The history of diamond tennis bracelets goes back to the summer of 1978, to be exact, when Chris Evert inadvertently made jewelry history during a first-round match at the US Open.
It happened when the tennis champion's delicate gold and diamond bracelet broke as it fell to the ground; the match was briefly interrupted so she could pick it up. At the time, someone - and no one remembers exactly who - immediately cheekily called the piece of jewelry a "tennis bracelet."Needless to say, the name stuck. Although many of today's tennis stars - isn't that Serena? - wear more dazzling diamond jewelry on the court than some actresses on the red carpet, it really was an event at the time. Chris Evert, of course, is considered the first woman to wear diamonds on a tennis court. Even though she was not the very first, her misadventure certainly brought attention to the special style of the diamond bracelet. In those years, Chris Evert's tennis bracelet, with all gemstones in one line, was known as a bracelet ligne. Today, some designers still use the classic terminology for this style, which dates back to the 1920s.
