Colette Evert, mother to Chris, was tennis’ most exemplary parent | TENNIS.com

When the news came my way that Colette Evert had passed away at 92 last Thursday, it hit me awfully hard. She was an extraordinary woman I had known well since 1972, and was the matriarch of a close-knit and strikingly accomplished family of seven, joining forces with her singularly devoted teaching pro husband Jimmy to raise five remarkable children—including their renowned daughter Chris—in Fort Lauderdale, Fla

The Everts rank right up there among the greatest tennis families of all time. All five of the kids reached at least the final of a national junior tournament. John Evert now runs the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton. Drew established himself as a successful teaching pro. Clare was a top-flight junior and perhaps the most gregarious member of the family. The late Jeanne Evert resided among the U.S. Top 10 in the 1970s.

All of the Evert kids were guided magnificently in their tennis pursuits by Jimmy Evert, a man of unimpeachable character who established himself as one of the finest teaching pros, coaches and disciplinarians ever to serve the sport. He taught for decades at the highly regarded Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale, and was so revered that the city renamed the facility after him in 1997. In many ways, Jimmy Evert was every bit as much of a tennis institution as Chrissie, and he was deservedly lauded by many authorities as the anchor of the family. He was unassailable.

Yet Colette was the parent of all tennis parents in my view. That role is never easy to play, and many who have found themselves immersed in that endeavor have understandably been engulfed by their passion for their children and their insatiable need to see their kids succeed. Sitting on the sidelines and observing an offspring in the field of competition has drowned too many parents in a river of well-intended yet excessive emotions. Parental obsessions can be counter-productive and even destructive. Young players have been overwhelmed by parents asking too much of them.

The Evert family at their home in Florida in 1972. (Getty Images)

Colette navigated those parental waters with singular grace, extraordinary elegance and unmatched dignity. Over the years, I crossed paths with her in a multitude of settings, including her home; the courts at Holiday Park, Wimbledon and the US Open; pro tournaments in Florida; and in Newport, when her daughter was inducted at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1995. I observed up close the commendable way she set herself apart as the mother of a player who happened to be a celebrity.

I met Colette in 1972, and by a few years later I had become a friend of the entire family. They were all outstanding individuals with inimitable traits, and Colette intermingled with everyone inside and outside the family with an everlasting social ease.

“She was so gracious, always cheering for my opponent, never a bad word for anyone,” Chrissie tells me, reflecting on her mother’s life. “She was always…