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“It’s a duel between two iconic Americans who play the game very differently,” Steve Flink says. These two former No. 1s and career Grand Slammers faced each other 26 times. Evert finished with a decisive 19-7 edge, though that record comes with a significant caveat: Evert won their last 11 meetings, starting in 1977, the year Billie Jean turned 34.
Like so many other match-ups in this tournament, King-Evert offers a contrast in style and personality. Evert was cool, King was fiery. Chris was the steadiest of baseliners; Billie Jean was a hard-charging attacker. A match between them at their best would likely have come down to who could win the war of the passing shot. Would Evert, a precise passer, have threaded them past King, a strong volleyer and dextrous net player? “Billie Jean was a great strategist,” ESPN's Pam Shriver says, “and would figure out how to get opponents out of their zone.”
But Evert wouldn’t have been easy to shake, mentally or physically; Shriver cites her “underrated foot speed” as one of her strengths. The surface set-up here favors Evert as well. She would be heavily favored in the first set on clay, while King would have had to wait until the third set to gain the advantage on grass.
