Chris Evert has named her most memorable victory against her great friend and former tennis rival Martina Navratilova.
The pair are recognised by the sporting world as two of the greatest players to step foot on a tennis court.
The icons have 36 singles Grand Slam titles between them in addition to the two doubles titles they won together at the French Open in 1975 and the 1976 Wimbledon Championships.
They engaged in one of the most enthralling head-to-head rivalries in tennis history, and created plenty of history along the way.
Chris Evert picks her most memorable victory against Martina Navratilova
Chris Evert produced a spectacular 17-year tennis career with plenty of accomplishments that most players could only dream of.
That being said, Evert would have won more had it not been for Martina Navratilova, who broke records in her own spectator career.
During their head-to-head rivalry Navratilova defeated Evert in 13 successive matches at Grand Slams.
After beating her compatriot to win the 1982 Australian Open, Evert did not defeat her again at the majors until the 1985 French Open final, where she won her sixth title at the clay-court Grand Slam.
This 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-5 victory is in Evert’s mind her most memorable victory over Navratilova during their 15-year rivalry that featured 80 matches.
“That was kind of my year,” Evert said at the Society of the Four Arts event via Palm Beach Daily News. Navratilova added: “If you were only watching their post-match celebrations, you wouldn’t know who won either of those games.
“If you look at the photos, you couldn’t tell who won, you’d think we were playing doubles together, because we were both smiling,” Navratilova said. “It just shows the respect we had for each other.”
How many times did Chris Evert beat Martina Navratilova?
From their 80 matches on the WTA Tour throughout their illustrious career, Evert defeated Navratilova 37 times.
Evert won their first five meetings and led their head-to-head for the first six years of their rivalry from 1973 to 1978, before Navratilova took over from 1979 onwards.
At the Grand Slams Navratilova won 14 of their 22 encounters, and 10 of their 14 encounters that took place in the final.
Evert and Navratilova’s rivalry is the most prolific in the Open Era and at a time where other than just 23 weeks, one of them was the World number one for the first 12 years after the rankings were introduced.
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