Evonne Goolagong Cawley

Evonne Goolagong Cawley
AO, MBE

Goolagong at the 1971 Dutch Open
Country (sports)	Australia
Born	(1951-07-31) 31 July 1951 (age 65) Griffith, New South Wales, Australia
Retired	1983
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$ 1,399,431
Int. Tennis HoF	1988 (member page)
Singles
Career record	704–165
Career titles	86 (68 during the open era)
Highest ranking	No. 1 (26 April 1976)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1974, 1975, 1976, 1977Dec)
French Open	W (1971)
Wimbledon	W (1971, 1980)
US Open	F (1973, 1974, 1975, 1976)
Doubles
Career titles	46
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	W (1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977Dec)
French Open	SF (1971)
Wimbledon	W (1974)
US Open	SF (1972, 1973, 1974)
Mixed doubles
Career titles	1
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
French Open	W (1972)
Wimbledon	F (1972)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	W (1971, 1973, 1974)

Evonne Goolagong Cawley AO, MBE (born 31 July 1951) is an Australian former World No. 1 female tennis player. She was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s, during which she won 14 Grand Slam titles: seven in singles (four at the Australian Open, two at Wimbledon and one at the French Open), six in women's doubles, and one in mixed doubles.

Born Evonne Fay Goolagong, she is the third of eight children from an Australian Aboriginal family. Her parents, Kenny Goolagong (an itinerant sheep shearer) 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 local resident, Bill Kurtzman, who saw her peering through the fence at the local courts and encouraged her to come in and play. In 1965, 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 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.

Goolagong Cawley is 12th on the list of all-time singles grand slam winners level with Venus Williams and ended her career with 82 singles titles. She took singles and doubles titles at the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon, but she was unable to win any title at the US Open. She won seven Grand Slam singles titles in her career, reaching a total of eighteen Grand Slam singles finals. During the 1970s, she played in seventeen Grand Slam singles finals, a period record for any player, man or woman. From her first Grand Slam singles final appearance in January 1971 and her last for the decade in December 1977, she played in 21 Grand Slam events. Her only four defeats prior to the finals came at the US Open 1972 in the third round; Wimbledon 1974 where she was defeated in a quarterfinal; and she lost at the semifinal stage at both the French Open and Wimbledon in 1973. In 1971, 1975, 1976 and 1977, Goolagong reached the final of every Grand Slam in which she competed. Between 1973 and 1978, she reached the final of almost every Grand Slam singles event she entered. The sole exception was Wimbledon, where she played in only two finals in that period, 1975 and 1976, losing both; she lost in 1973 to eventual champion Billie-Jean King in the semi-finals, in 1974 to Australian Kerry Melville at the quarter-final stage, and in 1978 to eventual champion Martina Navratilova in the semi-finals; she did not enter in 1977, the year her daughter was born. Also in 1974, Goolagong Cawley teamed up with Peggy Michel to win the Ladies' Doubles title. She has won the women's doubles title at the Australian Open five times and the French Open once, as well as mixed doubles at the French Open once.