Evert vs. Navratilova — 80 Matches, and a Friendship That Outlasted All of Them

Eighty matches. Sixty of them were finals. No rivalry in tennis — men's or women's — has produced anywhere near that ratio of meetings that actually decided a tournament.

Baseline against the net

Martina Navratilova played an aggressive serve-and-volley game, built for speed and forward pressure. Chris Evert built her game from the baseline, all precision and patience. It's a classic tennis contrast, and it showed clearly in the surface splits: Navratilova dominated on grass (10-5) and indoor courts (21-14), the faster surfaces that rewarded her attacking style. Evert held her own advantage on clay, leading 11-3, where patience mattered more than pace. Hard courts were dead even at 8-8. Across their careers, Navratilova finished ahead overall, 43-37, and 36-24 in their 60 finals meetings.

The final that's still remembered as the best of theirs

Their 1985 French Open final is widely considered the high point of the rivalry. Evert won it 6-3, 6-7(4-7), 7-5, reclaiming the world No. 1 ranking in the process. A year earlier, their 1984 US Open final had gone the other way — Navratilova recovering from a lost opening set to win the title.

Rivals, then genuinely close

What sets this rivalry apart from most isn't just the volume of matches — it's what came after. Evert and Navratilova didn't just retire into cordial distance. They built a real friendship, one that's been documented and referenced by both of them for decades since. Eighty matches against each other, and neither one walked away resenting the other for it.