Tennis Hall of Famer Chris Evert announces she'll miss Wimbledon due to return of ovarian cancer

· Yahoo Sports

Chris Evert is a Tennis Hall of Famer who has remained part of the game as an analyst for ESPN. (Photo by Simon Bruty/Anychance/Getty Images)Simon M Bruty via Getty Images

Tennis Hall of Famer Chris Evert announced Thursday that her ovarian cancer is back and that she won't be at Wimbledon this year.

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Evert, 71, is an 18-time Grand Slam singles champion and a major voice in the sport who serves as an analyst for ESPN. But ovarian cancer, which she was first diagnosed with in December 2021, has taken her away from the game at points in recent years.

She also missed ESPN's 2024 Australian Open broadcast after the cancer's recurrence in December 2023.

"I have always believed in being open and honest about my health journey," Evert wrote in a statement she posted to social media on Thursday.

"This past weekend, after undergoing CT and PET scans, I learned that my ovarian cancer has returned. I have already undergone surgery as the first step in my treatment and recovery and will begin chemotherapy in the coming weeks."

She added: "Because of this, I will not be attending Wimbledon this year, and I will step back from my professional commitments over the next few months to focus on my health. …"

ESPN executive vice president of production Mike McQuade wished Evert well on behalf of everyone at ESPN.

"Our thoughts are with our ESPN tennis colleague Chris Evert as she deals with this personal health issue," McQuade wrote in a statement released by ESPN PR on Thursday.

"We will certainly miss her at Wimbledon and wish her all the best. We look forward to having her back with us whenever she feels ready to return."

Evert's younger sister Jeanne, who also played professional tennis, died of ovarian cancer in 2020 at age 62.

As Evert chronicled in a 2023 update she wrote for ESPN, she found out that she and her sister were both positive for the same BRCA-1 variant, which had been reclassified as pathogenic since her sister's death, as it puts women at a higher risk of breast and ovarian cancers. Doctors discovering the rare genetic mutation of the BRCA gene ultimately helped Evert catch her cancer early.

She underwent a preventative hysterectomy; however, she found out through her pathology report that she had malignant cells and a tumor in her left fallopian tube. Had she not received that medical care and testing, and her cancer had gone undetected, Evert said it would have escalated to Stage 3, like her sister's. Instead, she was diagnosed with Stage 1 and subsequently was administered six rounds of chemotherapy.

A year after her hysterectomy, she had a double mastectomy to significantly reduce her chance of developing breast cancer.

Now Evert is set to begin her latest treatment of chemo following the return of her ovarian cancer, which she described as "relentless" in her statement on Thursday.

"… But I will stay optimistic and determined to continuing to fight this battle," she wrote. "I am deeply grateful to my medical team, my family, friends and everyone who has reached out with kindness and encouragement. I look forward to seeing everyone again soon."

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