Chris Evert Announces Ovarian Cancer Has Returned for a Third Time, Will Miss Wimbledon

Chris Evert announced this week that her ovarian cancer has returned for a third time, posting a statement on Instagram in which she described the disease as "relentless" while saying she intends to fight it with the same resolve that defined her playing career.

Evert, 71, was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in December 2021. She has battled recurrences before. This latest one was identified after CT and PET scans over the past weekend, according to the statement she posted.

"I have already undergone surgery as the first step in my treatment and recovery, and will begin chemotherapy in the coming weeks," she wrote.

As a result, she will not appear at Wimbledon this year and is stepping back from professional commitments for the next several months.

One of the Greatest Careers in Tennis History

Evert won 18 Grand Slam singles titles during her career, including three Wimbledon championships, and ranks third in women's Grand Slam victories in the Open era behind Steffi Graf (22) and Serena Williams (23), according to BBC News.

She retired in 1989 and has remained a fixture in tennis broadcasting, working regularly for ESPN and as a BBC pundit. ESPN had Evert scheduled to cover Wimbledon before this announcement.

Mike McQuade, ESPN's executive vice president for production, said: "Our thoughts are with our ESPN tennis colleague Chris Evert as she deals with this personal health issue. 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."

Navratilova Responds

Martina Navratilova, Evert's long-time on-court rival and off-court friend, offered public support in direct terms: "My friend Chrissie is a champion of champions and as such she will slay this monster again. We are all pulling for you, and know you will come out on the other side cancer free again."

The two women competed against each other across decades in one of professional tennis's defining rivalries, and their friendship afterward has been public and genuine.

The Disease and Public Health Questions

There is a reasonable concern, raised periodically in oncology discussions, that celebrity health announcements can create unrealistic expectations about survivability for patients with recurring cancers. Ovarian cancer recurrence rates are high, and a third recurrence is a serious clinical marker. Some patient advocates worry that framing each battle as winnable through optimism and determination, while personally meaningful, can inadvertently obscure the statistical reality facing ordinary patients who lack access to elite medical care.

Evert is describing her own situation. She said explicitly she is "hopeful of making a full recovery," not making claims on behalf of anyone else. And public disclosure of her diagnosis has repeatedly helped raise awareness of ovarian cancer, a disease that is often caught late because early symptoms are vague and screening remains limited.

What Comes Next

Chemotherapy is scheduled to begin in the coming weeks, per Evert's own statement. No timeline for a return to broadcasting has been given. The open question is whether this third recurrence, following treatment cycles that already included prior chemotherapy, will respond to the next round of systemic therapy and what the treatment options look like if it does not.

Evert's statement said she is "deeply grateful" to her medical team, family, and friends, and closed with: "I look forward to seeing everyone again soon."