Chris Evert turned to commentary after she hung up the racket in 1989. The 18-time grand slam champion has provided coverage for the sport and did so once again during the match between Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula at the 2023 WTA Finals. However, some of her comments often don’t settle well with fans, and it happened once again. During their bout, she had a take on Pegula’s future, which made fans incredulous.
This is not the first time in the last few months Evert was lambasted by fans for a take. She talked about the quality of the game of Aryna Sabalenka after her loss in the US Open, which made tennis fans scratch their heads.
Chris Evert’s comment during Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula’s bout draws heat
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Iga Swiatek won the WTA Finals in a decisive style. She gave no room to Pegula as the scoreboard displayed 6-1, 6-0 at the end of the match. However, Evert still believed that the American player displayed a great performance. Watching her evoked Evert to make the claim that Pegula is likely to win the Wimbledon next year. Confused by her comments, a fan shared their thoughts later on Twitter (now X).
One fan talked about the situation with the internet. They quoted Chris Evert saying, “Iga didn’t have a great Wimbledon and US Open, and she lost no.1, I’m picking Jessie to win Wimbledon,” when the score was 6-1, 1-0 in Swiatek’s favor.
Chris Evert when Iga leads 6:1 *1:0:
"Iga didn't have a great Wimbledon and US Open, and she lost no.1, i'm picking Jessie to win Wimbledon".
WTF?— Smithy (@Arthus92) November 6, 2023
A user shared a video of actors laughing with the audience during a blooper as they stated how Evert picked Pegula to win a major next year.
Chris Evert just said she's picking JESSICA PEGULA to win a Major next year. #WTAFinals pic.twitter.com/IJlaYhpEpp
— BETTY CIRIE KRUEGER 🔪🩸 (@LegalSojourner) November 6, 2023
One user went on to call Evert a hater and said that they have stopped listening to her because it’s always “nonsense“.
chris evert is such a hater dude i don't even listen k what she says bc it's always nonsense 😭😭😭😭
— ewka (@ewkaposts) November 6, 2023
Witnessing the dominant display of Swiatek, one fan said that the match would be over in an hour. They further said that Evert’s “aahhyys & oohhys” only go on to show Swiatek’s advantage.
Jak tak dalej pójdzie to się skończy w mniej niż godzinę, a "aahhyy & oohhy" Chris Evert komentującej finał tylko podsumowują grę i przewagę Igi. 🎾👋
— PasazerNostromo (@PasazerNostromo) November 6, 2023
Another fan talked about the Pole being hated as Evert talked about her losing Wimbledon and the US Open and further picking Pegula as her favorite for the grass slam.
Dokładnie w tej chwili, Chris Evert na tennis channel:
"Iga miała słaby Wimbledon, Iga miała słaby US Open, Iga straciła nr.1"Ktoś ma wątpliwości że Iga jest nienawidzona?
— Smithy (@Arthus92) November 6, 2023
One tennis fan mentioned the site being troubling and further said the worst part about it was listening to Evert talk about herself for two hours.
If the site wasn’t bad enough now we have to listen the Chris Evert talk about herself for two hours.
— mikesra1 (@mikesra1) November 6, 2023
This is not the first time Evert has been on the receiving end of backlash from fans. She made a comment on Aryna Sabalenka after her US Open loss, which served to provoke fans.
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Evert receives backlash over Sabalenka praise after loss
At the US Open in September, Sabalenka lost to Coco Gauff in three sets. After her loss, Evert said that Sabalenka played “the best she could, maybe a couple of errors, she played a very high-quality match“. Fans felt confused at the take because the Belarusian beauty made many errors during the third set of the match.
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One fan said that she made 43 unforced errors during her bout, and Evert needs to be serious when talking about Saba. Some even lashed out at her for not stating what was correct by saying she had never said anything correct in her life. Evert’s comments have often served to confuse the fans, and it has done so once again. Will there be more such events in the future of the WTA?
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