Individual rivalries define sports. Larry Bird vs. Magic Johnson, Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning, and Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier are among the most iconic.
As great as those rivalries are, none match the one between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Their rivalry belongs in its own category because it evolved over 50 years of a complex relationship.
They are the subject of Netflix’s latest sports documentary, Chris & Martina: The Final Set. While Netflix’s sports documentaries are often a mixed bag, longtime tennis fans will be relieved to know that Chris & Martina offers a realistic look at friends who became rivals and then even closer friends.
The lone major criticism is that 93 minutes doesn’t seem long enough for two of the greatest tennis players of all time. It could easily have been 30 minutes longer. That’s how engaging the story of Evert vs. Navratilova is.
There is a price to be paid for greatness. Sometimes it costs you friendship. There can only be one No. 1 tennis player in the world, and both Evert and Navratilova wanted to be the best. They battled for supremacy in the 1970s and 1980s. They met as 15-year-olds from vastly different backgrounds, became friends, but competition turned them into rivals.
They faced each other 80 times on the court, with Navratilova holding a 43–37 edge, including 14 of the 22 Grand Slam matches. Both won 18 Grand Slam titles, tied for the fifth-most all time. The rivalry captivated America so much that it was spoofed on Saturday Night Live when Evert was a guest host, with Nora Dunn portraying Navratilova. The rivalry officially ended when Evert retired in 1989. Navratilova left the sport in 2006.
How Evert and Navratilova reconnected is one of the most humanizing stories in sports history. They are bound together not only by their shared backgrounds but also by their battles with cancer. Earlier this month, Evert announced that her ovarian cancer had returned for the third time. Navratilova has been diagnosed with breast cancer twice.
This documentary is extremely watchable because of how these Hall of Fame athletes present themselves. They don’t pull punches about tennis or cancer. For that, director Rebecca Gitlitz benefits from their honesty.
Tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, whose rivalry shaped women’s tennis, reunite in New York to mark the release of their Netflix documentary ‘Chris and Martina: The Final Set’ https://t.co/sBMlF7oUmG pic.twitter.com/PtYqTMw0XH
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 10, 2026
One reason they have bonded is that perhaps no one else in the world understands what they are going through as well as they do. The relationship they share now is intense and intimate, as they serve as each other’s support system and cheerleaders.
Chris & Martina is full of heartwarming scenes, including the moment when Navratilova describes herself and Evert as Siamese twins.
“There’s no competition of whose cancer was worse,” she said. “We’re in the same boat, and we’re both there for each other”
What also makes Chris & Martina worthwhile is that the documentary features the right journalists, who provide much-needed context and analysis. We hear from Sally Jenkins, who profiled the two for the Washington Post in 2023, and from NBC’s Mary Carillo, a former tennis player.
Jenkins has the documentary’s best quote.
“Christine and Martina’s friendship proves that sportsmanship is not some quaint fairy-tale idea,” she said. “It can really exist.”
About Michael Grant
Born in Jamaica. Grew up in New York City. Lives in Louisville, Ky. Sports writer. Not related to Ulysses S. Grant.