My Deep Dive into Chris Evert and Coco Gauff
Okay, so the other day I got thinking about tennis, specifically how things change over generations but also kinda stay the same. Two names popped into my head: Chris Evert and Coco Gauff. You got the legend, the baseline queen, and then the young powerhouse making waves right now. I figured, let me spend some time actually looking into this, see what I find.
First thing I did was pull up some old footage of Chrissie. Man, finding good quality stuff from the 70s and 80s isn’t always easy, but I managed. Watched parts of a few matches, some highlight reels. What really stood out was her consistency. That two-handed backhand was just relentless. She wasn’t blasting people off the court most of the time, she was just so solid, mentally tough, always there, making you hit one more ball. Like hitting against a wall, they used to say. It was all about control and precision from the baseline.
Then, I switched gears and started watching Coco Gauff. Obviously, easier to find recent matches. The difference in pure power is pretty striking. Her serve is a weapon, big time. And her athleticism, covering the court, getting to balls – it’s incredible. She’s got that fire, you can see it. More aggressive than Evert, takes more risks maybe, but also building that consistency.
I spent some time just watching clips back-to-back. It wasn’t about saying who’s ‘better’, that’s dumb. It was about seeing the game evolve.
- Evert: Mental toughness, baseline rallies, placement over power.
- Gauff: Athleticism, power serves, aggressive baseline game, but also great defense.
Then I did a bit of reading. Found some interviews where Evert actually talked about Gauff. It’s always cool hearing legends comment on the new generation. Chrissie seems really impressed, especially with Coco’s maturity and how she handles the pressure. That pressure thing got me thinking. Evert had huge pressure too, but maybe it felt different back then compared to today’s social media world Gauff lives in.
So, what did I really take away from this little exercise?
Well, mostly it just reinforced how amazing both players are in their own eras. It shows how the women’s game has gotten faster, more powerful, but that mental strength Evert had? That’s still absolutely key, and you see Gauff has it too, just maybe shows it differently. It was just interesting to spend an afternoon digging into their games and careers side-by-side, purely from watching and reading stuff. No fancy stats, just observation. Made me appreciate both of them a lot more.
