Evonne Goolagong Cawley - Grand Slam Success

Grand Slam Success

Goolagong 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. Between 1973 and 1978, she reached the final of almost every Grand Slam singles event she entered. There was only one exception. After losing to Billie-Jean King at Wimbledon 1973 at the semi-final stage, Goolagong only suffered one defeat prior to the final until Wimbledon 1978, when she lost in the semi-final to Martina Navratilova. The sole blemish in this five-year period was a loss at Wimbledon at the quarter-final stage to Australian Kerry Melville Reid. That year, Goolagong teamed up with Peggy Michel to win the Ladies' Doubles title.

She is the only mother to have won the Wimbledon title since before World War I. Married to Roger Cawley in 1975, she had a daughter in 1977. She won the 1980 Wimbledon title.

Goolagong reached four consecutive U.S. Open finals, but lost them all. She is the only player in the open era of the event to have lost four consecutive finals, and the only woman to do so in U.S. championships history. Goolagong made seven consecutive finals at the Australian Open, winning four titles in a row, both records for the open era, although she did not compete in the January 1977 event. Despite reaching the final at her first two appearances in 1971 and 1972, after 1973 Goolagong did not compete at the French Open championships for a decade. She returned in 1983 for her final Grand Slam singles appearance. She lost in the last thirty-two to Chris Evert and promptly retired.

The National Museum of Australia holds the Evonne Goolagong Cawley collection of memorabilia. This includes Evonne's 1971 and 1980 Wimbledon singles trophies, the trophy from her 1974 doubles win, and two racquets used in these tournaments. The museum's collection also includes a signed warm-up jacket, and a dress with a bolero style top, designed by Teddy Tinling in the early 1970s.

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.