Saturday, 21 October 2006

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Tennis great Chris Evert & her husband split

Wimbledon champion's second marriage comes to an end

Tennis champ Chris Evert and her husband, former Olympic skier Andy Mill, have split, the couple announced Friday.

"We are confirming that, after 18 years of marriage, we have decided to get divorced," the couple said in a joint statement. "The decision is mutual, and our main concern is for our three sons. We know we have some difficult times ahead, together and apart, and hope that our family's privacy will be respected."

The couple, who married on the grounds of the Polo Club in Boca Raton, Fla. in 1988, met two years earlier at a New Year's Eve party in Aspen, Colo. Their three sons are ages 15, 12 and 10.

"They're my life, they're the most important thing,'' Evert told The Palm Beach Post in 2001, of her sons. "I'm busy, but I'm 100 percent a mom first.''

Evert, 51, won Wimbledon three times during her career and is known as one of the tennis world's best ever female players. She was briefly engaged to another tennis great – Jimmy Connors – and also dated the actor Burt Reynolds.

Evert was married to the British tennis player John Lloyd for eight years. Mill, 53, a former American downhill ski champ, was also previously married.