Top 40 Chris Evert Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “You pay a price for everything in life.”

— Chris Evert

2. “If you’re a champion, you have to have it in your heart.”

— Chris Evert

3. “You’ve got to take the initiative and play your game. In a decisive set, confidence is the difference.”

— Chris Evert

4. “To be a tennis champion, you have to be inflexible. You have to be stubborn. You have to be arrogant. You have to be selfish and self-absorbed. Kind of tunnel vision almost.”

— Chris Evert

5. “Whatever your goal in life, be proud of every day that you are able to work in that direction.”

— Chris Evert

6. “Find something that you’re really interested in doing in your life. Pursue it, set goals, and commit yourself to excellence. Do the best you can.”

— Chris Evert

7. “Ninety percent of my game is mental. It’s my concentration that has gotten me this far.”

— Chris Evert

8. “You can’t give up! If you give up, you’re like everybody else.”

— Chris Evert

9. “Now that I’m losing some, I can see how tough I was – the killer instinct, the single-mindedness, playing like a machine. Boy, that’s what made me a champion.”

— Chris Evert

10. “Losing hurts me. I was determined to be the best.”

— Chris Evert

11. “I’m not an overly ambitious person; I don’t feel like I have to excel.”

— Chris Evert

12. “I love hiking in the mountains in Aspen. Breathing the clean, fresh air is great. Plus, it gives me a cardiovascular workout and firms my legs.”

— Chris Evert

13. “Training the body to obey the mind as I have done differs from the more conventional method of getting the mind to obey the body.”

— Chris Evert

14. “If you can react the same way to winning and losing, that’s a big accomplishment. That quality is important because it stays with you the rest of your life, and there’s going to be a life after tennis that’s a lot longer than your tennis life.”

— Chris Evert

15. “Competitive toughness is an acquired skill and not an inherited gift.”

— Chris Evert

16. “If you can react the same way to winning and losing, that’s a big accomplishment.”

— Chris Evert

17. “Cats are peaceful and tranquil – they bring calmness with their serene personalities.”

— Chris Evert

18. “Relationships are give-and-take, and when you’re a tennis player, you’re certainly not giving. You have to be self-absorbed. It has to be about you.”

— Chris Evert

19. “Being famous before you’ve formed your personality, before you have that self-esteem, is dangerous.”

— Chris Evert

20. “I think team sports probably teach you more about giving – about being unselfish and being flexible.”

— Chris Evert

21. “Ninety percent of my game is mental. It’s my concentration that has gotten me this far. I won’t even call a friend on the day of a match. I’m scared of disrupting my concentration. I don’t allow any competition with tennis.”

— Chris Evert

22. “I’m not getting within 20 feet of a married man ever again – not even talking to one!”

— Chris Evert

23. “Losses are always a relief. They take a burden off me, make me feel more normal. If I win several tournaments in a row I get so confident I’m in a cloud. If I lose I go back to the dressing room and I’m no better nor worse than anyone else. A loss gets me eager again.”

— Chris Evert

24. “The difference is almost all mental. The top players just hate to lose. I think that’s the difference. A champion hates to lose even more than she loves to win.”

— Chris Evert

25. “A champion hates to lose even more than she loves to win.”

— Chris Evert

26. “When I play, I’m boiling inside. I just try not to show it because it’s a lack of composure, and if you give in to your emotions after one loss, you’re liable to have three or four in a row.”

— Chris Evert

27. “There were times when deep down inside I wanted to win so badly I could actually will it to happen. I think most of my career has been based on desire.”

— Chris Evert

28. “I realized that with hard work, the world was your oyster. You could do anything you wanted to do.”

— Chris Evert

29. “I was labeled at a young age – Miss Unemotional, Miss Cool, and that would carry over to my press conferences.”

— Chris Evert

30. “Single-mindedness. I hate to say it because I don’t think it’s the best thing for developing a person, but the single-mindedness – just concentrating in the one area – that’s what it takes to be a champion.”

— Chris Evert

31. “I always looked ahead.”

— Chris Evert

32. “Not every child is cut out for an individual sport.”

— Chris Evert

33. “When I was younger, I was a robot. Wind her up and she plays tennis.”

— Chris Evert

34. “You’re always striving to play that perfect match.”

— Chris Evert

35. “I still have this image: I can’t be controversial, I can’t say things.”

— Chris Evert

36. “If I win several tournaments in a row, I get so confident I’m in a cloud. A loss gets me eager again.”

— Chris Evert

37. “Every time, all the time, I’m a perfectionist. I feel I should never lose.”

— Chris Evert

38. “The great high of winning Wimbledon lasts for about a week. You go down in the record book, but you don’t have anything tangible to hold on to. But having a baby – there isn’t any comparison.”

— Chris Evert

39. “I’ve had a lot of fear in my life, from fear of flying to fear of making a speech in front of a lot of people.”

— Chris Evert

40. “Don’t let a first-set victory lead into a second-set slump.”

— Chris Evert

41. “I was very, very shy as a younger girl, just petrified of people. Tennis helped give me an identity and made me feel like somebody.”

— Chris Evert

42. “Once you’ve been number one, you can never be satisfied with less.”

— Chris Evert