What They Had Was Essentially Unrivaled

What is the greatest individual rivalry in sports history?

Chamberlain versus Russell? Ali versus Frazier? Palmer versus Nicklaus? Connors versus McEnroe?

In her splendidly written new book, “The Rivals,” Johnette Howard builds a compelling case that the richest, most dramatic and most significant individual sports rivalry ever belonged to a couple of women named Chris and Martina.

Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova faced each other a record 80 times during a 16-year span from 1973 to 1988, an incredible 60 times in finals, 14 of them Grand Slam finals. Evert dominated the series in the 1970s, Navratilova took control in the 1980s, but after 80 head-to-head meetings, played on all sorts of surfaces, through on-court strategic changes and off-court personal trials, they finished almost dead even -- Navratilova coming out on top, 43 victories to 37.

Tennis, certainly, has never seen anything like it. For all the nostalgia devoted to Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe and the good old days on the men’s tour, Connors and McEnroe didn’t play half as often as Evert-Navratilova -- 33 times total, with McEnroe holding a 20-13 advantage.

McEnroe’s rivalry with Bjorn Borg has also attained legendary status, but the cold-numbers reality is this: They played only 14 times, each winning seven matches.

Howard, a sports columnist for Newsday, argues that Ali-Frazier is the only one-on-one rivalry that comes close to Evert-Navratilova, then quotes Navratilova musing, “But how many times did Ali and Frazier fight?” Navratilova knew the answer was three.

Evert and Navratilova overwhelmed their sport and overshadowed all other competitors for a decade and a half. They were the best female tennis players of their era and maybe all time; throw Steffi Graf into the mix and they are still certainly in the top three.

But more than the on-court results, an examination of the Evert-Navratilova rivalry reads like a short cultural history of the 1970s and 1980s.

As Howard writes, “Their lockstep career march ... played out against the backdrop of contentious change: the women’s movement; the gay rights movement; the 1989 fall of the iron curtain; and the fight for Title IX, the landmark 1972 federal law that led to the women’s sports boom in America and beyond.”

Evert and Navratilova played each other for the first time on March 22, 1973, a first-round match in Akron won by Evert in straight sets. The same year, Billie Jean King would defeat Bobby Riggs in their landmark “Battle of the Sexes” exhibition while founding the first women’s players union, the Women’s Tennis Assn.

In the book, King discussed the mood of the times, saying, “When tennis opened up, the boys didn’t want us around -- these were my best friends, by the way -- and that was crushing. I cannot tell you how crushing it was. Fred Stolle flat-out told me, ‘No one wants to watch you birds play. They’re not gonna pay to watch you birds play.’ ”

Evert and Navratilova helped change that mind-set with a rivalry that transcended the tennis court and the sports world. With their wildly contrasting playing styles, lifestyles and personalities, they brought casual fans and amateur pop-culture psychologists courtside.

Early on, Evert, with her blond good looks and prim and proper baseline game, came to represent America’s traditional view of how female athletes should look and act. Navratilova’s hard-charging, aggressive and muscular serve-and-volley game represented the avant-garde -- a glimpse into the future of women’s sports that many in the ‘70s and early ‘80s weren’t ready to handle.

Yet, as the book points out, those were too-easy stereotypes. In reality, Evert was as tough-minded a competitor as women’s sports have seen, her steely resolve often intimidating the fearsome-looking Navratilova, whose fragile, on-her-sleeve emotions and highly sensitive nature belied her image as unstoppable forehand-firing machine that terrorized the women’s tour.

Most remarkable about their story is how Evert and Navratilova sustained their friendship in the face of their high-stakes, high-intensity competition. Early in their careers, Evert and Navratilova were doubles partners, and the book recounts how Evert, trying to keep her high-strung friend relaxed during matches, would pull a joke book out of her racket bag and read to Navratilova during changeovers.

Evert eventually broke up the partnership because she feared Navratilova was becoming “too good,” sacrificing the doubles in order to preserve some sort of mystery when it came to the all-important singles. The friendship was put to its harshest test when Nancy Lieberman joined Navratilova’s entourage in the early ‘80s and put Navratilova on a win-at-all-costs program that carried a none-too-secret code name: “Kill Chris.”

Somehow, it survived. The book’s final chapter is devoted to “Second Acts,” focusing on Evert and Navratilova in 2004 -- Evert in her 15th year of retirement, enjoying life as the mother of three sons, with Navratilova continuing to grind out matches as a doubles specialist in her late 40s.

“God love her,” Evert says fondly of her longtime foil.

The book also tells of a dinner shared by the old rivals, “a handful of years ago,” with Evert ordering lamb and Navratilova launching into a lecture about the horrible treatment of baby sheep on the way to market.

Evert listened quietly, then finally responded. “Martina,” she said, “I am so sorry.”

Then, summoning the irascible spirit that fueled her end of the rivalry for so long, Evert turned back to the waiter and said, “Medium rare, please.”