Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley, AO, MBE (born 31 July 1951) is a former World No. 1 Australian female tennis player. She was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s, when she won 14 Grand Slam titles: seven in singles (four Australian Open, two Wimbledon and one French Open), six in women's doubles, and one in mixed doubles.
Evonne Goolagong was ranked number one in the world for two weeks in 1976, though it was not reported at the time because incomplete data were used to calculate the rankings.
This was discovered in December 2007, 31 years later. She was the 16th woman to hold the top spot.
Goolagong is the third of eight children from an Australian Aboriginal family. Her parents, Kenny Goolagong and Melinda, are members of the Wiradjuri people.
She was born in Griffith, New South Wales, and grew up in the small country town of Barellan. Although Aboriginal people faced widespread discrimination in rural Australia at this time, Goolagong was able to play tennis in Barellan from childhood thanks to a kindly resident, Bill Kurtzman, who saw her peering through the fence at the local courts and encouraged her to come in and play.
In 1967, Vic Edwards, the proprietor of a tennis school in Sydney, was tipped off by two of his assistants and travelled to Barellan to take a look at the young Evonne Goolagong and immediately saw her potential. He persuaded Goolagong's parents to allow her to move to Sydney, where she attended Willoughby Girls High School. Here, she completed her School Certificate in 1968 and was at the same time coached by Edwards, and lived in his household.
My old tennis racket, it has seen a lot of action. I loved a good game of tennis, I used to play 2-3 times a week.
The old roller;
Please visit, and enjoy a game of tennis.
I remember watching her on tv -- I'm glad you chose to write about Evonne Goolagong.
ReplyDeleteAn enjoyable post. Evonne has been in the media recently too as she is an ambassador for the Learn Earn Legend initiative, which aims to "encourage and support young Indigenous Australians to stay at school, get a job and be a legend for themselves, their family and their community.....The clinics are designed to encourage young Indigenous Australians to pick up a racquet, have fun and give tennis a real go, with the aim to increase the number of Indigenous girls and boys playing tennis to help improve their health, education and employment opportunities".
ReplyDeleteEvonne was always one of my favourites, along with Billie Jean, of course.
ReplyDeleteEvonne was an elegant player and a pleasure to watch.
ReplyDeleteI really don't know too much about tennis, and I appreciate learning about Yvonne. Thanks! That picture in the post below this one is fascinating.
ReplyDeleteKathy M.
I remember hearing about her. I always thought the name "Goolagong" sounded interesting.
ReplyDeleteRemember watching Evonne on tv with my dad, but I didn't know her background. Amazing story - thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteI love that old roller, it looks like something my dad had borrowed years ago to lay our sod (new grass down!) Great photos for this tennis theme!
ReplyDeleteI was never a big tennis fan but since Chris Evert was from Ft Lauderdale where I live I remember Evonne Goolagong - thanks for the reminder!
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