Chrissie leads line-up of legendary ladies...

If I weren't at the Democratic National Convention, I would have wanted to be at the US Open on Monday night for the amazing parade of past champions there to celebrate the 40th anniversary of open era tennis. It was in 1968 that tennis players could be professionals and earn big bucks at the US Open and other prestigious tournaments.

No female champion has had more success at the tournament in the last four decades than Chris Evert (above) who was the winneri in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980 and 1982 and runner-up in 1979, 1983 and 1984. Chrissie was, hands-down, my favorite player and really is the biggest star tennis ever had. She had the glamour, the endorsements, the poise and most of all, the grit. She'd come on court in a nice little tennis dress, long, blonde hair in a pony tail and ribbons, and she'd just mow down opponent after opponent.

What a portrait! Look at the history in this picture. That's a lot of great names including the great Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova, each four-time winner,Monica Seles, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova,Rod Laver, Tracy Austin, Stan Smith, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Roger Federer, Mats Wilander, Marat Safin, Gabriela Sabatini,Lyndsay Davenport and on and on.