Chris Evert opens up on her SECOND cancer recovery as the tennis legend and ESPN analyst urges women to get tested: ‘Get it checked out’
Chris Evert is on the comeback trail once again. The tennis legend has returned to work as an ESPN analyst following a second battle with ovarian cancer, and as she told ABC’s Good Morning America, that’s because she was diagnosed early. Evert was undergoing routine checks while she was in remission from her first bout with the disease and that allowed doctors to once again benefit from early detection.
‘I was surprised,’ the 69-year-old Evert told friend and GMA host Robin Roberts. ‘I was stage I. We got it early the first time. That means you have a 90-percent chance of it not coming back.
‘So two years later I get the call,’ she continued. ‘I had a CT, a CAT scan. My doctor said, ”we see something in your pelvic area.” I go, ”are you kidding me? I’m 90-percent cured.”
‘So they went in. It was cancerous. More chemotherapy. Almost like a second wakeup call. ‘Are you kidding me,’ you know?
For Evert, the message was clear: ‘I really have to live my best life right now, and I have to get out there, be an advocate for the BRCA gene, genetic testing.’
The BRCA gene test allows doctors to examine DNA to look for mutations that can lead to breast or ovarian cancer.
‘Get it done,’ Evert said of the test. ‘Go to your exams. Any time you have to have something checked out, if you feel something not quite right, go to the doctor. Don’t think that you’re going to be a Prima donna. Get it checked out.’
Evert only knew she was at risk for ovarian cancer because her sister died from the disease, which is why it’s important for women to be proactive in getting tested. ‘She had one variant that was very suspicious,’ Evert said. ‘She did not have BRCA. But then two years later I get the call from the genetic therapist who said… ‘that mutation has turned into BRCA and you better go get your BRCA tested.’
And I did,’ she continued. ‘Sure enough I had the BRCA gene. That means 40-percent chance of ovarian and 70-percent chance of breast cancer. So I had it all removed.’
Evert’s cancer battle is only one aspect of her busy 2024.
She skipped the Australian Open in January but began picking up assignments at the French Open in May before making her return to Wimbledon, where she happily posted a picture of herself on social media alongside Tom Cruise.
Now she’s looking forward to the upcoming US Open, as well as time with her grandson, James.
‘It’s one thing when you have children,’ Evert said. ‘Then when your children have children, whoa.’ ‘This little kid,’ she said as photos of her grandson were shown on the screen. ‘Look at that face. Just pinching it and touching him all the time. He’s so cute. Gives me another reason to want to live the long life that I want to live. Life is good right now.’
And in her role as Chairperson of the USTA Foundation, Evert is also launching a program to increase participation amid a widespread downturn in the popularity of youth sports. ‘We do have a new initiative,’ she told Roberts. ‘We found out that 70 percent of kids who are 13 and over, we’re losing them. In every sport. Not just tennis. Every sport.
‘We’re trying to come up with an initiative that will keep them involved, keep them interested in our programs, which is after school programs, safe haven, tutoring, tennis, mentoring, you know, life skills,’ she continued. ‘We want to keep these kids safe and off the streets. This is our initiative, to try to find out how we can get over-13 kids more interested.’
