Chris Evert was the American sweetheart on the court. However, it was not something that she got without any other nicknames. Famous for always having a calm composure, both on and off the court, Evert was given the name, ‘Ice Princess’.

During her father’s funeral, where her arch-rival and friend Martina Navratilova too was present, she joked about this demeanor. Always a calm and composed personality, Evert faced issues in real life.

Evert’s father coached her when she was young. Being a tennis player himself, he taught her the sport. After becoming the top tennis player, she realized how this personality trait of hers did not help in real life.

Chris Evert once joked about being the “Ice Princess”

The 18-time Grand Slam champion played a major role in shaping the incumbent nature of the WTA tour. However, for her own self, she was not that revolutionary. Her father coached her to be calm and composed at all times.

So, even if she was under huge pressure on the court, she never broke her calm composure. This led to people referring to her as the ‘Ice Princess’ before she became ‘Chris America’.

The tennis player accepted how this all affected her personal life. At her father’s funeral in her eulogy, she mentioned, “It worked very well for me on the court,” she said, smiling, “but off the court I needed therapy.”

Her emotions were all bottled up. The American player met a fierce rival, like Martina Navratilova. But despite defeating Evert multiple times, she could never break through her demeanor.

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But this affected her personal life as she could not figure out what is it that she wanted. So, when she divorced her third husband, Greg Norman, she decided to go to therapy and find a way to navigate her emotions.

How did Martina Navratilova contribute to making ‘Ice Princess’ into ‘Chris America’?

When Chris Evert made her debut, she won the hearts of the crowd. But tennis being an emotional game, which brings out the raw emotions of the player outside, people craved some from Evert too. However, she could not push it.

But then Navratilova came into the picture. She was the exact opposite of Evert with her outbursts and aggressive shots across the court. Where Evert had a strong baseline game, Navratilova did not hesitate to come to the net.

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Where Evert stayed calm throughout the whole match, Navratilova poured her emotions during the match. This highlighted the contrast between the two and Evert became ‘Chris America’ as their rivalry deepened.