Chris Evert vs Carling Bassett - 1983 Amelia Island final

[@kljMN2]

So many great Evert clips I have neve seen before. Thanks.

[@andrewromero5008]

Back then, so many players used a Prince Pro graphite. My tennis partner used a Prince Woody. Brings back memories of high school. BTW, I played with a Wilson Sting. Loved that racquet.

[@Alwyn38]

I remember when Carling came to Wimbeldon for the first time in 1983. She ended up on centre court playing Andrea Temesvari. I think everyone that day had their hearts melted by both of them. Andrea had been making waves of her own as a 16 year old winning the Italian Open. I think Carling won the encounter 6-4 6-3 and was the darling of the centre court for a brief moment in 1983!

[@JesusLovesYou-w4s]

I remember it well

[@5rodan5]

I'd love to see the Bassett vs Temisvari match

[@thomasschmitz9894]

baseline battle so much more interesting and exciting that today's bashfest! i love evert and how she responds to pressure! whenever she was down, she became more aggressive, hit the ball harder, and so on! that is what won her this match towards the end....

[@shottut]

I remember that Carling got the semi-finals of the US Open the next year in 84, I remember that the hitting was very hard and deep for the time. It was a excellent quality match. Chris won the semi,she played great tennis. But I do remember Carling beating Hana in the quaterfinals to get to the sem-finals. It was a pretty big deal at the time.

[@frankzito8653]

I think this match and a few others versus Martina were the ones that convinced Evert to switch to a mid-sized graphite racquet. The power was increasing and the modern game was starting to be unveiled. Chris really should have gone to a new racquet sooner. She was hesitant because she thought she'd lose "control."

[@PrettyandThings]

Great match! I have the full match on a CD (remember those?...LOL!)

[@creativeworld3927]

I remember back in the day when I was a teenager in 1982-83 reading a story about Carling in Sports Illustrated. She was one of the first to rise out of the Nick Bolleteri Academy. So before Andre Agassi, Jimmy Courier & Monica Seles coming out of the Bolleteri camp there was originally Carling Bassett, Jimmy Arias & Aaron Krickstein... they were the sign of things to come. Arias had a wicked forehand (that would portent the future stars like Agassi & Courier), but he had not much else. At the time of the article what Arias DID have was a romance with Bassett according to the article. Lucky guy.

[@user-jv9qz2bu1r]

Jimmy A. does not deserve CB

[@zeddeka]

she was a child......

[@jonathankieranwriter]

What can one say? Evert was simply such a maestro of point construction and problem-solving and applying pressure, especially when “big points” loomed. Bassett, playing with an oversized Prince wooden racquet, had an aggressive spirit and lots of punch of her drives, but Evert used her own remarkable power guilefully. Take a look at her deftly placed, consecutive inside-out forehand and inside-out backhand(!) drives from one sideline to another-no one else in tennis had shots like that in their arsenal, and Evert could pull them out when she needed to just rub an opponent’s nose in the dirt, demoralize them a little, and plant a seed of doubt. Loved Evert’s assassin-style ground game, and even more when she displayed her far too underrated mid-court and all-court variety, which she seldom needed to use. Bassett was a legitimate threat and big talent until personal issues chipped away at her later development. Such a shame. She was a much bigger hitter and gritty opponent than Tracy Austin who was, right around this time, fading from the game due to physical limitations and mental distractions. Won’t ever forget how Bassett, in a brief late-1980s comeback, gave Steffi Graf all she could handle at one of these clay court events when Graf had taken the No. 1 ranking. Bassett had game.

[@benji84]

great video hope you've got more chrissie classics to upload!

[@senorgato70]

Carling had some really solid ground strokes and was pretty good at net. She had tons of potential but im surprised she never rose to the top of the game. Kind of tough in the era of Evert and Navratilova then later Graf and Sabatini.

[@jubbadupa]

@spacecolt But she definitely competed with Martina for the number 1 spot on the computer in 84,85 & 86 ... I remember the rankings ... I had a subscription to tennis mag, and the rankings were so close between the two of them. Where as Martina was a joint number one in 79 with Tracy she wasn't number 1 in 78, and over took Chris in 82 as the number one player. Chris was a solid number 1 in 80 and 81.

[@NOTHEOTHERGUY]

Carling took Chrissie to 3 sets at the 1984 and 1986 French Opens, too.

[@lenwelch2195]

Evert full of class modestly shakes Carlinhos hand at conclusion of match . No wild arm movements or screaming “ Come on “ or jumping up and down jogging the spotlight. Evert is a secure woman who knew deep down that this match was hers to win or lose. Nothing instills fear and respect from other players than a champion who acts as if winning a close match like this one was expected all along. You may play Chris closely but you still lose whether it’s 6-1,6-1 or 7-5 in the third set. I maintain that Chris was the finest wooden racket player of all time. She had the feel , touch, and timing that a wood racket requires to hit the ball consistently in the small sweet spot every time on every shot.

[@jokerwildest]

These two were pretty good friends, I remember Chris being in Carling's wedding party,Carling got married so young.

[@RachelDavisMatthews]

Chris and some of the other top players were very smart - in that they befriended young talented players which made it harder for these young ones to beat their idols/friends.

[@karrtt1234]

Carling was by far the best women tennis player Canada has ever had. She was ranked 8th in the world at her peaked.She was a real shot maker. I have never seen this match, I have only heard about it, especially the ending of it. Nice to get a look.

[@b2theran]

I played her 3 times in practice that year. She got me all 3 matches. She hit a heavy ball and really moved me around. She actually was a rare player she smoked cigarettes which was surprising

[@seanl2403]

ah, the forever darling of canadian tennis. Carling Bassett :)

[@user-jv9qz2bu1r]

I counted three drop shots by CE in this 10 minute clip - key shot for her ... I would like to have seen Bassett play a Jack Kramer - her Woodie is twice the size of Chris' racket

[@TIZNYC]

I remember watching this match live when I was 17.

[@zedlacredit]

You can see Carling's dad chain smoking as he always did in these big matches. They had a very close relationship, it was really nice to see. I really felt badly for Carling when he passed in 86.

[@shottut]

@spacecolt Actually Chris regained the # 1 spot on the computer from Tracy who had spent 19 weeks there, in Nov 1980 and was #1, until May of 82, when Martina gained the top spot from her, she was there for 76 weeks, there was no back and forth in 80 or 81 with Martina...

[@yescanto]

I agree....that Carling was by far the best Canada has ever produce. She married Robert Seguso very young I think was just 20. But they are still together and I hear that her kids all play tennis.

[@bobjacubas6818]

Carling Bassett was first player in to use the swing volley (or swinging volley), she was progressive. Who knew that years later it would become the norm.

[@johniii8147]

Hardly the first. Chris did it all the time at Wimbledon long before this match.

[@jpeyton62]

Agreed, Evert used that stroke quite a bit to defeat Austin in the U. S. open semi.

[@senorgato70]

+Bryguy Bry No, Bob said Carling was the first player to use it. Not the first player to use it consistently. And he was incorrect. Connors even used it in the 70s and Evert used it way before.

[@timogriffith]

You can find photos of Tracy Austin hitting "drive volleys" back when she still wore pigtails in the late 70's. I'd hoped Carling would be the new Tracy when Tracy flamed out, but Bassett practically killer herself with anorexia. Both young girls were amazing, but Tracy had the superior mind and the greatest stroke technique. Oh what coulda been.

[@tomloft2000]

you might say Evert was being "hounded" by Bassett.

[@mbblover]

the opening comments: bassett lost in the finals of a tournament to Yvonne Vermaak? whose greatest feat in tennis was reaching the semifinals of wimbledon one year in 1983 and getting destroyed by navratilova 1 and 1.. how does bassett lose to her in straight sets on hard courts and nearly defeat the queen of tennis ON CLAY shortly afterwards?

[@nassauguy48]

Consistency was among the biggest problems for the young and up and coming stars such as Bassett, Bonder, Garrison, Horvath, Leand, Rinaldi, and so forth. At this point, Bassett was like a newly emerged hitter or pitcher in baseball. Eventually, the opponents are able to figure out their style, and many of them lose their phenomenal status. Bassett's results after this tournament were not as astounding, though they were still good, but her opponents gradually began to figure out her tactics. On the other hand, Chris had lost matches to unheralded players such as Kate Gompert and Raffaella Reggi.

[@tomschmitz5745]

@@nassauguy48 true, although evert's losses to gompert and reggi had certain circumstances to them... gompert loss was evert's 1st tournament after 6 months from injury and she would defeat gompert everytime afterwards.... the reggi loss was at the 1988 olympics where evert was already past her prime, although she could play fantastic somedays and not so good other days, from 87 to her retirement in 89 this would be the case... evert defeated reggi every other time they played afterwards just like she did with/to gompert..

[@Marchjoy1963]

Carling had a pretty rough go of it on tour, she sufferred from anorexia, and collasped a few times, after her father died in 1986 her ranking seemed to drop, although she made a brief comeback in 1990, it was not to be. I remember her taking Graf to 6-4,6-4 at Amelia Island. It look very promising... !!

[@spacecolt]

@mrjoelcotton chris traded #1 with martina from 1978-1982...not really after. Only once, in 1985 for 5 months, did she regain that top spot for the last time. The graphite rackets made tennis easier to play, but she was already 29, so her increased fitness put her BACK in Navratilova's level... but her best mental years (which is what made her Great) were 1974-1981 or '82. She was no longer 'all-focus' in the same way.

[@maguslloretmunoz2354]

Carling Basset..What a great player with great tennis; unfortunately her problems with bulimia destroyed her carrer, she stopped playing with 22 years..

[@spacecolt]

@craigferris1 Not really... Carling made it a 3-set match in 4 of their 9 matches, almost half the times they met. Few players can make that claim against Evert!

[@mrjoelcotton]

@shihlin1 i think chris played her best tennis after this match in the years to come. i think her and martina competed for number 1 spot off and on for a few years after this match and bassett was a one hit wonder for a few years but never really a big threat to chris.

[@shihlin1]

By 1983 you can tell other players were starting to catch up to Chris's game, even on clay, where Chris once ruled. No one had any high hopes for this match, but it turned out to be one of the year's best matches and Chris was an inch away from losing. At this point you can tell her game was no longer dominant like it used to be in the 1970s. Her pace and depth were no longer matching the consistency like they did in the 1970s.

[@lenwelch2195]

shihlin1 things were just not in order for Chris in 1983 . I think personal stuff got in the way . The 83 Open was a disaster for Chris and after that she decided to chase Martina with a new racket and improved fitness regime that took all of 84 to improve . If you compare the shots of this match to the 84 open final there is a huge difference . Payoff came in 85 winning in January and at French against Martina . In this match she lacks pace and pushes the ball too much instead of driving the ball.

[@kljMN2]

This event in Amelia Island doesn't exist anymore, does it?

[@krosero]

These baseline rallies are so much more interesting than the ones the women are doing today.

[@jamespeyton7312]

Only serve and volley point I know of from Evert to win the point to go 6-5.

[@hearditman]

Carling never really did much if I remember. Promising but never really cut it for any length of time.

[@nassauguy48]

She won only two titles: Hershey, Pennsylvania (ranked as a "futures" or minor tournament) and Strasbourg, France.

[@mike309]

It was as close at Bassing would get to Chris.

[@恒男高山]

both use wood-frame racket. nostalgia

[@jimmypage2138]

carling what a babe

[@zedlacredit]

@craigferris1 Well, give the poor girl a break, I sure she doesn't look that good, but she still struggles with her eating disorder and she just gave birth at 42 on April 13, to a little girl.... gee whiz !!!

[@darrin1701]

she was en evert copycat with less instinct and grace

[@kamint2258]

タバコ吸いながら試合観戦😅🚭️ 現在ではあり得ない😅

[@blakeschaeferle2820]

Carling had a better backhand