Making her ESPN debut as commentator, Hall of Famer Chris Evert will preside over the upcoming Wimbledon tournament beginning on Monday, June 20 from the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club. With the Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer’s “trivalry” in full force, the wide open women’s field will likely include the long-anticipated return from injury of the Williams Sisters. Serena Williams who has not played since winning last year is expected to defend her title and will be joined by her five-time champion sister Venus, who has also missed much time for injury.
When asked recently on a press call what her take on the Williams sisters is Chris Evert said, “I’ll go with Serena and Venus. Whenever they enter a grand slam tournament it’s double the excitement and double the intrigue, I think, that they bring to the sport. They just bring a different level of tennis also, as far as the power and the emotional content.
It would be monumental in my mind if Serena pulled off a win. You can never, ever count her out. But I personally don’t I don’t know how it’s humanly possible for someone to take a year off like that and have gone through what she’s been through physically with her ailments and really hasn’t had a tremendous amount of practice, really a one tournament warm up. It would just it would almost shock me if she did, but knowing Serena and the way she’s come back before, you can never count her out.
Venus is sort of a dark horse because really she kind of Serena gets all the press. But Venus will sort of come into the tournament, I think, very quietly. She does the job and she still has the best I think of the two, she has the better Wimbledon record. And she loves grass and she plays great on it. Yeah, she’s definitely in contention also. I think that all eyes will be on the big story which is more Serena than anybody. I think hoping that she health wise and physically wise can hold up under the stress of the tournament. It will be interesting to see how she plays.
Pictured here is Chris Evert last August at Tribeca Cinemas — Premiere of ESPN Films’ “30 for 30” “Unmatched”