A tumultuous set featured sudden lead changes and entertaining all-court exchanges between the world’s top two players. Evert ended it with a rainbow lob to regain the title.
Goolagong, who had married Roger Cawley and is referred to as “Mrs. Cawley” throughout the match, closed out the second set aggressively to level, then lofted a lob that left Evert nodding in acknowledgement to break for a 1-0 third-set lead. Playing some of the most aggressive tennis of her Wimbledon career, Evert regained the lead, but she failed to serve it out at 5-4. Yet she kept her composure when serving at 5-6 to extend the match.
If you missed Goolagong’s prime, check out the video above and watch one of the most exquisite backhand volleys women’s tennis has ever seen. At 3:31 on the video, Goolagong is so smooth she makes the toughest shot in tennis—the high backhand smash—look relatively routine in angling off a winner. One of the most graceful grass-court movers of the Open era, Goolagong is so light on her feet you sometimes don’t hear the sound of her steps as she glides forward.
“This was the best match of their illustrious rivalry,” tennis historian Steve Flink, author of The Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth Century told TENNIS.com. “They were one and two in the world and Evonne had beaten Chrissie in their two most recent meetings indoors at Philadelphia and at the prestigious Virginia Slims Championships in Los Angeles. Evonne had never played better sustained tennis in her career, but Chris was primed for that Wimbledon final because she had only won the tournament once before—in ’74—and she had worked hard on her volley during the World Team Tennis season with her teammate in Phoenix, Tony Roche.”
Though the decade featured some classic finals—Margaret Court’s 14-12, 11-9 triumph over Billie Jean King was named one of the Top 10 matches of the Open era by TENNIS in 2003—this match makes our list because it pitted two stylists who pushed each other to broaden their games. Watch Wimbledon today and note that the grass is greenest inside the service line; it's a visible reminder that today’s tennis is predominantly a baseline game. The Evert-Goolagong final explored all areas of the court, from back wall to front court, with the baseliner taking the net away from the attacker on some key points.
Younger fans often comment on how shots in 1970s rallies seem to lope, rather than zoom across the net like some of the ballistic exchanges of today. If you’re one of the people who tend to cast a condescending glance because of the slower pace, do yourself a favor: Pick up a wood racquet and try to play the type of all-court tennis Evert and Goolagong produced above. You may appreciate—or at least understand—just how difficult it is to make magic happen with the heavier, small-headed frames and gut strings of yesteryear. The ball control skills they exhibit—particularly now when we’ve seen recent world No. 1s routinely rack up double-digit double faults—and the contrast between Goolagong’s free-flowing improvisational runs and Evert’s accuracy in stretching the court with depth and direction, is truly splendor on the grass.
No. 5: Evert d. Goolagong, 1976
No. 4: Ivanisevic d. Rafter, 2001
No. 3: Williams d. Davenport, 2005
No. 2: Borg d. McEnroe, 1980
No. 1: Nadal d. Federer, 2008
