"It increases your compassion for people" - Chris Evert delves into her new mindset after battling cancer

Known for her grit and determination on the court, retired WTA star Chris Evert was forced to rely on that disposition when she was diagnosed with cancer in 2022.

The former World No.1 enjoyed a 17-year career on the WTA Tour, and was one of it's most prominent stars in between 1970 and 1990. In addition to reaching the top of the WTA Rankings, Evert won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, making her one of the most successful tennis players of all time.

Following her retirement in 1989, Evert stayed in touch with the game. The Florida native opened the Evert Tennis Academy with her brother John in Boca Raton.

The retired American star would take to the commentators booth at a later stage in life, starting her commentary career in 2010 at the age of 55. However, tragedy would strike 10 years later as Evert's sister would lose her life due to cancer in 2020, prompting Evert herself to undergo a cancer diagnosis in 2021.

The six-time US Open singles champion would test positive for the BRCA gene mutation, and would later be diagnosed with Ovarian cancer in 2022. Undeterred, Evert would go through chemotherapy and multiple surgeries to battle the disease.

"When I was going through chemo, people would always come up to me and say, ‘You’re so brave. I don’t know how you do it,’" wrote Evert in a column for The Free Press. " And I’d look at them and say, ‘What’s the alternative? What else can you do?’ I told them, ‘You would do the same thing.’ It didn’t matter that I’m a well-known athlete who is fit and healthy; I’m one of the millions of people around the world who have cancer and receive chemo.
“When you’re sitting in that room getting chemotherapy pumped into your veins, you can’t help but look around and see all the other people doing the same thing. It makes you humble. And it increases your compassion for people."

Evert would be declared cancer free in May 2002. However, the cancer would return the following year, prompting another round of chemotherapy before she was declared cancer free again in 2024.