The United States Professional Tennis Association, Inc. (USPTA) is proud to present the Tim Heckler USPTA Hall of Fame Award to Chris Evert, from Boca Raton, Fla. (Florida Division).
Chris Evert won the first of her 18 Grand Slam titles in 1974 on the way to becoming one of the most decorated athletes in history. After a legendary professional career, Chris and her brother John co-founded Evert Tennis Academy in 1996 where she teaches to this day.
During the school year, the academy coaches 90 juniors full-time, with up to 160 students involved in camps over the summer months. It offers personalized coaching from 22 professionals on staff, emphasizing focus on each player. The facility offers programs that cover the technical, tactical, physical and mental components of the game, while emphasizing its core values of excellence, resilience, integrity and leadership with its students every day.
“While most everyone knows about her illustrious playing career and her recent exploits as a famed commentator on ESPN, few know of the impact that the Evert Academy has had on junior players, collegiate athletes and touring professionals,” said USPTA CEO John Embree. “It is because of the work that she has done with players at all levels that she joins her father as the most recent inductee into the USPTA Tim Heckler Hall of Fame.”