[6] In 1965, Vic Edwards, the proprietor of a tennis school in Sydney, was tipped off by two of his assistants, travelled to Barellan to take a look at the young Goolagong, and immediately saw her potential.

As Jimmy Connors and Goolagong were the reigning Australian Open champions, they spearheaded the legal action as they were being deprived of the opportunity to attain the tennis calendar Grand Slam as a result of the decision.

Her last appearance at Grand Slam level came at the following 1983 Wimbledon Championships when she partnered with Sue Barker to a first-round defeat in the doubles, having withdrawn from the singles event earlier.

[9] During the 1970s, Goolagong Cawley played in 17 Grand Slam singles finals, a period record for any player, man or woman.

Goolagong realised during the 1976 US Open final that she was pregnant and after one more tournament for the year, she did not play again on the regular tour until the summer of 1977, continuing through to Wimbledon 1978.

1976 had been her best season to date, winning seven titles, rising to number one in the world and losing only to Chris Evert, which she did five times and once to Dianne Fromholtz in Sydney, which she played in the second trimester of her pregnancy.

After attempting a comeback in the summer of 1977, Goolagong decided to wait for the Australian season beginning later in the year for a full return.

Her return to the tour proper kick-started a highly successful run of play, during which she won ten tournaments including the Australian Open in a run of five consecutive tournament wins and reached the final in two others, including the season-ending WTA Championships, where she lost to Martina Navratilova.

Prior to her first pregnancy, Goolagong led Navratilova 11–4 in their rivalry, but she lost 11 of their 12 matches after her daughter was born to trail 12–15 at the end of her career.

Other players, notably Wendy Turnbull, publicly decried the decision by Tennis Australia to pay Goolagong appearance fees to compete at the Australian Open from 1980 onwards.

In 1983, she failed to reach the quarterfinal of any event and played her last Grand Slam singles match at the French Open, where she lost to Evert in the third round.

Despite not playing the singles, she partnered Sue Barker in the Wimbledon doubles event, losing in the first round, her last Grand Slam appearance.

Her various commercials included KFC (in which she appeared with her husband Roger),[12] Geritol[13] and Sears,[14] where she also promoted her own sports clothing brand 'Go Goolagong'.

[15] A one-off return to competitive action came at the 1985 Australian Indoor Championship organised by the ITF, but Goolagong lost her only match.

[16] Goolagong spent some time as a touring professional at the Hilton Head Racquet Club in South Carolina before returning to Australia.

She also runs an annual "Goolagong National Development Camp", with the aim of encouraging Aboriginal children to stay in school through playing competitive tennis.

[18] On 10 October 2023, Goolagong was one of 25 Australians of the Year who signed an open letter supporting the Yes vote in the Indigenous Voice referendum, initiated by psychiatrist Patrick McGorry.

In 2018, she was advanced to a Companion of the Order of Australia "for eminent service to tennis as a player at the national and international level, as an ambassador, supporter and advocate for the health, education and wellbeing of young Indigenous people through participation in sport, and as a role model".

The museum's collection also includes a signed warm-up jacket and a dress with a bolero style top designed by Ted Tinling in the early 1970s.

Goolagong unveiled the exact scale model of the wooden Dunlop racquet during Barellan's centenary celebrations on 3 October 2009.

[29][30] In April 2016, Goolagong was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of South Australia in recognition of her distinguished service to the community.

During the tournament, Edwards sat on the opposite side of the players' box from Roger Cawley at her matches, and he and his protégée were no longer on speaking terms.

[38] Goolagong's father Ken was killed in a car crash in 1974, shortly after Edwards had refused to release any of her money to purchase a new family vehicle when requested.

Intrigued by meeting so many Indigenous Australian relatives for the first time at the funeral, the Cawleys bought a home in Noosa Heads, Queensland and settled there with their two United States-born children.

[40] Goolagong's brother, Ian, was an amateur tennis player who never pursued the sport professionally, but he partnered with Evonne in the mixed doubles tournament at Wimbledon in 1982 (the pair lost their only match).

A play based on the life of Goolagong Cawley called Sunshine Super Girl, written and directed by Andrea James, was to have premièred with the Melbourne Theatre Company in 2020,[43] but the event was cancelled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

Instead, it premiered in Griffith, New South Wales, in October 2020[44] before a run at the Sydney Festival in January 2021, produced by Performing Lines.

Lesley Hunt Billie Jean King Kerry Melville Karen Krantzcke Olga Morozova Lesley Turner Bowrey Kerry Melville Reid Note: The shared women's doubles title at the Australian Open in 1977 (December) isn't traditionally counted in Goolagong's win total because the finals were never played.

Evonne Cawley is occasionally credited incorrectly with winning the 1977 Ladies Doubles event at Wimbledon, due to the confusion regarding the married name of her compatriot Helen Gourlay who in fact took the trophy.

Jean-Claude Barclay Ilie Năstase Chris Evert (1975/1985 – 260 w) Evonne Goolagong (1976 – 2 w) Martina Navratilova (1978/1987 – 331 w) Tracy Austin (1980 – 22 w) Steffi Graf (1987/1997 – 377 w) // Monica Seles (1991/1996 – 178 w) Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (1995 – 12 w) Martina Hingis (1997/2001 – 209 w) Lindsay Davenport (1998/2006 – 98 w) Jennifer Capriati (2001/2002 – 17 w) Venus Williams (2002 – 11 w) Serena Williams (2002/2017 – 319 w) Kim Clijsters (2003/2011 – 20 w) Justine Henin (2003/2008 – 117 w) Amélie Mauresmo (2004/2006 – 39 w) Maria Sharapova (2005/2012 – 21 w) Ana Ivanovic (2008 – 12 w) Jelena Janković (2008/2009 – 18 w) Dinara Safina (2009 – 26 w) Caroline Wozniacki (2010/2018 – 71 w) Victoria Azarenka (2012/2013 – 51 w) Angelique Kerber (2016/2017 – 34 w) Karolína Plíšková (2017 – 8 w) Garbiñe Muguruza (2017 – 4 w) Simona Halep (2017/2019 – 64 w) Naomi Osaka (2019 – 25 w) Ashleigh Barty (2019/2022 – 121 w) Iga Świątek (2022/2024 – 125 w) Aryna Sabalenka (2023/2024 – 9 w)