Evonne Goolagong Cawley
Tom Baddeley
We all know Evonne Goolagong, a famous Aussie name,
The young Wiradjuri girl who shot to worldwide fame.
Playing the game of tennis with style and finesse
She became a champion, for a time the very best.
Evonne grew up in Barellan, a tiny country town,
Where on the local court she learnt to hit the ball around.
One day someone spotted her and saw she had the knack –
No matter what was hit at her, Evonne could get it back.
A tennis coach named Edwards invited her to play,
So Evonne moved to Sydney where she practised every day.
It didn’t take her very long, just eighteen years of age,
When she travelled off to Wimbledon, the game’s most famous stage.
Her play was fair but not enough to get her very far,
The next year though, she won the lot – she was a tennis star!
She beat them all at Wimbledon and the French Open, too,
A sensational achievement for a girl who was so new.
In ’71 Evonne was named Australian of the Year,
Her star was high, she was revered – an athlete without peer.
She also helped Australia win the Federation Cup,
The yearly international comp for women to team up.
Her team picked up the Cup again in ’73 and ‘4,
Which meant Australia’s women were the greatest of them all.
Australian Open victori4es came three years in a row –
And still she found the time to wed her British tennis beau.
Evonne’s name is longer now, with Cawley at the end,
She settled down in Florida with titles to defend.
It was there she had a baby and first became a mum,
But did this mean her future on the tennis court was done?
Goolagong Cawley didn’t wait long to settle people’s fears,
She was the first triumphant mum in sixty-six long years
To win again at Wimbledon – her seventh Grand Slam crown,
It seemed it was impossible to keep this woman down.
But then she suffered injuries, every sport star’s curse,
And chose to leave the tennis court before her injuries got worse.
Now for all Indigenous kids she’s a Sports Ambassador
And in the end perhaps this role will mark her finest score.