The 18-time major single title winner, Chris Evert, recently tweeted about something quite interesting. She raised a good observation about Taylor Fritz. For those unaware, Taylor’s mom Kathy May was the Ice Maiden’s rival during their prime. Her tweet is a rush of nostalgia for anyone who followed her matches. Evert has competed against May more than once, which is why her remarks carry weight in this context.

Fritz, right now, is playing at the Shanghai Masters and seems to be doing good. However, Kathy May was making news all the time back in the late 70s. She is a 7 WTA singles titles winner and quite talented as well. It looks like Kathy inspired Taylor to follow in her footsteps.

Chris Evert on Taylor Fritz inheriting his mother’s resilience

On Saturday, Fritz won the round of 64 at the Shanghai Masters. He defeated the Japanese champ, Yosuke Watanuki after giving him tough competition throughout the match. The match went neck-and-neck, but Taylor’s effort in the last set led him to the win. Apparently, Evert tuned in to watch the match and this is what she had to say:

“so, I’m watching @Taylor_Fritz97 remembering playing his mom, Kathy May in our era. She was a great competitor…. like mother, like son!👏👍”

It looks like the American WTA legend actually fell into the pit of nostalgia upon seeing Fritz play. Evert referred back to her time and let us know how great of a contender Kathy was.

So how good of a player was Kathy May? Was she better than current-day Taylor? May and Chris fortunately shared a similar time period during their professional years. Their matches against each other used to gain a lot of attention.

What made Evert praise Kathy May’s competitive nature? 

Kathy May played a total of 4 matches against Evert and ended up losing every match. Even after defeating Kathy each time, Evert still thinks of her as a tough competition. Although their matches when looked at might not seem that much of a brawl, it wasn’t always the case.

In their first match at a Washington DC tournament in 1977, Evert won in straight sets (6-4, 6-3), and the second match was even more convincing. She marked her victory with a 6-0, 6-1 straight set victory yet again. The third time is the charm. Well, not so much for Kathy. Scores were similar to the previous matches, 6-3 6-0, which led Evert to the win. In her 4th and final match against Kathy, Evert did struggle a bit but won with  6-4, 6-3. Yet, if we focus on what the Ice Maiden said, it is apparent that Kathy gave her a tougher competition than what we can realize by looking at the scores.

Chris Evert is in the league of G.O.A.Ts, so her admiration for Taylor Fritz’s mom means a lot. When a senior player validates the hard work of relatively young players like Fritz, it boosts their morale on a totally different level. So, to call someone similar to their parent is the greatest compliment of all, especially after looking at their performance.

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