Evert vs Navratilova

There was never such a long rivalry in women's tennis as between Martina and Chris. They met 80 times between 1973 and 1988. They often met in finals. Martina won 43 of the 80 times they met. Both won 18 Grand Slam singles titles.


Unlike other rivals they respected each other a lot and were friends.
Their styles of play were complimentary.

Chris was the first famous tennis player to use the two-handed backhand. She was a baseliner and held her emotions in check, such that people called her the Ice Maiden.
Martina was a serve volleyer and net rusher. She had a great sliced backhand which she could follow up and come to the net. Her volleying skills were also suburb.

Off court they were different also. Martina was born in Prague but became an American citizen. She was open about her lesbianism and took part in politics. She wasn't always popular as a result, but I remember in amongst my lesbian friends she was a heroine. They weren't interested in tennis much but went to it to get a glimpse of Martina. Martina lost millions of dollars in sponsorships because of her openness.


Chris was Miss American pie and accentuated her femininity. She was very popular. She had also been engaged to Jimmy Connors and for that reason became a celebrity. She had other high profile relationships: Burt Reynolds, President Ford's son and Adam Faith. She then married John Lloyd, a British tennis player. That marriage didn't last and she then married the Olympic skier Andy Hill with whom she has 3 sons.


Evert won 154 singles titles and Navratilova won 167. They were well matched on court.


Chris Evert

Chris Evert was very young by the standards of the day when at 16 she got to the semi-finals of the US Open, beaten by Billie Jean King.
Her achievements were astounding

* She was the first player to win 1000 singles matches
* Her .900 winning percentage is the best in pro tennis history.
* She won 125 straight matches on clay, the longest winning streak on any surface.
* Her record of 55 consecutive victories (set in 1974) stood until Martina Navratilova broke it 10 years later.
* Her 154 tournament victories (second only to Martina Navratilova) is the second highest amongst both men and women.
* Evert was the first female player to win $1 million.
* She won 6 US Opens, 3 Wimbledon’s, 7 French Opens and 2 Australian Opens.
* She won at least one Grand Slam tournament for 13 consecutive years.
* If Evert had won the titles which Martina beat her in, Evert would have won nearly 200 tournaments.


Martina Navratilova

Martina was born in Prague. Her parents divorced when she was 3. She took on her step father’s name when her mother remarried. He was her first coach. By 15 Martina won the Czech national championship. She became a pro at 16 and while in playing the US Open applied for a green card. She became a citizen in 1981. It took a while for her to adjust to a Western style of life and she didn't really get serious about tennis until 1978. By July of that year she became number one,
just after winning her first Grand Slam event: Wimbledon.



Martina's partners were just as high profile as Evert's had been. She and Rita Mae Brown, the author, were openly in a relationship as she was with Judy Nelson, another author. These women were always at her tennis matches and commentators didn't know what to call them. They usually ended up calling them "friends". Even now, only Amelie Mauresmo has been really open about her sexual orientation. Many of the other female tennis players are lesbian but they don't advertise it. Martina had
been a trailblazer for women's tennis but also for lesbians around the world.
Martina's records



* She won 167 singles titles, the most of any professional tennis player.
* She won at least one tour event for 21 consecutive years.
* She won 1440 singles matches. She won the singles and doubles titles at the same event 84 times. She and Evert are fourth equal in terms of their Grand Slam singles titles.
* With Pam Shriver she holds the record of 109 consecutive doubles matches wins.
* She won a record 9 Wimbledon titles.
* She won the singles, doubles and mixed at every Grand Slam event.
* In 2003 she became the oldest Grand Slam winner (in mixed)
* She was ranked no 1 for 331 weeks, second only to Graf's 373 weeks.
* She earned $20 million dollars. This was surpassed by Graf later.
* She had a consecutive match winning streak of 74 (the women's record)



Martina still plays tennis professionally and was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 2000. She is a keen skier and golfer and co-wrote 3 mystery novels. She is still an active supporter of lesbian and gay rights.