‘Can You Just Listen to My Side?’ – Chris Evert’s Emotional Promise Once on How She Would Be an Entirely Different Parent to Her Kids

Former American tennis star Chris Evert is among the best of all time. The 67-year-old has won 18 Grand Slam titles and was absolutely unbeatable in the 70s. Evert came from a tennis family. Her father, Jimmy Evert, was a former professional tennis player and a coach. Evert learned her tennis basics from her father growing up.

The 18-time Grand Slam champion claimed that her parents were great and there’s hardly something that she would complain about. However, back in 1992, after the birth of her first son Alex, she pointed out one thing she would do differently from her parents.

Chris Evert on raising her son differently

In the year 1992, Evert was a new mother. She had a seven-month-old son with Andy Mill. After giving up tennis in 1989, Evert had a full focus on her family. In an interview, when asked about the way she would raise her son, she pointed out that mostly it would be like how her parents raised her. But there would be only one difference.

“I think one thing I’m going to do differently—and it’s only one thing because in everything else my parents were wonderful—is listen a little bit better than they listened,” Evert said.

Read more: ‘Gone in the Opposite Direction’ – When Chris Evert Vowed to Not Put Pressure on Her Kids to Be Immensely Successful

She further added that her parents didn’t have a lot of time of their hands. “When you’re running a household of five kids, you don’t have a lot of time to chitchat. You know, it was, “Go to bed.” And you’d say, “Can you just listen to my side?” “Go to bed.”

“But I’ll listen to him even if he’s live years old, and if he wants to do something, I’ll talk to him about it.”

Evert on raising three kids at a time

By 1997, Chris Evert and Andy Mill were a family of five. They had three sons. In an interview back in 1997, the former world number 1 spoke about the challenges of raising three kids simultaneously. The 18-time Grand Slam champion claimed that raising two kids at a time is still manageable because both father and mother can handle one kid each. However, the problem started when her youngest son, Colton, was born.

One thing the former tennis star realized is that spending time with all three of them together wouldn’t work. Especially for the youngest one. All three of them needed separate personal time with their mother.

Watch this story: Chris Evert looks back at her astounding rivalry with Martina Navratilova and the negative impact of her 13-match losing streak

Today, when all three of her sons are grown up, one can only imagine how hard it was for Evert to be a mom of three.