Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley captured thirteen majors – including four consecutive singles championships in her Australian homeland (1974-77).   She also won the 1971 French Singles Championships, the 1971 and 1980 Wimbledon Singles Championships, the Australian Doubles Championships (1971, 1974-76) the Wimbledon doubles in 1974 and the French Mixed Doubles in 1972.  An Australian of Aborigine heritage she was a natural talent, her court speed and reflexes unmatched, her grace and athleticism captivating. A superior volleyer possessing one of the finest backhands in the sport, she was ranked in the world top 10 for nine years. She played for Australia’s Fed Cup team 1971-76, 1982, posting a singles record of 21-3 and a doubles record of 11-2, and winning three Cups (1971, 1973, 1974).

* In December 2007, the WTA announced that in a recent search of the computer ranking archives, they discovered several missing records between April and July 1976. Rankings had been calculated fortnightly until 1990 and now are issued weekly. It was calculated that Goolagong overtook world No. 1 Chris Evert by .08 of a ranking point on April 26, after a victory at the Virginia Slims Championships held in Los Angeles.  Evert then regained the No. 1 crown on May 10. With this stat, Goolagong was acknowledged as the 16th woman in computer ranking history to hold the No. 1 spot -- 24 years after retiring from the sport.

The following excerpts are from Bud Collins' Encyclopedia:
For a decade, Evonne, refreshing as a zephyr, illuminated the World Top Ten, retiring after the 1983 season. She won the season-climaxing Virginia Slims championship in 1974 and 1976, both over Evert, and had career totals of 43 singles and nine doubles titles, and $1,399,431 in prize money.

Although she won the U.S. Indoor in 1973 over Virginia Wade, 6-4, 6-4, she couldn't quite make it at the Open, the only woman to lose the final four successive years, 1973 through 1976, at Forest Hills, falling to Court, King, then twice to Evert. Her most winning seasons: 1973 with nine titles, including wins over Evert in the Italian and Cincinnati finals; 1976, eight titles.

Called Sunshine Supergirl in London, she captivated crowds wherever she played with her graceful movement and gracious manner. Three more times she got to the final, losing to Billie Jean King in 1972 and 1975 and Chris Evert in 1976, and it appeared that her Wimbledon title days were over. However, a unique success was to be hers: victory again at the end of a nine-year gap, in 1980--her last tournament triumph. Seeded fourth, Evonne made a spirited run through 1977 runner-up Betty Stove, ninth-seeded Hana Mandlikova, Wendy Turnbull (sixth), Tracy Austin (second), 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, and Evert (third), 6-1, 7-6 (7-1), the only Wimbledon singles championship to end in a tie-breaker.

By then she had married Englishman Roger Cawley and had the first of their two children. Thus she was the first mother to win since Dorothea Douglass Chambers 66 years before. At Wimbledon, Evonne was 49-9 in singles, 21-7 in doubles, 19-8 in mixed.

Her exciting rivalry with Evert--the volleyer against the baseliner--began at the top, the 1972 Wimbledon semis, which Evonne pulled out with a third-set rally, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. Overall Evert led 21-12, but in the majors her edge was only 5-4, Chris winning three of their five finals. Goolagong took their initial championship encounter, the 1974 Australian, 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 6-0. She beat Martina Navratilova to repeat in the Australian in 1975.