In 1970, at a small, insignificant tournament in North Carolina, 15-year-old Christine Marie Evert gave notice to the world that a dynamo was on the way up. Chrissie defeated Margaret Courth, who had recently completed her singles Grand Slam and was the No. 1 player of the world, 7-6, 7-6.

A year later in the U.S. Open at Forest Hills, Evert reconfirmed by marching resolutely to the semifinals--at 16 years, 8 months, 20 days, the youngest at that time to reach that stage. Before losing to Billie Jean King, 6-3, 6-2, the eventual champion, schoolgirl Evert bowled over a succession of seasoned pros, mostly in come-from-behind thrillers that raised tears on the defeated older players and cheers in the Forest Hills stadium that Chrissie filled day after day. They went down in a row: Edna Buding, 6-1, 6-0; Mary Ann Eisel, 4-6, 7-6 (5-1), 6-1; fifth-seeded Françoise Durr, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3; Lesley Hunt, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Against Eisel, the No. 4 American, Evert wowed the first national TV audience to behold her by stonewalling when Eisel served for the match at 6-5, 40-0. Undaunted, the kid made six match points melt with bold shotmaking.

Although essentially a slow-court baseline specialist, raised on clay in Fort Lauderdale, FL, where she was born December 21, 1954, the right-handed Evert showed that booming groundstrokes could succeed on the fast Forest Hills, Wimbledon and Australian grass. She was the Little Ice Maiden, a pony-tailed kid, deadpan, with metronomic strokes that seldom missed. Her two-handed backhand, a powerful drive, stimulated a generation of newcomers to copy her, even though her father, teaching pro Jimmy Evert, advised against it. "I didn't teach the two-hander to her," said her father, who had won the Canadian singles in 1947. "She started that way because she was too small and weak to swing the backhand with one hand. I hoped she'd change--but how can I argue with this success?"

It was such a success that by the time she completed a 20-year career in 1989 she had won $8,896,195 in prize money and a record 157 pro singles titles on a 1,309-146 won-lost record. That's an .8996 winning average, highest in pro history.

Martina Navratilova would overtake her in singles titles in 1992. Evert also was runner-up for 72 singles titles, which meant she made it to 76 percent of the finals of 303 tournaments entered.

An amateur until 1973, she was the first to reach $1 million in career prize money, in 1976.

Her major titles numbered 21--18 of them of 34 finals in singles--six behind Margaret Court, three behind Steffi Graf, one behind Helen Wills Moody, tied with Navratilova. Phenomenally, Chris won at least one major singles for 13 consecutive years, a record. She started in 1974 and ended in 1986 at the French where she was the all-time champ with seven championships on a 72-6 match record.

By winning the U.S. title a fourth consecutive time in 1978 she was the first to do so since Helen Jacobs' run of 1932-35. Between 1973 and 1979 she won 125 consecutive matches on clay, including 24 tournaments. The streak came to an end in the semifinals of the Italian Open in Rome when she lost, 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), to Tracy Austin.

Her introduction to Goolagong was the 1972 Wimbledon semifinal, an exciting three-set struggle won by Goolagong, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, the defending champion. That was the start of one of the two most compelling female rivalries of the open era, one in which Evert held a 21-12 edge. The other, perhaps the most renowned in the game's history, was Chris' friendly feud with Martina Navratilova. From 1973 through 1988 it stretched 80 matches. Evert won the first meeting in Akron, Ohio, 7-6 (5-4), 6-3, and took a big early lead, but Navratilova overtook her, and came out ahead, 43-37, winning nine of 13 of their major final engagements.

During the open era, the Virginia Slims circuit and its championship became prominent in women's tennis. Evert won the first of her Slims championships in 1972 at 17. In choosing to preserve her amateur status until her 18th birthday that year, she disdained more than $50,000 in prize money, including the $25,000 Slims award for beating Kerry Reid, 7-5, 6-4.

Once she entered tennis for a living, she was a thorough exemplary professional in her relations with colleagues, press and public, and perennially a hard but sporting competitor. Fairly soon she lost her status as the darling little girl. Her style was based on flawless barrages from the backcourt, and her constant winning seemed monotonous to many. Nevertheless she was a smart player, able to maneuver a foe cleverly, scoring decisively with a well-disguised drop shot. She was also a better volleyer than given credit for, after overcoming an early distaste for the net. "I realize that a lot of fans think my game is boring, and they want to see me lose, or at least for somebody to give me a good fight all the time. But this is the game I played to win," she said. "Losing hurts me. I was always determined to be the best."

A lithe 5-foot-6, 125 pounds, she was No. 1 in the world 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980 and 1981 and in the World Top Ten 17 years, a paragon of consistency in that she entered 57 of the major tourneys, won 18, and was at least a semifinalist 53 times. Her worst efforts were two quarterfinal (U.S.) and two third-round losses (French and Wimbledon).

Ranking No. 1 in the U.S. 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1981, she was the first since Alice Marble (193-40) to be on top five straight years. Her 19 years in the U.S. Top Ten were one better than Billie Jean King, although Navratilova subsequently held onto No. 1 for 11 straight years, through 1992.

As one of five tennis-playing Evert children, she was clearly the star, but her sister, Jean three years younger, was also a pro.

In 1974 Jeanne ranked No. 9 in the U.S.; they were the first sisters to be ranked in the Top Ten since Florence (No. 3) and Ethel Sutton (No. 2) in 1913. Chris and Jeanne were teammates the victorious U.S. Wightman Cup team of 1973, the only sisters to play together in the series against Britain.

Her final-round surges past Goolagong for a first U.S. Open crown in 1975 (5-7, 6-4, 6-2) and to the Wimbledon title of 1976 (6-3, 4-6, 8-6) are well remembered. But her most satisfying victories were probably the last majors, the French final upsets of Navratilova in 1985, 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, and--at age 33--in 1986, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Her farewell to Flushing Meadow was quarterfinal defeat by Zina Garrison, leaving her with a record 101 match wins in that event. She closed her career by winning all five single matches as the U.S. won the Federation Cup 1989. It was her ninth year and eighth Cup-winning team. She was undefeated in Wightman Cup singles (26-0), helping the U.S. win 11 Cups in the 13 years she played.

Evert was the first player to win more than 1,000 singles matches as well as 150 tournaments, the only one other than Court and King to win more than 100 matches in a season, which she did during a mammoth 1974 when she won 16 of 24 tournaments on a 103-7 record. Her 55-match winning streak in 1974 (ended at the U.S. Open by Goolagong) was an open-era record until eclipsed by Navratilova's 74 in 1984.

Three seasons of World Team Tennis included 1976 and 1977 with Phoenix and 1978 with champion Los Angeles.

She played in the 1988 Olympics, but did not win a medal. Her eight-year marriage to English player John Lloyd ended in divorce. She then married ex-Olympic skier Andy Mill, with whom she has three sons.