“I just saw him up in the stands with another woman and it sort of threw me off” - When Chris Evert saw Jimmy Connors with another woman during her 1975 Wimbledon semifinal against Billie Jean King

Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors were the “it couple” in tennis in the early 1970s. The dynamic couple grabbed the limelight when they became Wimbledon singles champions in 1974 and were engaged to be married. However, their love story was cut short and their wedding was called off. In an interview from 1990, Chris Evert revealed that when they were on the brink of separating, she spotted Jimmy Connors in the stands with another woman during her 1975 Wimbledon semifinal loss against eventual champion Billie Jean King. “I don’t think actually (Jimmy Connors) appreciates me mentioning this, but I will anyways, since I opened my big mouth about it. But I was playing Billie Jean and I was up in the third, and at that time, we were going through, you know, we were sort of very, very rocky. I think we were breaking up actually. But I still had a lot of feelings for him, and I think I looked up and saw Jimmy with another girl,” she revealed. The 18-time Major winner further noted that it was one of her raw moments and suggested that people who thought she was unemotional were wrong. The American tennis legend also agreed that the incident played a part in her 1975 Wimbledon semifinal loss to King. “I can’t believe I said this in public but I was, it was probably one of my more open moments, when I was very revealing, and I just said (that) it just really bothered me, and I think that people thought that I was such a machine out there, that I had no emotion, but in essence a lot of things and my emotional life affected my tennis and that was one of them,” she confessed. “I just saw him up in the stands with another woman and it sort of threw me off a little bit, and I think I double faulted and it was my own fault you know, I wasn’t concentrating. But I think the reason I mentioned that was probably just to make it known that the stories about me, just being unfeeling all the time were not true,” Chris Evert voiced. Billie Jean King outclassed defending champion Chris Evert with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory in the semifinals, after which she defeated Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6-0, 6-1 to claim her 12th and final Grand Slam title at the 1975 Wimbledon championships. “It bothered me when the facts weren’t right” – Chris Evert had revealed how she handled the media attention while dating Jimmy Connors Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors Although Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors’ young love did not stand the test of time, it grabbed a lot of media attention, especially when they would play at Wimbledon. Evert spoke about how she coped with the public scrutiny, stating that false facts published about them would upset her. “It bothered me when the facts weren’t right. I mean, if they printed something that was completely wrong, yeah, it did bother me. It bothers me to this day. But if something was right, like, if Jimmy and I were dating, we were spotted having dinner, then you know, how can it bother you if it’s true. But I think you become a little hardened to it, but I still was sensitive to it,” she said. Poll : 0 votes

Click here to read article