Chris Evert and John McEnroe are two of America’s greatest-ever tennis players, who have seamlessly transitioned into two of the sport’s most paramount pundits.
However, in 2023, they briefly disagreed over Elena Rybakina, strangely enough.
Naturally, it started with a comment from McEnroe, which Evert deemed inflammatory.
Taking to X, she leapt to the defence of the newly-crowned Wimbledon champion, claiming that she ‘always had a problem’ with McEnroe’s line of thinking.
When Chris Evert defended Elena Rybakina from John McEnroe
The comment in question came on a live broadcast, where McEnroe claimed that the sport needed more personalities like Nick Kyrgios.
Now, whilst that is a completely fair stance to take, it was the fact that he used Rybakina in a negative light to reinforce his point.
How many Grand Slam titles does Elena Rybakina win in her career?
He claimed: “I’d like to see a little bit more explosive temper, see the emotions. Last year Elena Rybakina won in Wimbledon but she didn’t show any emotion.”
This led Evert to reply, writing: “Personalities are great… but changing one’s nature or temperament for the sake of entertaining? Always had a problem with that!”
Rybakina will play Aryna Sabalenka in the Indian Wells final tomorrow, in a rematch of their Australian Open final from earlier this year.
Elena Rybakina is returning to the top of tennis again
Having won the Wimbledon title back in 2023, Rybakina seemed ready to enter a period of domination over the WTA Tour.
After all, with smooth, powerful groundstrokes and a thunderous serve, she had the tools to overcome any opponent in her way.
Who will be ranked higher by the end of 2026 – Elena Rybakina or Aryna Sabalenka?
However, since then, it has been far from plain sailing for the 26-year-old, who has suffered from coaching disruptions and a general loss of form.
Fortunately for her and her supporters, she seems to have put those struggles behind her and has now found the consistency needed to partner the assets everybody already knew she had.
At the back end of last year, Rybakina won the title in Ningbo before going unbeaten at the WTA Finals to secure the title.
She followed that up with her second-ever major title in Melbourne, and now has the chance to win Indian Wells as well.
As such, she has reached a career-high ranking of world number two.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
