A tennis legend has stepped away from the game, including covering the 2024 Australian Open, due to her health. In early December, Chris Evert announced she was not going to be part of ESPN’s coverage of the Grand Slam tournament because she had recently been re-diagnosed with cancer. This comes nearly two years after she first announced in January 2022 that she was diagnosed with stage 1 ovarian cancer. She completed her treatment after six chemotherapy sessions in May of that year.
“Since I was first diagnosed with cancer two years ago, I’ve been very open about my experience. I wanted to give all of you an update. My cancer is back,” Evert said in a statement. “While this is a diagnosis I never wanted to hear, I once again feel fortunate that it was caught early. Based on a PET CT scan, I underwent another robotic surgery this past week. Doctors found cancer cells in the same pelvic region. All cells were removed, and I have begun another round of chemotherapy.”
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Evert continued: “I will be unable to join my colleagues when ESPN makes its return to Melbourne for the Australian Open next month. But I’ll be ready for the rest of the Grand Slam season! I encourage everyone to know your family history and advocate for yourself. Early detection saves lives. Be thankful for your health this holiday season.”
Evert, 69, is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time. She won 1,309 professional tennis matches in her career and claimed 157 singles titles. Evert also won 18 Grand Slam titles, including two Australian Opens, seven Franch Opens, three Wimbledon tournaments and six US Opens. In a stunning feat, she won her first 48 Major quarterfinal matches from the 1971 US Open to 1987 Wimbledon, a statistic that resurfaced on social media recently. She is also the first female athlete to earn $1 million in career prize money, according to CNN.
Since 2011, Evert has been working as a commentator and analyst for ESPN. This week, Evert and another tennis legend, Martina Navratilova, wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post speaking out against the 2024 WTA Finals being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Not only is this a country where women are not seen as equal, it is a country where the current landscape includes a male guardianship law that essentially makes women the property of men,” Evert and Navratilova wrote, per ESPN. “A country which criminalizes the LGBTQ community to the point of possible death sentences. A country whose long-term record on human rights and basic freedoms has been a matter of international concern for decades.”
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