“I felt so anxious because I had no control over the situation,” Chris Evert once said of her cancer battle a couple of years ago. In January, the American Cancer Society predicted the potential for 19,680 women to be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year in the country. The statistics concern us all, and the feud against the deadly disease becomes even more grueling. But, the American tennis star, Evert, has a lead in it, with over a decade of experience in tennis backing her up.

“I was also shocked like I was in a fog,” Chris Evert said while remembering the first time she received the diagnosis of stage 1 ovarian cancer. The then-67-year-old, who went for a precautionary test after her sister Jeanne’s death (due to Ovarian cancer) put up a steady fight against the disease, the same way she did on the tennis courts. Fortunately, she came through, but only for a short time. The 18-time Grand Slam champion’s cancer came back once again last year, compelling her to go for another round of exhausting hospital visits. Thankfully, she is cancer-free now, and her tennis career played a massive role in that process.

Opening up on her struggles in an interview with Ralph Lauren, the seven-time French Open winner told his son, David, “The history of being an athlete has really helped me deal with cancer psychologically as well as physically. I have always been one for fitness and eating well so that wasn’t an issue. Maybe more importantly, psychologically. You know the mental side of it is like, Okay, in my tennis, I learned that I can only control what I do and I can’t control how many opponent’s playing.”

Known for her dominating performance against her greatest rival, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert has won 1309 matches in her career, tackling every opponent gracefully. Therefore, when the uncertainty of a deadly disease came her way, she used the same mentality to combat it. “I used my powers on the court and tried to block it out a little,” she once said. Interestingly, Chris Evert never faced a defeat in the first or second round of a major tournament. And she swiftly brought the same game to her off-court challenges as well, defeating cancer for the second time in two years. Quite impressive, isn’t it?

Instead of succumbing to sorrow, the former World No. 1 player tries to do what’s in her control. “All I can do is do the best with being disciplined making my appointments and trying to get ahead of it if it comes back,” she further added in the interview. The mindset behind it is clear to her. “Sometimes you just have to surrender if you can’t change it,” Evert once confessed. However, it doesn’t mean she has lost hope for the best in the future. Even if she accepts the brutality of the disease, the 69-year-old former player doesn’t want to “live in fear.”

Chris Evert is optimistic yet cautious of her battle with cancer

Although the doctors assured Chris Evert of a 90–95% chance of the cancer never returning, the reality of it coming back again changed her outlook on life forever. She went through a second round of surgery in December last year. She says, “Doctors are always hopeful.” However, according to her, “Obviously, if something returned the second time, there’s more of a chance that it’s going to return. Some people have cancer once and it goes away, and they live for 30 or 40 more years. That’s a wonderful story. It’s not always like that.”

Nevertheless, she understands that one cannot “live in fear.” Instead, she tries to do everything that is in her control. “I just have to keep exercising, try and be as healthy as I can, and be up on all my CT scans and my appointments with the doctor.” Chris Evert is a beacon of hope and a role model for many people out there. Her fighting spirit in the face of adversity is an inspiration to us all!