Evonne Goolagong Cawley Finally Receives Due as Tennis No. 1

Twenty-three years after her retirement from professional tennis, Australia’s Evonne Goolagong Cawley has been added to the prestigious list of world No. 1 tennis players.

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour announced on Thursday that it had discovered a handful of missing ranking records from 1976 which revealed that Goolagong Cawley overtook reigning top player Chris Evert by a mere 8/10ths of a ranking point.

Goolagong Cawley would only hold onto the No. 1 ranking for two weeks, before surrendering it again to Evert.

The news might have been very late coming, but it was still a welcome Christmas present for the seven-time singles Grand Slam champion.

“I’m simply delighted,” said Goolagong Cawley in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s announcement.

“In Australia at the end of 1975 and during the ‘76 Virginia Slims Tour (which finished just before Easter - Chris and I then played World TeamTennis with no more official tournaments until the WTT break for Wimbledon) I played at the highest level, the most consistent tennis of my career. The tournaments were on grass and on mostly quick carpet which helped the serve and volley part of my game and for five or six months I felt virtually unbeatable.”

“Prior to this time, I had lost to Chris a number of times in a row mostly on clay - her best surface - but strangely during that time it was my ground strokes that improved and subsequently gave me such an edge on everyone, including her. Today I am happy and gratified that what I felt at the time has now been recognised officially. It’s personally very satisfying and this has been the best Christmas present.”

The diligent work of Larry Scott and other Tour officials deserve to be commended for correcting an error committed thirty-one years ago.

“Evonne was always one of the most beloved and gracious of champions,” said Sony Ericsson WTA Tour CEO & Chairman Larry Scott.

“We felt once it came to light that she did in fact assume the No.1 ranking for a period in 1976, it was important to recognise the achievement, just like we had with all the other 15 women who have achieved that pinnacle in women’s tennis.”

“Unfortunately our record keeping wasn’t perfect in those early days of women’s tennis and our ranking system was viewed as a means of just accepting tournament entries. It wasn’t until the early 1980s that the media and players started to pay attention to the changes in the rankings during the year as opposed to only the end of season rankings. Media coverage has evolved to the point now when a player cracks the Top 10 for the first time or attains the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour No.1 Ranking that it attracts world-wide attention and deservedly so.”

In honor of her achievement, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour sent Goolagong Cawley a Waterford Crystal trophy, a gift new No.1 tennis players in recent years have received from the Tour.

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