Chris Evert

Home: Fort Lauderdale

Age: 20

Occupation: tennis player

Background: Chris Evert was the top women's tennis player in 1974 as she won an astonishing 71 of 78 tournament matches and took 16 of the 23 tourneys that she entered. Her string of victories included Wimbledon, the French and Italian Opens.

Her machine-like precision might sometimes be boring to watch (the Italians call Evert "La Machinnetta"--the machine), but Chrissie used her skills to win over $100,000 on the international tour--not bad money for a 19-year-old.

Profile: When Chrissie Evert flew into Boston last week for the Virginia-Slims-sponsored U.S.Women's Indoor Championships--with her mother, a half dozen tennis dresses and many flavors of make-up--she was expected to win the tourney. And the way she played during the first few days of the event, it looked as if she would.

After her sparkling 6-0, 6-3 win over Dianne Fromholtz in the opening round last Tuesday, she indulged the news media in the usual post-match press conference attended mostly by tennis writers from magazines and newspapers (no, it doesn't bother me to play a lefthander like Diane. Yes, my backhand was working well today. The last time I played Diane? Last month in Chicago. The score? 6-3, 6-1.) Evert had heard all the questions before and had a handy set response to each one.

So breaking away from the usual trend of the questions. I pointed out to Evert that if she won the Virginia Slims tournament, she would win more money win more money in a week ($15,000) than most 20-year-olds have earned in their lives. In fact, she had earned over $300,000 last year between winning and endorsements and very few 19-year-olds in the world earn that much money. The question I was leading up to was how did this affect her life? Did she buy something that she had always wanted, did she invest it, or what did she do now that she had so much money?

"Well," she said after sitting back in her chair for 20 or 30 seconds evidently surprised, "I can't see how the money has influenced me at all." Now it was my turn to be surprised. "You haven't done anything at all with any of your money?" I asked incredulously. "I live at home with my family and I don't need a car because I won one, you know," Evert said. "I just put it in the bank."

"Don't you ever go out and splurge, buy an ice cream sundae or something after you win?" another reporter from a tennis magazine asked. "I like to buy clothes like any other girl does," Evert said and the reporter sank back in his chair.

The press conference was downhill from there, as the questions changed to ones like do you think about going to college (I've thought about it and I guess I'll go someday, maybe when I'm 35 or 40."), what do you do when you're home for a rest ("I hang around with my old friends.") and the inevitable what about you and Connors ("We still converse, frequently.")

The conference broke up then since Evert had "another day of tennis" on Wednesday and after you have played as much tennis as Chris Evert has, you would think of it that way also. Tomorrow meant, in the opening rounds anyway, a different pretty tennis outfit, another layer of makeup and maybe different colored fingernails, and possibly a cute curl on the right side just like today. One gets the feeling that it is all part of an act, and that she is performing more for the audience than to go out and win, especially since the first few opponents are usually no match and consequently no excitement.

Chris Evert was to have some excitement though as her old flame, Jimmy Connors, came to town to watch her first lose to Evonne Goolagong in the semifinals and then beat Margaret Court in the consolation. The on-again-off-again relationship between "Kissable Chrissie" and the notorious Conners prompted one writer at the tournament who saw the two of them together to say, "If two people ever deserved each other, it has to be Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors."