2009 Six Nations Championship their arrival at Dublin Airport. Brian O'Driscoll described 21 March as a “sweet, sweet day”. The game was watched by 945,000 people in Ireland, the highest rating television programme in the country by that stage of 2009. Former coach Eddie O'Sullivan was said to be "delighted" for the team. Brian O'Driscoll was named player of the tournament, beating Italy's Sergio Parisse and Ireland teammate Paul O'Connell. O'Connell was later named captain of the British and Irish Lions team to tour South Africa and containing fourteen members of the Grand Slam winning Irish team on 21 April 2009, describing it as
Chris Evert's Grand Slam history She said after the match that it highlighted the reason she was retiring. Chris Evert's Grand Slam history Chris Evert won eighteen grand slam singles tournaments in her career (two Australian Open's, seven French Open's, three Wimbledon Championships', and six US Opens), and was runner-up in sixteen other finals ( giving her 34 finals appearances). Evert competed in 56 Grand Slam singles tournaments, reaching the semi-finals or better in 52 of them. Evert only lost twice in a grand slam tournament before the quarterfinal round, losing at the 3rd-round stage at Wimbledon in 1983 and the French Open in 1988.