Caitlin Clark was on the receiving end of a nasty eye poke as she tried to dribble away from Jacy Sheldon© Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Tennis icon Chris Evert has taken aim at the WNBA and its players for the harsh treatment Caitlin Clark endures on the court.

The Indiana Fever star, used to being knocked around in games, faced escalated aggression last week during a clash with Connecticut Sun adversaries Jacy Sheldon, Marina Mabrey, and Tina Charles.

During the third quarter ruckus at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, with ball in hand on offense, Clark was jabbed in the eye by Sheldon. This incited an irate reaction from Clark, who pushed Sheldon aside before Mabrey and Charles entered the fray, resulting in the anticipated 2024 No. 1 pick being forced to the ground.

Sheldon received a flagrant 1 penalty, while Clark, Mabrey, and Charles were assessed technical fouls for their roles in the scuffle. Despite the melee, the Fever emerged victorious with an 88-71 win and boast a 6-6 record before facing off against the Las Vegas Aces this coming Sunday.

The roughing up of Clark has sparked much debate, especially as she’s in only her second season in the WNBA. Now, 18-time Grand Slam winner Evert is chiming in, frowning upon the negative image it casts on the league and lamenting the apparent decline in “sportsmanship.”

Evert lamented on Twitter, asking, “When will these ladies realize, accept, and appreciate Caitlin Clark is the best thing that ever happened to women’s basketball. This is a bad look for the sport and what’s happened to sportsmanship?”.

While Evert urged the players to improve, Fever head coach Stephanie White – who has since taken a personal leave from the team – pointed fingers at the officials for letting tensions rise in the game.

“I think it was pretty obvious that stuff was brewing, right?” White stated. “When the officials don’t get control of the ballgame, when they allow that stuff to happen, and it’s been happening all season long.

“You’ve got competitive women who are the best in the world at what they do, and when you allow them to play physical, and you allow these things to happen, they’re going to compete, and they’re going to have their teammates backs.

“It’s exactly what you expect out of fierce competition. I started talking to the officials in the first quarter, and we knew this was going to happen. You could tell it was going to happen. So they’ve got to get control of it. They’ve got to be better.”

Another contentious moment in the game occurred in the fourth quarter when Clark’s teammate Sophie Cunningham seemed to retaliate against Sheldon, committing a hard foul as the Sun star led a fastbreak.

Cunningham received a flagrant 2 foul for the incident, which sparked a second brawl between the teams.

Like her head coach, Cunningham was displeased with how the refs managed the game and the physicality faced by Clark. She expressed: “I’m not focused on the extracurricular activities.

“And you know what, during that, it was just part of the game. I think the refs had a lot to do with that. It was a buildup for a couple of years now of them just not protecting the star player of the WNBA. And so at the end of the day, I’m going to protect my teammates. That’s what I do. And I’m a team player, so it’s all good.”