It was a momentous milestone, brought about in no small part by an equally momentous champion, Billie Jean King. In 1973, the US Open became the first of the four Grand Slam tournaments to offer equal prize money to men and women competitors, a pioneering move that shook the sport and began to reshape it toward a more equitable future.
As we this year celebrate the 50th anniversary of this important US Open milestone, USOpen.org will feature a series of reflections upon other major markers of equality in tennis across this past half-century, each of which helped to nudge the sport forward toward the grand goal of a more level playing field for all. In this installment, we look at when Sports Illustrated gave their prestigious Sportsperson of the Year award solely to a woman for the first time.
On the cover of a 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated, Chris Evert stood smiling, dressed in an early-1900s-style, floor-length tennis dress with a bustle, holding a wooden tennis racquet.
While the fashion and cover art harkened back to earlier days, Evert was making history as the first woman to solely receive the honor of the magazine’s Sportsperson of the Year.
Sports Illustrated has given the Sportsperson of the Year awards every year since 1954 to “an athlete, coach or team who best represents the spirit and ideals of sportsmanship, character, and performance," with previous winners in its early days including Muhammad Ali, Bobby Orr and Carl Yastrzemski. But it took the famous publication nearly two decades to give their signature award to a woman, when they awarded it jointly to Billie Jean King and basketball coach John Wooden. It took them four more years to have a woman stand alone on the cover of the special end-of-year issue.
Evert was the perfect candidate to break the glass ceiling and join the ranks of honorees, given her success record. Her story fittingly read, “She dominated her game as no other man or woman did in any sport.”
Her road to the honor was that of a teenage prodigy to a world-beater. She burst onto the scene when, as a 15-year-old amateur, she beat world No. 1 Margaret Court just weeks after Court completed the Grand Slam in 1970. At the 1971 US Open, Evert fought her way through to the semifinals, becoming the youngest player to do so at Forest Hills. Between her age, determination and on-court dominance she became a must-see player, and played every match on Center Court from the second round on. Evert lost to top-seeded Billie Jean King in the final, but her reputation was solidified and she turned pro in 1972.
In 1973, Evert was the runner-up at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, but claimed those titles in 1974 in addition to 14 other crowns on the tour. She was the Australian Open finalist and won 100 out of 107 matches that year. Evert followed it up with becoming the first No. 1 under the WTA computerized ranking system, and hoisted the Roland Garros and US Open trophies.
Her 1976 season, however, was completely awe-inspiring. For the first and only time in her career, Evert won Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year, defeating Evonne Goolagong Cawley in both finals, and losing only three games during their Forest Hills match. She took home 10 additional singles crowns including Eastbourne, Washington, D.C., and the Colgate Series Championship, and won a major doubles title with Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon.
Even though she didn't play the majors in Melbourne and Paris, Evert ended the year as the world No. 1 despite losing to Cawley in the Virginia Slims final. She also became the first tennis player of any gender to make $1 million in career prize money.
Evert didn’t stop breaking records or winning titles after receiving Sportsperson of the Year—she won at least one major title every year through 1986—but her 1976 season and magazine cover paved the way for women to be the sole recipient of the honor, and sports icons such as Serena Williams, Megan Rapinoe, Mary Decker and the 1999 USWNT have since commanded the cover of Sports Illustrated as the most impactful athletes of the year.
