Tennis icon Chris Evert secured her place among the game’s all-time greats long before she hung up her tennis racket for the last time, but her biggest victory came much later in life.

An 18-time Grand Slam singles champion, Evert was the first superstar of the Open Era in women’s tennis as she became the first female athlete in any sport to win $1m in prize money in a single year in 1976.

Her beauty, elegance and grace helped to take tennis to a huge global audience, yet she has been fighting very different battles in recent years.

Evert was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in December 2021 and after being given the all-clear from doctors, she started a second battle with the disease in late 2023.

The tennis family rallied around one of their greatest heroines in her hour of need and it was a delight to see the 70-year-old back at the heart of the game as she was a star contributor to the outstanding TNT Sports coverage for the French Open at Roland Garros in May.

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It was there that she sat down for an exclusive interview with Tennis365 and opened up about her cancer battles and how they have reshaped her life.

“It does change you when you have a battle like this and I do think about whether my cancer will come back from time to time, but what I think about more is that I need to live every darn day to the fullest,” she told us.

“You know, I’d better start doing only things that I want to do and only things that make me happy. That’s the way I think now.

“When you have lived through an experience like this, you appreciate that every day is precious. You just don’t know what’s around the corner and the reality is you have no control over it. So live every moment. This feels like a second chance for me, no doubt about it.

“Sometimes you have to sink to the lowest depths and get to a point where you wonder whether you will get through something like cancer to change your mindset.

“I don’t know how much lower you can get when you get a prognosis that you may have cancer in your whole body. Thank God, mine didn’t spread, but it humbles you and makes you feel more eager to speak out on issues like this.”

Chris Evert working for TNT Sports

She may be one of the ultimate icons of female sport, and Evert has not always been comfortable using her status to make a difference, but all that changed when she was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer after a preventative hysterectomy.

Two years after her sister Jeanne passed away, Evert was referred for genetic testing by her sister’s oncologist.

She was aware Jeanne’s blood had been stored in a lab in case data related to new variants became available, but she never expected the BRCA1 variant her sister had would one day be reclassified as “clearly pathogenic” or cancerous.

Tests confirmed she also had that variant in her blood and after early treatment saved her life, she is now keen to encourage others to embrace technological advances that could allow them to detect cancer early and treat it.

“Before this period of my life, I used to be wary of image and speaking out,” she told us.

“Now I just say what I want to say and that is an attitude that sets you free. If I am well informed and educated on a subject and I have an opinion, then I like to use my voice to speak out.

“In terms of issues in tennis and trying to influence the game now, I have another life and I don’t want to be involved in that, but when I get a chance to speak out about my cancer battles, that is where I am totally keen to use the platform tennis has given me.

“I want to get the word out there on early prevention, get your scans, make your appointment. There is a lot of information that isn’t out there for women and if I can help a few more go to the doctor and look into what they can do to improve their chances, that is more important than any tennis tournament I won.”

Evert is still winning her biggest battles and we shouldn’t expect anything less from one of the greatest tennis champions of them all.

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