ST. PETERSBURG, FL, USA – Australian tennis legend Evonne Goolagong Cawley has been officially recognised as one of only 16 women to have attained the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's World No.1 singles ranking since computer rankings were introduced in 1975.

It was recently discovered that Goolagong ascended to the top spot for one ranking period (rankings were issued bi-monthly during 1975-1990) shortly after her gripping 63 57 63 win over Chris Evert at prestigious 1976 Virginia Slims Championships held at the Forum in Los Angeles.

The belated accolade comes about following a recent search in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings archive in St. Petersburg, Florida, which revealed that a handful of paper records were in fact missing between April and July 1976, most notably was the ranking period April 26 to May 9.

On looking at the point differential between No.1 Evert and No.2 Goolagong on the April 12 printout, there was little separating the two. When the Jenkins method was applied to compute the rankings following the results of the Virginia Slims Championships on April 17, and with the 1975 Family Circle Cup points (which Evert won) from the 52 weeks previously coming off on April 26, Goolagong moves into the No.1 spot by 8/10ths of a Rating Point.

Two weeks later on May 10, when Evert's victory at the 1976 Family Circle Cup and Goolagong's non-entry are factored in, the American moves back into the No.1 spot for and would continue to hold it for 112 consecutive weeks until Martina Navratilova's victory at Wimbledon in 1978.

To celebrate the achievement, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour sent Goolagong Cawley a Waterford Crystal trophy, something new No.1s in recent years have received. She is pictured in this story with the trophy.

"I'm simply delighted," said Goolagong Cawley from her home in Noosa, Queensland. "In Australia at the end of 1975 and during the '76 Virginia Slims Tour (which finished just before Easter - Chris and I then played World TeamTennis with no more official tournaments until the WTT break for Wimbledon) I played at the highest level, the most consistent tennis of my career. The tournaments were on grass and on mostly quick carpet which helped the serve and volley part of my game and for five or six months I felt virtually unbeatable.

"Prior to this time, I had lost to Chris a number of times in a row mostly on clay - her best surface - but strangely during that time it was my ground strokes that improved and subsequently gave me such an edge on everyone, including her. Today I am happy and gratified that what I felt at the time has now been recognised officially. It's personally very satisfying and this has been the best Christmas present."

"Evonne was always one of the most beloved and gracious of champions," said Sony Ericsson WTA Tour CEO & Chairman Larry Scott. "We felt once it came to light that she did in fact assume the No.1 ranking for a period in 1976, it was important to recognise the achievement, just like we had with all the other 15 women who have achieved that pinnacle in women's tennis.

"Unfortunately our record keeping wasn't perfect in those early days of women's tennis and our ranking system was viewed as a means of just accepting tournament entries. It wasn't until the early 1980s that the media and players started to pay attention to the changes in the rankings during the year as opposed to only the end of season rankings. Media coverage has evolved to the point now when a player cracks the Top 10 for the first time or attains the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour No.1 Ranking that it attracts world-wide attention and deservedly so."

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/1/newsr...?ContentID=1922

Nice story and only fitting that she receives the accolade. Cheers Dark :)

Can't bleieve it's taken so long to work that out! :rolleyes:

I'm glad cos I used to like Yvonne, and she was my mum's favourite also. :ok:

You welcome Roysie. :hug:

Great article on Evonne G. I had heard about her but didn't know much. I have read that she is an Aborigine (spelling?) uhh I thought Aborigines were "black" like that Olympic track star (I think her name is Cathy Freeman) Is Evonne the product of an interracial relationship? :unsure:

I agree entirely. How couldn't they have known for the last three decades?! Also, she was my mum's favourite too, but before my time.

Yes she is Aborigine, and you're rigjht with the spelling and Cathy Freeman is an Aborigine.

As for Evonne being interracial, I've alwys thought that too. If you compare her to people like Cathy, and other Aborigines (I'm Australian, so know a few), she does look somehwat lighter. I've also asked them their views on it, and we all think she looks more than 50% and less than 100%. Maybe she had one white grandparent, and thee Aborigines. Sites like Wikipedia just say "Aborigine". I've also done google searches, but no avail.

thank you Mon. :D

Replied to your PM Duchess, sorry I missed it earlier. :ok:

Great player and a great person.

She was one of my parents' favourites and she has been immortalised in my family because her first name, "Evonne" is used in my family as rhyming slang for **llocks - e.g. the time when my father came up the busy beach at Polzeath after tearing the lining of his swimming trunks to be told my my hysterical mother that "your Evonne's are hanging out" :o

Good to see her recognised, and great to see how pleased she was. Thanks Dark.

Nice article Dark.

As they say, better late than never in working it out.... at least they did it while she is still alive.... another 40 years or so and she may never have known!

I'm still waiting for my recognition for being Transitional Number 1 on the ATP Tour.....:ok:

wish you had posted this before christmas Barry! I had this as a triv question NYE and I could not, for love nor money, remember her first name - my mind went blank and I was going 'its got a v in it somewhere' and I just couldnt get it out - and it was for cake - and I wasnt allowed it cos I couldnt get first name - and your story, I am sure, would have helped me remember! :lol:

:lol:

Never heard one's tackel called the Evonne before :D

Neither have I, but 'Goolagongs' is spot on :P

Sorry, should have avoided the apostrophe, it's only used in the plural, the "Evonnes".

You're very welcome.