Unmatched on clay.

Agreed, but I've never seen Martina so passive. She was just pushing her shots giving Evert easy passing opportunities.

All days she is the best...

Absolutely Chrissie.. Margaret Court next.

This match might be the best I've ever seen Chris Evert play. And you're right- The wooden rackets of the 70's and early 80's are practically make it a different game with a completely different strategy.

Don’t forget Suzanne Lenglen - wasn’t she unbeatable?

They were not small. They were what they were, normal

My brother and I grew up with wood and the last ten years we went back to them here and there. Because of the 68 sq in head and tight pattern there is so much control. Combining modern technique is fun too - for example, an air forehand, the flex of the racquet will allow it to almost hinge back and then when it snaps back, look out! Pretty good power and so flat, it's hard to track down on faster hard courts. I have a couple of Chris E signature Wilson racquets but prefer the stiffer Jack Kramer Pro Staffs. The most important thing is to find a straight frame and don't store them in a moist garage or basement. Also, don't put them in those wood press frames; it's easy to torque unevenly and warp the frame.

Everything changed when Martina suddenly turned into a vein bulging muscle freak. Wonder how that happened

@@oiooi6460 Martina ALWAYS had big veins .... if you google her photos from 1975 or 1977, she clearly has big veins in her arms and legs ... its nature, some women and men just have bigger vein compared to others. She started serious weight training during the 80s. Plenty of people are muscular without needing steroids and protein shakes. Go to rural China or any other countries, farmers, hard labourers etc can look really buff and veiny without taking steroids or protein shakes ....the accusations are ridiculous, muscle men and women existed in the old days too before steroids became a thing ....

Thanks but I will pass on the wood racquets

Martina was drunk or on drugs

@MUFC Over 240 countries? There are 195 countries in the world, genius.

Champion mentality!

You forgot roids

@MUFC I fell asleep watching a soccer game on TV when I was a kid. When I woke up the final score was 1 - 0. So I guess I didn't miss much. Haven't watched another soccer game in the 40+ years since then. And I probably didn't miss much either during those 40+ years.

@@rsone6945 Bayern Munich beat Barcelona 8-2 a few days back, but as they've taken the knee to a marxist ideology I'm quiting after supporting for 40 years. So we have taken diffent roads and ended up here 40 years later.

@MUFC is it really necessary to rave on about football in the comments section of a video with two Tennis greats? Football players are dumb as fuck and don't know what to do with their lives after their careers. And the fans are stupidly loyal to local clubs owned by Russian oligarchs. Ridiculous.

@MUFC How does this comment connect with mine?

@@ericbarry570 I totally agree.

True, but Martina grew up on clay too except that it was the red type of clay you see at Roland Garros. The clay in the US has always been very different. You don't really slide at much on it.

On clay Martina wasn't even close as good as Chris... By far. Chris was better.

Me also.

Me too I believe Martina cheated

It was thought that Martina was taking steroids. It was when they'd started testing player's, she retired from tennis.

@@garypatterson2055 That's simply not true. Nav was 37+ when she retired. You Evertards can never come to terms with the fact that she eclipsed your heroine.

Martina said some years later, perhaps with too much information, later that her "relationship with Nancy Lieberman had started the night before" so she was somewhat distracted for this match.

@@th8257 She frequently came up with interesting excuses. There was the infamous 1982 US Open “cat litter sickness” explanation and this “munch-munch” explanation long after-the-fact. To her credit, in later years, Navratilova matured notable and gave credit where it was due more often than not. But she did come up with some whoppers over the decades.

Martina also had a physical advantage, you have to admit. Those muscular arms and legs. Evert was way overpowered, in fact, so was everybody else.

@@shihlin1 They were overpowered because Martina was obsessed with exercise and nutrition. In actuality, she and Chrissie were relatively the same height and actually wore the same dress size.

@@TheVerbalVolley Very true. Martina was nowhere as big as Pam Shriver or Betty Stove, and indeed, a number of lower ranked players. She would be almost dwarfed by the standards of today.

And lots of variety. If you approached the net against her, you didn't know if she was going cross court, down the line, right at you, or a lob. And she hit them all so well, and so consistently!

She also beat her 6-1,6-0 at Rome,1975

Best ever on clay. I believe at her best she was better than Martina. Esp on clay. Only steffi was better. By a little. I don't count the Williams chemistry players

I DON'T think that Evert ever Double Bagled Graf even when she was 15 and hadn't yet achieved her Championship Form!

@@arthurgearheard4701 if they were playing with wooden rackets she would have! lol!

Chris beat drugged Martina on clay in 85 and 86. Martina was the first cheater. At there best without cheating chris was way better. What are you a dope. Who in there right mind could prefer marcheata

@@63002 Cool story brah

I'm not a fan of Serena Williams because all her previous coaches said she's a total bitch. I've heard that also by player's.

Well, Martina had a h2h lead on Chris 1979-81, both playing with wood, and a 12-7 h2h lead both playing with graphite.

Never Nadal...

It was certainly the WORST of Navratilova's career!

Me also with 19 years !

Dave Wiseman exactly. People that incessantly try to compare eras of players....don’t really understand the vast differences in equipment and style of play. The wood rockets forced players to be far more accurate and have far more variety to their shotmaking than players of today

The big difference is that Serena wouldn't have won nearly as many matches having to play with a wood racquet with a small head. The tennis technology today has become a technical crutch that has resulted in tennis becoming a power game instead of the original game that was much more about technique, variety of shot finesse, and strategy. You give Serena a wood racquet and she wouldn't last an hour on court because it requires much more effort to swing a heavy wood racquet, and she'd frame half of the balls.

Well, thank you for that insightful analysis Dr. Rackey McRackster.

By 1979, almost everyone was using graphite racquets, Pam Shriver used it first to make US Open final in 78

@@iwantafennec9577 I wrote that 11 years ago- before Johnette Howard's book came out, so yes- it goes into how the relationship began the night before the match and how that- the loss to Chris then to Hanika at the French and Hana at Wimbledon set up the perfect storm that led Martina- along with hiring Renee Richards, led Martina to legendary status.

Not easy to do as Evert’s serve was flat and kept low and accurate. Evert was already calculating her return and next shot.

@@yussepig6629 It's not flat and low, but even if it was, It would still be easier to attack by moving in and blocking it into one of the corners.

And 🔥 AF and not a roid cheater

I gotta check out that match, thanks.

After this came the roids

Martina missed 11 Australians (when it was on grass) -and about 9 French Opens in her career. She could've most certainly ended up with 25-30 grand slam singles. What ifs right. She was the far superior player at her peak compared to anyone else's peak (male or female) in the Open Era

Through 1978 it was 23-6 in Chris's favor. In either case, I love them both because they were each very unique and made each other better. Without one or the other, neither would have become the player they were. But what I like best is this - they were friends. Martina always appreciated that Chris never fell for the media's attempt to get her to say something negative about Martina being gay. Chris was loyal to Martina and vice versa. Yes, there was a period of time their friendship became rocky through the influence of Nancy Lieberman. However, that didn't last. Friendship won in the end. I would love to have had them both as friends. They both have such awesome personalities!

7 season for Chris you forget 1980.

***** I always thought it was 2-1, learn something new, everyday... I just look at the rivalry stats ...don't think I recall the Lions Cup....thought Brighton was the last match of 80.

1985 was the year. Chris held the #1 for about 9 months, co seed # 1 French and wimbeldon and Chris was #1 seed U . S. Open and Australian.

@is everybody in * lol

A little dope

Bc she was scared of Chris. Deathly afraid of Chris on clay

Martina was a cheat imo. No class. At there best chris was better. Chris in a way shorter career had the same grand slams 18. Dope

If you just look at their records, and try to be objective, it's Margaret, Martina, Chris, Steffi, and Serena in that order. Based on winning percentage, slams wins, slam finals, slam semifinals, total matches won, and total tournaments won. Chris won 90% of her matches over career! That's amazing. Margaret won MORE than 91%! Martina ad Steffi are at 88%, and Serena at 86%. (The top two male players, Rafa and Novak, are just over 83%). There is an argument for any of them as the top player, but think about this...Martina and Chris won almost twice as many matches as Serena....and almost twice as many tournaments.

Number 1 Graf 2 hinges 3

Wrong dope. The request are hi tech. If they had them they'd still beat anybody today. Too snart

Yes but Chris beat her in 85 and 86 dope

Yes Chrissie was

+shihlin1 This was early 1981, right before Martina lost a heartbreaking final to Tracy Austin at the US Open following what was (by her standard) an abysmal year. But that final marked the turning point toward what became a long run that placed Martina permanently in the ranks of among the best players ever. At this point in 1981, however, Martina was clearly going through a terrible funk.

In a biography they talk about how Nancy had to convince Martina not to be nice. To hate Chris. It obviously took a little while for Martina to figure that out.

Scott Allennim Wow, but would "hate" not be a strong word? Chris did not "hate" any of her opponents, she merely had a way of separating personal feelings from on court competition. Martina did eventually learn this. I do know that there were stark differences between Nancy Lieberman and Renee Richards as to the approach that Martina needed to take. Renee advocated the more "Chris type" approach, and in the end, that served Martina much better. Martina definitely owed much more of her success to Renee than to Nancy. I will never forget that 1983 fourth round French Open match that Martina lost to Kathy Horvath. She kept looking up in the stands, and noticed how Nancy and Renee were arguing with each other about which strategy to implement in that match. Martina became all flustered, and lost the match to Kathy, the ONLY match she lost in all of 1983. Not even Steffi or Serena could ever say that they came that close to a perfect year long season.

It was more than Nancy convincing Martini to stop her friendship with Chris. She had her work out more and this is just an opinion, but Martina was the first major female star known for her muscles. A big thing for girls.

Scott Allennim True. I think it was the late Bud Collins who once referred to Martina as "The Great Wide Hope". Martina herself admitted that she used to be on a "see food" diet, that is, everything she saw, she ate. Nancy also put together her diet regimen. She was clearly a better fitness expert, but Renee, as a former tennis player herself, was the better on court tactician.

No 1 a so called 👑

@@63002 👋 felicia

She won Wimbledon without dropping a set - and trounced Hana in the final. After, She lead the US to the Wightman Cup and Fed Cup titles. Played a distracted final in the Toronto, while under a death threat - and lost to Austin. She finished the year with 2 semi-finals a final and Wimbledon titles in the grand slams. Austin had 2 quarter-finals and the US open title. Martina had quarter, a semi, a final and the Australian Open. Chris won an 11 - 2 decision over Austin for the years # 1 ranking. You could say 10 - 1 as JB voted for both. But Chris won the WTA Player and the ITF champion awards which is what decides the top player now. She didn't eek out the ranking at all.

Yes, but you may wanna check out the brilliant Sports Illustrated issue from Dec.1981 (can be googled) detailing the year-end Toyota Championships. Forgot who the writer was, Curry Kirkpatrick maybe? He claims Evert grabbed the year-end #1 ranking barely by the skin of her teeth and makes a case for Austin as a solid contender for #1. Austin-Evert played the match of their lives during the early round Robin format which Evert won in a nail-biting 3rd set tiebreaker only to run into Austin again in the Semis and was thoroughly trounced. I'm no Austin fan, but Chris should count her lucky stars sports writers gave her the benefit of the doubt in a very contentious year for no. 1 in 1981. End of 1981 would be the start of Austin's decline and the rapid rise of Navratilova.

Your a dope.

yescanto let's NOT forget the importance later on of MIKE ESTEP!

Both 😝