Christine Evert—problems for a young tennis star

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32861, 9 March 1972, Page 7

Christine Evert—problems for a young tennis star

(New York Times News Service, through N.Z.P.A.)

FORT LAUDERDALE (Florida). Christine Marie Evert, the little angel of tennis, whose silver cloud carried her to thei centre court at Forest Hills almost six months ago, is discovering that growing up in the spotlight can have its problems. Now two months past her seventeenth birthday, she is somewhat weary of the littlegiri image she was cast in during her meteoric rise last year. In fact, the teen-ager with the delicate features and long blonde hair, who flashed round the court in lace and pastel ribbons and tiny earrings, wishes that writers would recognise her growing maturity and start calling her sexy instead of such descriptions as “little Miss Poker Face” and "Cinderella in tennis shoes.” “That poker-face thing is so blah,” says the soft-spoken restrained Miss Evert. “And I don’t like the Cinderella thing, either.” Christine Evert has found that being a tennis star has its drawbacks in other ways, too. DANCES AND DATES What with school (she is a 92-average student at Thomas! Aquinas High School, a

parochial school at Fort Lauderdale) and homework (her father, a tennis profes--1 sional and her coach, is firm ' on that), and practice (she > gets home from school about J 2.15 p.m. and a half-hour later is out practising until ■ 7 p.m. with her sister, i Jeanne, and male players, . most of whom she beats), and a regimen of nine hours sleep (she is in bed by 10 pun.), there is not much time for dances and dates. “I think boys are in awe .of her,” her mother said ’ recently, in an interview. ’ “She gets a lot of calls. She . dates, but not an awful lot. ’ She’s kind of shy.” The shyness has not kept , Miss Evert from developing I a firmness on the court that j was not noticeable a few ' months back. Always poised ’ and cool—although she has ’ been known to break a few j rackets in disgust at prac- ’ tice—she is now more obvi- ; ously confident of herself, ’ and has even begun to ques- ’ tion linesmen when she thinks she has been wronged. GROWING UP I Since she startled the teni nis world at Forest Hills before losing to Mrs Billie I Jean King in the semi-finals—-i she got one-sided revenge . earlier this month before a home-town crowd—she has added some height (a halft inch) and some weight (51b). She is now sft sin and Bst ; 31b.

make-up—some lip gloss and, off the court, some eyeshadow. Although she is careful about what she eats, she does not have to worry about dieting. Typically, she has a hearty breakfast of bacon, toast, apple sauce and milk, and a light lunch. For dinner, especially during tournaments, she prefers steak or roast beef. Another staple is bubble gum—she has a wad in her mouth all the time she is on the court. FATHER’S VIEWS A Fort Lauderdale woman designs her outfits and makes about four dozen a year for her.

While Miss Evert spends most of her out-of-school time wrapped up in tennis, her father does not think that she misses social activities too much. Mr Evert said he has fretted about his daughter’s social life, but concluded: “Christine is unique and novel. She is having fun. Just the other week, she had dinner in San Juan with Andy Williams, Jack Nicklaus, and Billy Talbert. She was treated like a queen. She looks forward to going away to the tournaments.”

On December 21 next, het eighteenth birthday, Miss Evert will be eligible to turn professional and probably will. When asked what she would do with the money she could win next year, she

replied in her monosyllabic way: “Save it.” But Mr Evert has other ideas. “Maybe,” he said, “die can help pay some bills."