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Copyrights - © INA - Institut National de l'audiovisual
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Commentary Copyrights - © NBCUniversal Media, LLC a subsidiary of Comcast (US)
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Thank you for your gracious use of this classic match!
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PertSnergleman's Review:
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Someday, when Chris Evert Lloyd and Martina Navratilova stop playing tennis, people are going to look back on their classic rivalry and pick out the matches that were special.
Their 69th meeting, in the 1986 French Open final, earned a place on that special list. It may have been the loser, Navratilova, who best explained why.
"I played better today than I did last year here," Navratilova said after Evert's 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory. "If I had played this way last year, there's no doubt in my mind I would have won the match. I thought on a scale of 1 to 10 today, I was about an 8. But the last two sets, she was a 10."
By playing so superbly in the last two sets, Evert won a record seventh French Open, a record 18th Grand Slam title, a record 148th tournament and made it a record 13 straight calendar years with at least one title in tennis' Big Four events.
The crowd at Roland Garros Stadium was firmly behind Evert as she came back. Both women had to fight the conditions, a swirling wind and a cloudy day in which the sun was a constant tease, showing up for a few moments to bathe the stadium in light, then disappearing.
"I thought the last two sets the wind affected Martina more than it did me," Evert said. "She hits so much topspin and in wind like that it's hard. But we both had to make compromises in our games."
Navratilova may have compromised too much. Buoyed by Evert's troubles, she played a strong, confident first set, whipping through it in 30 minutes. Evert's prospects hardly seemed bright. It had been six years and 30 matches (Wimbledon 1980) since she had dropped a first set to Navratilova yet won.
There was no hug, like last year; no shriek of joy from Evert. They had played just under two hours instead of three. But as they walked to the victory stand, the warmth between them was still there.
When Evert paused a moment, not sure who should go up the steps first, Navratilova pushed her forward, guiding her, just as Evert had stopped Navratilova from leaving Centre Court at Wimbledon last year without the expected curtsy.
Still friends. Always rivals.