Chris Evert pays tribute to her tennis coach dad Jimmy after he dies aged 91

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'It's an honor to have been your daughter': Chris Evert pays tribute to her tennis coach dad Jimmy after he dies aged 91
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Jimmy also taught Jennifer Capriati, Frank Froehling, Brian Gottfried and Harold Solomon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida
The courts where he coached for 49 years were renamed the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center in 1997
His daughter Chris tweeted a touching photograph and message after he died from pneumonia
All five of his children and his wife of 62 years were at his bedside

Published: 11:59 EST, 23 August 2015 | Updated: 15:48 EST, 23 August 2015

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Jimmy Evert - the tennis coach who turned his daughter Chris into a Grand Slam champion - has died at the age of 91.

All five of his children reached at least the final of a national junior championship but Chris became one of the greatest players ever - winning 18 major titles and finishing No.1 for seven years.

This weekend she tweeted a touching photograph of her and her father, with the message: It's an honor and a blessing to have been your daughter. You will be in my heart forever. RIP Dad... XO'

Jimmy Evert also worked with Jennifer Capriati, who went on to the No.1 ranking, and Frank Froehling, Brian Gottfried and Harold Solomon, who also became top players.

Close: Chris Evert and dad Jimmy pose next to an Andy Warhol painting of Chris at her 50th birthday in 2004

Poignant: Chris Evert's Twitter tribute to her father Jimmy, including a photo of them together in the 1970s, when she was a Grand Slam champion

Jimmy Evert died on Friday of natural causes

He taught the junior players at the Holiday Park courts in Fort Lauderdale for 49 years - in 1997 the center was renamed the Jimmy Evert Tennis Center.

The Chicago-born tutor was an All-American player at Notre Dame in the 1940s and reached No.11 in the U.S. rankings. In 1947 he won the men's singles title in the Canadian Championships.

He died Friday of pneumonia, according to the Sun Sentinel, with his children - Chris, John, Drew, Clare and Jeanne - and his wife of 62 years, Colette, by his bedside.

Chris, 60, told the Sentinel: 'Dad always said he started us in tennis to keep us off the streets.

'He was a very private, humble person who was low-key and happy to stay in the background.'

She added: 'So after I retire, I see he's watching Tennis Channel and he's laughing at John McEnroe's [histrionics], telling me he's his favorite player. I yelled, "Dad, that's everything you taught me not to do!"

'He handled the parent-coach relationship very well and it can be difficult. He never got mad at me or my siblings when we lost, but he would be furious if we gave up or didn't try in practice.'

Star attraction: Jimmy Evert and his famous daughter Chris Evert pose with local children who were attending his summer tennis camp at the Holiday Park courts in Fort Lauderdale in 1984

Jimmy was married to Colette (pictured with him in 2006) for 62 years and the couple had five children

As well as his daughter Chris (left in 2013) he coached Jennifer Capriati (right in 2004), who became No.1

Former Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle, who oversaw the renaming of the tennis center, said of Jimmy: 'His daughter was famous, he was a great coach and he could have done anything with that, but he didn't want to do anything other than coach the kids in Fort Lauderdale.

'He was very proud of his daughter, but he was just a regular guy — a tennis coach in Holiday Park.'

A funeral mass will be held on Wednesday at St. Anthony Catholic Church in Ft. Lauderdale.