@Nikhil Joshi evert and navratilova played currently as of november 2020, 24 more times than rafa vs novak... and of course evert vs martina was over a longer span, 16 years!.
I grew up watching these two great women battle it out. Chrissie was my idol and the reason I picked up a racquet in 1978 at age 10 and taught myself to play! I went on to play all four years on my high school team and was ranked No. 3 my senior year. So many great memories!
Wow...what a great video. It actually shows the changing of the guard between Chrissie and Martina. In 1975, she was toying with Martina, who appeared to have no strategy as to how to play Chrissie whatsoever. Flash forward to 1981, where Martina discovered the way to play Chrissie DURING the actual course of the match. Incredible to see the transformation before our very eyes.
It's amazing with wood rackets. I lived in an era of transition. I played on wood, because my parents were cash strapped, but my peers had amazing state of the art ceramic rackets. It's so much harder to play with a wood racket. Smaller room for error.
Interesting to see Evert in the 1975 match play so many high balls to keep Navratilova back. It was a great tactic, but one that Evert seemed to have forgotten in many of their matches. I think she rediscovered it in the 1985 french open final.
L'âge d'or du tennis féminin ...tout simplement ! Des stades archi-combles pour assister à une rivalité de légende ......Aujourd'hui , des championnes au nom imprononçable s'affrontent mais ne semblent plus fasciner personne . Ah le service délié de Navratilova ....quelle décontraction incroyable , à enseigner dans toutes les écoles de tennis .....Et que dire du revers et des passings de Chris Evert , la perfection dans le geste ....et le mental !
oui c est grace a evert , navratilova que je me suis passionne pour le tennis, avec l arrivee de graf, j avais espoir qu evert pourrait la battre a partir de 87, mais helas graf etait lancee, sa jeunesse et puissance ont fait le reste, mais evert lloyd, navratilova c etait quelque chose....
You can't really see it in the first clip (1975 semifinal), but they're playing on green clay, a quite slow surface. The US Open was held on clay very briefly between 1975 and 1977.
Martina must be an amazing person, I would love to sit down with her and have an informal chat about her inner strength and courage... What was really behind her will to succeed, not only as a player of the game, but as a human being on a personal level. I wonder if she is aware of the fact that she is a hero for so many gay and lesbian men and women on this planet. Her strength glows eternally for eternity!!
In the 83 final, Martina just cantered through it. It looked like she barely broke sweat. Chris seemed to have absolutely nothing to hurt her with and played a very passive match. I wonder how Martina would have performed in this final against someone who was more assertive, such as an in form Mandlikova.
Evert et Navratilova était en meilleure forme physiquement et mentalement dans les années 80, sûrement grâce à l'entraînement et l'alimentation mieux adaptés. Deux grandes championnes qui ont marqué une grande époque dans l'histoire du tennis féminin.
Great video quality ! The 1981 semi was a beaut, Martina played an incredible match. But Chris just seemed hesitant, her shots lacked depth and drive, she was just pushing the ball instead of driving it. But as often the case, Martina fell apart playing against Tracy.
true, especially off the forehand.. perhaps one of those times that evert thought martina would choke and give it to her (which she DID to in the final against austin)...
I was young when I watched the 1984 Open Final. Chris was just so close. I was so disappointed when she lost such a close final. I copied my game on Jimmy Conners style of play - low to the net with angles and Chris Evert's amazing 2 handed back hand. It was all so great. Now I get to idolize Nadal and all that he does for the game. Sadly, I don't have much of a connection with any of the current women playing pro tennis. I hope that will change.
That New York crowd wanted Martina's head on a platter that day! She was so absolutely arrogant, it was easy to root against Navratilova. Her on-court behavior aside, she was obviously very dominant from mid-1983 until early 1985.
Navratilova went from chubby ingenue into the greatest athlete tennis had ever seen up to that point. Her transformation in the early 80s was remarkable and she raised the standards of physicality for women's tennis ever since
Did realize how rude the crowds were to Martina at this match overcheering Chris' winners that were actually just Martina's misses and some even clapped at Martina's missed serves. Incredible lack of class!
If you ever want to teach your child the game of Tennis, forget about Federer, forget about Serena, forget about Borg and McEnroe.... These two amazing lady legends are the ultimate guide to playing Tennis, every shot in the book....text book, to on court and off court behavior!
Their counts would have been unbelievable. I don’t think either would have been as good as they became though. They really pushed each other to reach their full potential. I think the same is true for Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic.
I wonder how much better Evert would have been if she learned how to take the ball on the rise with her groundstrokes. As it was, her technique belonged to the era of wooden racquets. She let the ball drop before hitting it which allowed players to push her back if they used topspin. It also gave them more time .
re: 1984 Final: 'Those are tears of joy...' NO- Martina has talked about that. She says the crowd's being so against her, making her a villain, really broke her heart. She's said- 'yes- Chris deserves the love and respect, but what didI ever do to get treated like the bad guy.' People were yelling 'Go Chris- we want a real woman to win' so homophobia was part of it. Martina's having only lost twice between 12/82 and 9/84 was part of it, too...but people didn't realize- yes, Martina was winning everything then, but she only had ONE US Open at that time- Chris had Six.
Tennis was better back then...you really needed to have skill all over the court...now it's just slugging the ball back and forth with these hopped up rackets.
Greatest ever rivalry. Also if you consider that they are now literally best friends, and Martina introduced Chris to her second husband Andy. Chris says that leaving him was the biggest mistake of her life, the best man she was ever with.
So many of the years where Chris won Martina wasn’t playing her best tennis and didn’t meet evert when evert dominated tennis , then in 82 Martina started showing signs of her greatness both had won two slams where both had wins in final against each other. It was 1983 Martina trully dominated Chris was lucky to win 4 games in open final 1983. After this match with Chris nearing age of 30 I thought Chris unless she changed everything would never win a set off of Martina again. We all underestimated Chris. She took her lumps being beaten badly for 13matches in a row before Chris found her feet again and she did so not because of pride she wanted to improve and Martina forced Chris to abandon her play it safe tennis in French final especially in last. Two games Chris took chances. It paid off and she beat Martina . Martina didn’t lose it. Then Chris won again in 86 French to prove 85 win wasn’t a fluke. When Chris sorta threw her racket down after 86 French before she sat down and cried from the win , it marked the end of her goals having won her first French in 74. Fromm74-86 Chris won at least one slam title every year. The long stretch from French 83 to AO 84 was a long one where she lost 4 slam titles in a row to Martina. Unfortunately at W andOpen for Chris Martina dominated Chris. Chris has said that Martina’s best was better than her best. That about sums up their rivalry. No one beat Martina more than Chris and no one beat Chris as much asMartina.
Tennis became very 'empty' after these to giants of the game retired.... I couldn't wait for the next major or grand slam, I didn't care about any other player in the draw, it was just Martina and Chris, and if for some bizarre reason one of them, or both lost, I literally fell into a deep depression... The 1986 French Open ladies final for me at least is the best match Chris ever played against her now friend and rival... Tactically that is.
if chris had switched her racket earlier, she would have won more matches against martina. when your and an opponent's skills are on the same level, equipments sure will make a difference.
yes! at some point in '83 Chrissie did play exhibition matches with a Wilson graphite racquet (i don't think it was the Pro Staff yet) and lost to both Andrea Jaeger and Sylvia Hanika.
@Consuelo Patagonia Navratilova was a sublime volleyer and magnificent prototype female athlete. But she only developed confidence in her top spin backhand very late and never fully utilized it. Graf great forehand and a great slice backhand - but that alone would not stand up today. Seles began to expose it before she was stabbed. Champions of their era but their backhands would get destroyed today.
@@Werewolf0216 Maxi pad Here trashes Evert fans so he’s sort of a stocker and he will just say it really bad things so just ignore his ass like everybody else does
they would have had to learn with 1970s wooden rackets that only allowed you to hit the ball at 30-40 miles per hour- you couldn't wind up and smack the ball- it would go 10 feet out- even with the midsize they played with in the 80s. Neither Serena or Venus has shown the patience necessary to keep the ball in play...that can be said for 9/10 players today. Give today's champs yesterday's equipment and they'd be in the fetal position sobbing...give yesterday's champs todays equipment- they'd still be champs.
You don't get it. The four are champions , if they play in the 70s Venus and Serena would also had that style because of the wood racquets. If Chris and Martina had played in the 2000s they also would have been champions, think of Chris like a Martina Hinggis that was a very good rival against the Williams. You can notice the difference of Chris Evert from the 70s and her last match in 89 with her pro staff, and the pro staff was 85 sq in.
@@migelowsky you don't get the fact that the change in equipment has altered how a child progresses...Today- it's smack the ball with quick results results- back then, it was technique and guiding the ball for years before a pay off came...neither Venus or Serena have the patience- especially Serena, to hit the 10,000 a day ground strokes Tracey Austin and Chris Evert did. Because of this difference, a lot of the players today would have left tennis early on because they couldn't master it- Serena still has bad technique- if she has to hit 4 forehands in a row- it breaks down and she hits it 10 feet out or into the bottom of the net- that's how players have beaten her so soundly in her last 3-4 Slam finals, they get the ball back to her forehand and she blows it. ALL the players from the 70s and 80s have said it's easier to adapt to the changing technology of today than the other way around. We're never going to see eye to eye- so- BYE.
@@aagold76 I agree...it's bad logic to say today's tennis players would still be champions if they had played back in the Evert-Navratilova era...it took a different kind of skill.
this is so boring, all of the action is from the US Open, which is not thought of as the greatest Tournament, how many times can you watch MN rushing the net waiting for Evert to attempt another passing shot before it becomes tiresome.....WImbledon is far superior, show all their matches from there please?
First, a disclaimer: I LOVE Martina Navratilova. Always have. I started watching tennis as a child in the late ‘70s as she was taking the torch from Chris. And I marveled at how dominant she was. I was also fond of her showing her emotions on court unlike most of her female contemporaries. However, to answer your question, for a long time now, I believe Martina represents the change in Women’s Tennis to the PED (performance Enhancing Drugs) era. She came from an Soviet Block country which was known for State sponsored PEDs. She also had several tell tale physical characteristics of synthetic testosterone use (as did Steffi). And I feel that tennis (and pretty much every other professional sport!) has been rife with the stuff since then. While not impossible, it is extremely difficult/very unlikely for a “clean” athlete to defeat defeat an opponent that’s using PEDs.
This was the greatest rivalry in sport!!!. The greatest serve and volleyer against the greatest base liner!!!. They brought women's tennis 🎾 to the world and had the greatest matches!!!. Wonder how many Grand Slam singles titles Graf or Williams would have won playing with wooden racquets!!!. When you take EVERYTHING into consideration it's quite clear that Martina is the greatest female tennis player of all time and one of the greatest ever!!!.
I’d say THE most iconic rivalry in women’s tennis. And very possibly in tennis in general.
I think tennis period. To have met that many times over a period of nearly twenty years is magnificent.
@Nikhil Joshi What of them?
@Nikhil Joshi evert and navratilova played currently as of november 2020, 24 more times than rafa vs novak... and of course evert vs martina was over a longer span, 16 years!.
What about King-Goolagong?
@@kloatlanta Again what about them ?
This was the greatest rivalry in the history of sports. No other qualifiers need to be added.
Duke and unc in college basketball?
EXACTLY!
I grew up watching these two great women battle it out. Chrissie was my idol and the reason I picked up a racquet in 1978 at age 10 and taught myself to play! I went on to play all four years on my high school team and was ranked No. 3 my senior year. So many great memories!
Wow...what a great video. It actually shows the changing of the guard between Chrissie and Martina. In 1975, she was toying with Martina, who appeared to have no strategy as to how to play Chrissie whatsoever. Flash forward to 1981, where Martina discovered the way to play Chrissie DURING the actual course of the match. Incredible to see the transformation before our very eyes.
Greatest rivalry in sport period
Hear hear!!
The 1975-1977 US Open Clay surface was totally tailor made for Chris Evert, nobody else had a chance
I miss women’s tennis like this
It's amazing with wood rackets. I lived in an era of transition. I played on wood, because my parents were cash strapped, but my peers had amazing state of the art ceramic rackets. It's so much harder to play with a wood racket. Smaller room for error.
Interesting to see Evert in the 1975 match play so many high balls to keep Navratilova back. It was a great tactic, but one that Evert seemed to have forgotten in many of their matches. I think she rediscovered it in the 1985 french open final.
ONE OF...???! Women's?? Tennis??? This was THE most iconic rivalry in all of Sports History!
Wow..Those camera angles and spin of the ball. Amazing work.
An unmatched friendship!!
L'âge d'or du tennis féminin ...tout simplement ! Des stades archi-combles pour assister à une rivalité de légende ......Aujourd'hui , des championnes au nom imprononçable s'affrontent mais ne semblent plus fasciner personne . Ah le service délié de Navratilova ....quelle décontraction incroyable , à enseigner dans toutes les écoles de tennis .....Et que dire du revers et des passings de Chris Evert , la perfection dans le geste ....et le mental !
oui c est grace a evert , navratilova que je me suis passionne pour le tennis, avec l arrivee de graf, j avais espoir qu evert pourrait la battre a partir de 87, mais helas graf etait lancee, sa jeunesse et puissance ont fait le reste, mais evert lloyd, navratilova c etait quelque chose....
You can't really see it in the first clip (1975 semifinal), but they're playing on green clay, a quite slow surface. The US Open was held on clay very briefly between 1975 and 1977.
Martina must be an amazing person, I would love to sit down with her and have an informal chat about her inner strength and courage... What was really behind her will to succeed, not only as a player of the game, but as a human being on a personal level. I wonder if she is aware of the fact that she is a hero for so many gay and lesbian men and women on this planet. Her strength glows eternally for eternity!!
Too young to witness this rivalry, but this is just so good🎉
In the 83 final, Martina just cantered through it. It looked like she barely broke sweat. Chris seemed to have absolutely nothing to hurt her with and played a very passive match. I wonder how Martina would have performed in this final against someone who was more assertive, such as an in form Mandlikova.
Evert et Navratilova était en meilleure forme physiquement et mentalement dans les années 80, sûrement grâce à l'entraînement et l'alimentation mieux adaptés. Deux grandes championnes qui ont marqué une grande époque dans l'histoire du tennis féminin.
Great video quality !
The 1981 semi was a beaut, Martina played an incredible match.
But Chris just seemed hesitant, her shots lacked depth and drive, she was just pushing the ball instead of driving it.
But as often the case, Martina fell apart playing against Tracy.
true, especially off the forehand.. perhaps one of those times that evert thought martina would choke and give it to her (which she DID to in the final against austin)...
I was young when I watched the 1984 Open Final. Chris was just so close. I was so disappointed when she lost such a close final. I copied my game on Jimmy Conners style of play - low to the net with angles and Chris Evert's amazing 2 handed back hand. It was all so great. Now I get to idolize Nadal and all that he does for the game. Sadly, I don't have much of a connection with any of the current women playing pro tennis. I hope that will change.
What? No connection to Serena? The model of exemplary behavior in women's tennis.
That New York crowd wanted Martina's head on a platter that day! She was so absolutely arrogant, it was easy to root against Navratilova. Her on-court behavior aside, she was obviously very dominant from mid-1983 until early 1985.
I am still in love with Chris Evert.
A rivalry worth even half of this would do a tremendous amount for women's tennis today...It really is the missing ingredient right now.
Navratilova went from chubby ingenue into the greatest athlete tennis had ever seen up to that point. Her transformation in the early 80s was remarkable and she raised the standards of physicality for women's tennis ever since
My youth.. I love em both..
Did realize how rude the crowds were to Martina at this match overcheering Chris' winners that were actually just Martina's misses and some even clapped at Martina's missed serves. Incredible lack of class!
evert led 4-2 and then had 3 break points at 4-4 in that 3rd of their 1981 u.s. open semi! yikes....
If you ever want to teach your child the game of Tennis, forget about Federer, forget about Serena, forget about Borg and McEnroe.... These two amazing lady legends are the ultimate guide to playing Tennis, every shot in the book....text book, to on court and off court behavior!
I had forgotten how great it was then without the screaming that we get today from so many like Sabalenka, all due respect.
couldn't imagine how many more titles either would have had....if either wasn't there?????
Their counts would have been unbelievable. I don’t think either would have been as good as they became though. They really pushed each other to reach their full potential. I think the same is true for Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic.
I wonder how much better Evert would have been if she learned how to take the ball on the rise with her groundstrokes. As it was, her technique belonged to the era of wooden racquets. She let the ball drop before hitting it which allowed players to push her back if they used topspin. It also gave them more time .
She changed that from 85 on - hit with slight topspin . In Houston 88 she hit several forehand passes on the rise to win 6-0,6-4
re: 1984 Final: 'Those are tears of joy...' NO- Martina has talked about that. She says the crowd's being so against her, making her a villain, really broke her heart. She's said- 'yes- Chris deserves the love and respect, but what didI ever do to get treated like the bad guy.' People were yelling 'Go Chris- we want a real woman to win' so homophobia was part of it. Martina's having only lost twice between 12/82 and 9/84 was part of it, too...but people didn't realize- yes, Martina was winning everything then, but she only had ONE US Open at that time- Chris had Six.
ONE OF? NO WAY NOW HOW EVERYONE KNOWS IT WAS THEE RIVALRY OF ALL TIME in ALL OF TENNIS and includes men.....
❤❤❤
Evert and Navratilova could easily play today. Today's players could NOT play with wooden rackets. It would be hilarious to watch, though.
Tennis was better back then...you really needed to have skill all over the court...now it's just slugging the ball back and forth with these hopped up rackets.
Greatest ever rivalry. Also if you consider that they are now literally best friends, and Martina introduced Chris to her second husband Andy. Chris says that leaving him was the biggest mistake of her life, the best man she was ever with.
So many of the years where Chris won Martina wasn’t playing her best tennis and didn’t meet evert when evert dominated tennis , then in 82 Martina started showing signs of her greatness both had won two slams where both had wins in final against each other. It was 1983 Martina trully dominated Chris was lucky to win 4 games in open final 1983. After this match with Chris nearing age of 30 I thought Chris unless she changed everything would never win a set off of Martina again. We all underestimated Chris. She took her lumps being beaten badly for 13matches in a row before Chris found her feet again and she did so not because of pride she wanted to improve and Martina forced Chris to abandon her play it safe tennis in French final especially in last. Two games Chris took chances. It paid off and she beat Martina . Martina didn’t lose it. Then Chris won again in 86 French to prove 85 win wasn’t a fluke. When Chris sorta threw her racket down after 86 French before she sat down and cried from the win , it marked the end of her goals having won her first French in 74. Fromm74-86 Chris won at least one slam title every year. The long stretch from French 83 to AO 84 was a long one where she lost 4 slam titles in a row to Martina. Unfortunately at W andOpen for Chris Martina dominated Chris. Chris has said that Martina’s best was better than her best. That about sums up their rivalry. No one beat Martina more than Chris and no one beat Chris as much asMartina.
Chris is the n.1
Much obliged for posting, but these highlights ONLY cover the U.S. Open.
Possibly because it's posted by the USTA.
It's the USTA channel and it says in the description these are from US Open matches...what's with all you people being crybabies about this.
Correction: The most iconic rivalry in tennis history.
Not one of.
I would amend that and say in sports history.
@@tomloft2000 I wouldn't disagree with you at all.
The Hair 😂
Tennis became very 'empty' after these to giants of the game retired.... I couldn't wait for the next major or grand slam, I didn't care about any other player in the draw, it was just Martina and Chris, and if for some bizarre reason one of them, or both lost, I literally fell into a deep depression... The 1986 French Open ladies final for me at least is the best match Chris ever played against her now friend and rival... Tactically that is.
It just need steffi forehead to break that iconic rivalry. 😆😆
13:08 Roger Federer, ball boy-ing the match
if chris had switched her racket earlier, she would have won more matches against martina. when your and an opponent's skills are on the same level, equipments sure will make a difference.
Damn Chrissy, too little too late with the graphite racket.
yes! at some point in '83 Chrissie did play exhibition matches with a Wilson graphite racquet (i don't think it was the Pro Staff yet) and lost to both Andrea Jaeger and Sylvia Hanika.
Thought she lost a shriver in the exhibition rather than meager and hanika
Navratilova had such a poor backhand. No top spin. Her other skills kept her in matches.
@Consuelo Patagonia Navratilova was a sublime volleyer and magnificent prototype female athlete. But she only developed confidence in her top spin backhand very late and never fully utilized it. Graf great forehand and a great slice backhand - but that alone would not stand up today. Seles began to expose it before she was stabbed. Champions of their era but their backhands would get destroyed today.
@Consuelo Patagonia 👌👍well said
@@boysdontcry5487 Graf began to explore Seles weakness on grass by moving her left to right & by volleying.
Are they playing or practicing ? Too slow
Did you see how quickly Martina got to that ball? Steroids had NOTHING to do with it.....
This is only US open, where the real one, wimbkedon
This is the USTA channel...if you don't like it, get lost.
@@Werewolf0216 Maxi pad Here trashes Evert fans so he’s sort of a stocker and he will just say it really bad things so just ignore his ass like everybody else does
Can’t imagine if either Serena or Venus were to play during Navratilova/Evert era
they would have had to learn with 1970s wooden rackets that only allowed you to hit the ball at 30-40 miles per hour- you couldn't wind up and smack the ball- it would go 10 feet out- even with the midsize they played with in the 80s. Neither Serena or Venus has shown the patience necessary to keep the ball in play...that can be said for 9/10 players today. Give today's champs yesterday's equipment and they'd be in the fetal position sobbing...give yesterday's champs todays equipment- they'd still be champs.
You don't get it. The four are champions , if they play in the 70s Venus and Serena would also had that style because of the wood racquets.
If Chris and Martina had played in the 2000s they also would have been champions, think of Chris like a Martina Hinggis that was a very good rival against the Williams. You can notice the difference of Chris Evert from the 70s and her last match in 89 with her pro staff, and the pro staff was 85 sq in.
@@migelowsky you don't get the fact that the change in equipment has altered how a child progresses...Today- it's smack the ball with quick results results- back then, it was technique and guiding the ball for years before a pay off came...neither Venus or Serena have the patience- especially Serena, to hit the 10,000 a day ground strokes Tracey Austin and Chris Evert did. Because of this difference, a lot of the players today would have left tennis early on because they couldn't master it- Serena still has bad technique- if she has to hit 4 forehands in a row- it breaks down and she hits it 10 feet out or into the bottom of the net- that's how players have beaten her so soundly in her last 3-4 Slam finals, they get the ball back to her forehand and she blows it. ALL the players from the 70s and 80s have said it's easier to adapt to the changing technology of today than the other way around. We're never going to see eye to eye- so- BYE.
@@aagold76 ? I agreed with you. Was that comment directed to me?
I even gave you a like on your first comment 😁. Have a nice and healthy Life.
@@aagold76 I agree...it's bad logic to say today's tennis players would still be champions if they had played back in the Evert-Navratilova era...it took a different kind of skill.
this is so boring, all of the action is from the US Open, which is not thought of as the greatest Tournament, how many times can you watch MN rushing the net waiting for Evert to attempt another passing shot before it becomes tiresome.....WImbledon is far superior, show all their matches from there please?
This is the USTA channel, and they say up front this is from their US Open matches. There's plenty of Wimbledon elsewhere on UA-cam for snobs.
À
Was Martina using 'roids?
First, a disclaimer: I LOVE Martina Navratilova. Always have. I started watching tennis as a child in the late ‘70s as she was taking the torch from Chris. And I marveled at how dominant she was. I was also fond of her showing her emotions on court unlike most of her female contemporaries.
However, to answer your question, for a long time now, I believe Martina represents the change in Women’s Tennis to the PED (performance Enhancing Drugs) era. She came from an Soviet Block country which was known for State sponsored PEDs. She also had several tell tale physical characteristics of synthetic testosterone use (as did Steffi). And I feel that tennis (and pretty much every other professional sport!) has been rife with the stuff since then.
While not impossible, it is extremely difficult/very unlikely for a “clean” athlete to defeat defeat an opponent that’s using PEDs.
Martina was so hated by the sport for many reasons but mostly for being such a crybaby and a cheater.
Really?
This was the greatest rivalry in sport!!!. The greatest serve and volleyer against the greatest base liner!!!. They brought women's tennis 🎾 to the world and had the greatest matches!!!. Wonder how many Grand Slam singles titles Graf or Williams would have won playing with wooden racquets!!!. When you take EVERYTHING into consideration it's quite clear that Martina is the greatest female tennis player of all time and one of the greatest ever!!!.