Evert–Navratilova rivalry
The Evert–Navratilova rivalry was a tennis rivalry in the 1970s and 1980s between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, widely regarded as two of the greatest tennis players of all time. It is considered to be one of the greatest rivalries in tennis history and sports in general. The pair contested 80 matches between 1973 and 1988 (60 of which were finals), with Navratilova leading the overall head-to-head 43–37 and 36–24 in finals. It is the most prolific tennis rivalry of the Open Era.
In the 12 years following the introduction of the WTA rankings in November 1975 until August 1987, one of the two held the world No. 1 position in all but 23 weeks. More specifically, in the first 615 weeks of the WTA rankings they collectively held the No. 1 ranking for 592 weeks, Navratilova at 332 weeks and Evert at 260 weeks. Such was their dominance over other players, that for the period 1977–1987 when the two rivals were first ranked world No. 1 and No. 2, only three times did any other player beat them both back-to-back in the same tournament (Evonne Goolagong Cawley at the 1978 Virginia Slims of Boston, Tracy Austin at the 1979 US Open, and Hana Mandlíková at the 1985 US Open). From the 1981 Australian Open to the 1985 Wimbledon Championships, the duo won a record 15 consecutive major singles titles.
Evert and Navratilova encountered each other most often on the faster court surfaces (grass and indoors), where Navratilova's offensive serve-and-volley style of play gave her the upper hand over Evert's counter-attacking baseline approach. Evert enjoyed more success in the rivalry on hard courts and especially on clay courts. Navratilova led Evert 10–5 on grass, 9–7 on outdoor hard courts, and 21–14 on indoor courts, but Evert led 11–3 on clay courts. Evert led their head-to-head in three-set match wins 15–14, but Navratilova led 29–22 in straight-set encounters. Navratilova was most dominant in encounters in majors, leading 14–8 overall and 10–4 in finals. Evert led their head-to-head for each of the first six years of their rivalry (1973–78), whereas Navratilova had the upper hand for each year in the rest of their rivalry (1979, 1981–88).
Following their retirements, they became close friends.