- Chris Evert And Martina Navratilova opened up on their fierce rivalry and how they battled cancer.
- Evert called it “crazy” that she and Navratilova got diagnosed with cancer around the same time.
- The duo’s documentary, Chris & Martina: The Final Set, premieres on June 26 on Netflix.
Tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova were once fierce rivals on the field. Now, the duo have opened up about their over 50-year-long bond both on the court and off, and their cancer journeys.
In an interview with Today, Evert and Navratilova revealed how they first met, their long friendship and struggles with cancer. The duo were diagnosed with the disease within months of each other.
The interview featured snippets from their upcoming documentary Chris & Martina: The Final Set, with Navratilova saying that Evert "was the enemy” and the person she had to beat to reach the No.1 position.
In the interview, Evert revealed that the duo first met in Florida during a tournament when they were both teenagers. She recalled the Czech tennis legend as being “very young, very vulnerable, very cute” and a little “overweight”.
Navratilova also recalled how they were pitted against each other by the media, with a columnist dubbing one of their matches a fight of “good versus evil”.
Evert also opened up on how she felt extremely lonely and how her upbringing had not encouraged female friendships, viewing them as competition. She revealed that she once lay down on a rug in her hotel room after winning the Wimbledon and could not get up as she was depressed.
The tennis icons also spoke up about their cancer diagnoses. Evert was diagnosed with stage 1 ovarian cancer in 2021, People reported. Her cancer returned in 2023 Navratilova, 69, first got diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. In 2023, she learnt she had throat cancer, and that her breast cancer had returned.
Evert and Navratilova revealed that the other player was one of the first people they called after their diagnosis.
The American tennis player said it was “crazy” that both she and Navratilova got their cancer diagnosis “at the same time.” “It's like we can't separate from each other,” she jokingly added.
In a chat with People, The Final Set director Rebecca Gitlitz talked about the duo's famous rivalry and their friendship
“They have such a shared history and when they each got cancer, it became almost ironic that it came back to this parallel path," she said.
Evert and Navratilova faced each other 80 times in the 1970s and '80s, including 60 finals games.
Chris and Martina: The Final Set premieres on Netflix on June 26.