two years training with Edwards in Sydney, Goolagong played at Wimbledon for the first time in 1970, when she was 18. In 1971, she won the women's singles titles at both the French Open and Wimbledon, creating a sensation and becoming an instant celebrity in Australia and around the world. In the Wimbledon final, she defeated Margaret Smith Court, the only other Australian woman ever to win the title. She was the first Australian Aboriginal woman to achieve international fame in sport and the first Aboriginal person to do so in any sport other than football or boxing. In 1971, she was named Australian of the Year and the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year.

During the 1970s, Goolagong won the women's singles title at the Australian Open four times. She was also the runner-up at Wimbledon three times. At the U.S. Open, she lost in the final four consecutive years (1973-1976), never winning the title.

Goolagong's final Grand Slam title came at Wimbledon in 1980. By this time, she was a 29-year-old mother and surprised the tennis world by beating Tracy Austin in a semifinal and Chris Evert in the final, to win her second Wimbledon and seventh Grand Slam singles crown.

Goolagong was also a member of the Australian teams that won the Fed Cup in 1971, 1973, and 1974. Other notable career achievements included winning the WTA Tour Championships in 1974 and 1976 and the Italian Open in 1973.

Goolagong had excellent physical attributes for a tennis player. She was light, fast, and long-limbed, with lightning reflexes and the ability to cover the court with great agility. At her peak, she was regarded as one of the most graceful and subtle exponents of the women's game ever seen. She was frequently faulted, however, for lapses of concentration that cost her several titles. In the Australian press, this was referred to as "Evonne going walkabout" – an Aboriginal term meaning to wander off into the bush. She relied more on skill and speed than strength and was vulnerable to opponents with big serves and greater power, such as Evert and Billie Jean King.

Goolagong reached the final in 16 of the 24 Grand Slam singles tournaments that were held from 1971 through 1976, winning five of them. Her win-loss record in those finals against the other three then-dominant players was 0-4 against King, 1-3 against Court, and 1-3 against Evert.

Goolagong retired in 1983. Over the course of her career, Goolagong won 43 singles titles and 9 doubles titles. Her career prize-money totalled US$1,399,431.

Following her marriage to Roger Cawley in 1975, Goolagong settled in the United States (in Naples, Florida). This led to some criticism in Australia. After living in the U.S. for eight years, the couple bought a home at Noosa Heads, Queensland, in 1991, where they settled with their two children – daughter Kelly (born 1977) and son Morgan (born 1981).

In 1988, Goolagong was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Goolagong was awarded an MBE in 1972 and made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1982.

Goolagong was a member of the Board of the Australian Sports Commission from 1995 to 1997 and since 1997 has held the position of Sports Ambassador to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities.

Since 2000, Goolagong has made an increasing commitment to Australian women's tennis, which has fallen on hard times in terms of the glamour international events, and was appointed captain of the Australian Fed Cup team in 2002. In 2003, she was winner for the Oceania region of the International Olympic Committee's 2003 Women and Sports Trophy.

[edit] Grand Slam singles finals

[edit] Wins (7)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1971	French Open	Helen Gourlay Cawley	6-3, 7-5
1971	Wimbledon	Margaret Smith Court	6-4, 6-1
1974	Australian Open	Chris Evert	7-6, 4-6, 6-0
1975	Australian Open (2)	Martina Navrátilová	6-3, 6-2
1976	Australian Open (3)	Renáta Tomanová	6-2, 6-2
1977	Australian Open (December) (4)	Helen Gourlay Cawley	6-3, 6-0
1980	Wimbledon (2)	Chris Evert	6-1, 7-6

[edit] Runner-ups (11)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1971	Australian Open	Margaret Smith Court	2-6, 7-6, 7-5
1972	Australian Open	Virginia Wade	6-4, 6-4
1972	French Open	Billie Jean King	6-3, 6-3
1972	Wimbledon	Billie Jean King	6-3, 6-3
1973	Australian Open	Margaret Smith Court	6-4, 7-5
1973	U.S. Open	Margaret Smith Court	7-6, 5-7, 6-2
1974	U.S. Open	Billie Jean King	3-6, 6-3, 7-5
1975	Wimbledon	Billie Jean King	6-0, 6-1
1975	U.S. Open	Chris Evert	5-7, 6-4, 6-2
1976	Wimbledon	Chris Evert	6-3, 4-6, 8-6
1976	U.S. Open	Chris Evert	6-3, 6-0

[edit] Grand Slam doubles tournaments

• Australian Open:
  • Women's Doubles champion – 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977

• French Open:
  • Mixed Doubles losing finalist – 1972

• Wimbledon:
  • Women's Doubles champion – 1974
  • Mixed Doubles champion – 1971
  • Mixed Doubles losing finalist – 1972

[edit] Grand Slam singles tournament timeline

Tournament	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	Career SR
Australia	3R	3R	2R	QF	F	F	F	W	W	W	A / W	A	A	2R	QF	2R	A	4 / 14
French Open	A	A	A	A	W	F	SF	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	3R	1 / 4
Wimbledon	A	A	A	2R	W	F	SF	QF	F	F	A	SF	SF	W	A	2R	A	2 / 11
U.S. Open	A	A	A	A	A	3R	F	F	F	F	A	A	QF	A	A	A	A	0 / 6
SR	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 2	2 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 4	1 / 3	1 / 3	1 / 3	1 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 2	1 / 2	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 1	7 / 35

A = did not participate in the tournament.

SR = the ratio of the number of Grand Slam singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

Note: The Australian Open was held twice in 1977, in January and December. Goolagong won the December edition.

[edit] See also

• Performance timelines for all female tennis players who reached at least one Grand Slam final

[edit] Singles titles (68)

• 1970 – Southport, Hampstead, Newport-Wales, Hoylake, Leicester, Munich

• 1971 – French Open, Wimbledon, NSW Sydney Hardcourts, Christchurch, Sutton, Guildford, Midland Open, Melbourne, Hilversum, Dewar-Edinburgh, Dewar-Torquay

• 1972 – Adelaide (January), Perth, South African Open, Bournemouth, Dublin, Canadian Open, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide (December)

• 1973 – B&H New Zealand, US Indoors, Italian Open, Lee-on-Solent, Cincinnati, Canadian Open, Charlotte, Japan Open, Hilton Head Invitational

• 1974 – Australian Open, WTA Tour Championships, VS Denver, Queensland, NSW Sydney, New Zealand Open

• 1975 – Australian Open, New Zealand Open, VS Detroit, Sydney-NSW;

• 1976 – Australian Open, WTA Tour Championships, VS Chicago, VS Akron, VS Dallas, VS Boston, VS Philadelphia, World Invitational Hilton Head

• 1977 – Australian Open (December), Colgate Sydney, Melbourne, NSW Sydney

• 1978 – VS Hollywood, VS Dallas, VS Boston, Beckenham, Surbtion, Chichester

• 1979 – US Indoors, Florida Federal Open, Beckenham, Chichester

• 1980 – Wimbledon

[edit] External links

• Official WTA profile
• International Tennis Hall of Fame profile
• Fed Cup record
• Sports Illustrated article
• Photograph from The Age

Preceded by Cardinal Sir Norman Gilroy

Australian of the Year 1971

Succeeded by Shane Gould