Martina Navratilova hails her rivalry with Chris Evert as the best sporting rivalry of all time

Martina Navratilova recently endorsed her rivalry with Chris Evert as the best sporting rivalry of all time.

While tennis fans were discussing the biggest tennis rivalries the sport has ever seen, one fan debated that Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert were the greatest rivals not just in tennis but in all sports.

“Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova was the best rivalry not only in tennis but in all of sports. The two met 80 times 60 of which were finals,” the fan said.

Martina Navratilova was quick to acknowledge the fan’s statement.

Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert lit up the tennis courts in 1970s and 1980s. The duo clashed a total of 80 times, 60 of which were finals. Their first encounter was in Akron, Ohio, in 1973 when Evert defeated the then-Czechoslovakian 7-6, 6-3. The duo’s final meeting came 15 years later in 1988 in Chicago when Navratilova triumphed over Evert 6-2, 6-2 in the final.

Both legends have been very vocal about the significance of their rivalry. Novak Djokovic once claimed that his rivalry with Rafael Nadal was the biggest rivalry in the sport’s history. Chris Evert, however, corrected the 21-time Major winner stating that she had played Navratilova 80 times.

Evert and Navratilova have both accumulated 18 Grand Slam singles titles each. Both were simultaneously ranked World No. 1 and World No. 2, most of their careers. They thus found each other on opposite sides, mainly in the finals of various tournaments. Of the 60 finals that the pair competed against each other in, 14 were the finals of the Grand Slams. Navratilova dominated those fixtures with 10 victories against Evert’s four. Martina Navratilova also led in their overall head-to-head 43-37.

Evert once shared details of how their rivalry progressed.

“In the beginning, I was beating her; I was practicing with her, we were playing doubles together. Then she started beating me, and I broke up the doubles because I felt like I was getting too close. We went our own ways,” she had noted.

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Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert have been close friends off court

Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert have been close friends off court

It can be tough to maintain a friendship in a sport as competitive as tennis. Although the two Americans faced some trying moments in their friendship, the pair were able to reconcile eventually.

“It wasn’t until the end of our careers, maybe the last five years, that we got along well. Fed cup brought us together. We became pretty close. As close as two top competitors could become,” Evert once revealed.

Navratilova, meanwhile, once recalled incidences in their careers when one would triumph over the other, leaving them with mixed feelings of happiness and disappointment.

“What’s weird about tennis is you’re both in the locker room before the match and after the match, and one is very happy and one is very sad. But we would put our arms around each other and say, ‘You know what, I was lucky,’ or, ‘Next time you’re going to get it, I’m sure’, and, ‘Are you okay?’ Or we would leave notes in each other’s racket bags for later,” she remembered.