#3. Evonne Goolagong Cawley
The first of two Indigenous Australian tennis players, Evonne Goolagong Cawley was one of the most acclaimed players of her generation. During her playing days, she won a total of 86 Career Singles titles including 68 in the Open Era.
During the 70s, she played in a total of seventeen Grand Slam finals which was a record for any player, man or woman, in that period. Cawley won a total of seven Grand Slam titles during her Career that included four Australian Open titles in 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977, a French Open title in 1971 and two Wimbledon titles in 1971 and 1980. However, Cawley couldn’t claim a single US Open title during her Career, despite reaching four consecutive finals from 1973-1976, thus becoming the only player in the open era to have lost four consecutive US open finals. Her first final came in 1973, where she faced the legendary Margaret Court. Court took the first set 7-6 but Cawley bounced back to level the match by taking the second set 7-5.
Court proved too much for Cawley, taking the third set 6-2, subsequently winning the match and her fifth US Open title – which would be her 24th and last Grand Slam title. The following year, Cawley met Billie Jean King in the final after defeating top seed Chris Evert in the semis.
Once again, the match consisted of three sets with Cawley taking the first set this time before King bounced back to take the second and third sets to win her fourth and final US Open title. In the next two years, Cawley faced Chris Evert in the final.
While Cawley had a good start to the 1975 final by winning the first set before Evert won the next two, Evert completely got the better of her in the 1976 final by thrashing her 6-3, 6-0. She might be one of the most highly regarded players of her generation but Cawley will also be remembered for her four consecutive final losses at the US Open.
