Chris Evert

Evert's last official tournament was the 1989 U.S. Open. She lost in the quarterfinals to Zina Garrison. Evert found it to be mentally tiring to play through early rounds, though physically, she was fitter than ever. By this point, she had wanted to retire for the two previous years, but could not. She told Robin Finn of the New York Times, "Until this year I always had the feeling that I was going for the grand slam tournaments and that I had a chance to be No. 1. But this year I felt, 'Well, it's tough,' and I didn't want to make that emotional commitment, and even if I did, I knew there'd be no guarantee." After the U.S. Open, she played for her country in Federation Cup competition. The U.S. won the Cup, and Evert won all the singles matches she played. After this, the only tennis she played in were some exhibition matches with Navratilova.

When Evert retired in 1989, she never was ranked lower than four as a singles player. (She was number four when she retired.) She had won more than $9 million in money, and was the first player ever to win 157 tournaments and 1000 matches—the best at the time. As George Vecsey wrote in the New York Times, "If there was one thing Christine Marie Evert never was, it was average. She stood apart, cool and methodical as a teenager, poised and commanding as a young woman, and then, best of all, she re-created herself through exercise and more daring strokes in her final years, just to stay close to [Steffi] Graf and Navratilova. If she hadn't, it would have ended years ago."