‘Others Lose Confidence’ – Chris Evert Once Narrated How the Brute Force of Martina Navratilova Intimated Opponents Including Herself

Former American tennis stars Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova had a rivalry that will be remembered for ages. The two not only were brilliant performers, but the way they competed against each other helped the popularity of women’s tennis. Even though the two faced each other in 80 matches, the two had different eras of domination.

While Evert ruled the 70s, Navratilova was an unbeatable force in the 80s. To know more about their rivalry back in the 80s, we look back at an interview of Chris Evert from 1984.

Chris Evert on the mental aspect behind the domination of one player

Back in 1984, Martina Navratilova was unstoppable. The American was riding high on success and was on an eight-match winning streak against Chris Evert. Evert herself had been brilliant in the decade of the 70s and understood its psychological aspect.

”A lot of the players, maybe 98 percent, go out there just wanting to get two or three games. When one player dominates, the others lose confidence. They lose before they walk on the court and they stop working as hard,” she said.

However, the legend still had the belief that she could Navratilova. “I’m not at that point. I still feel I can give her a good match and beat her. But there’s only so many times you can get drummed by a person before they get the psychological edge.”

Read more: ‘Problems Just Don’t Seem That Big’ – Martina Navratilova Had Her Own Way to Keep Her Mind and Body in Shape

After a decades-long rivalry, the two finished with 80 matches head to head. While Evert won 37 of those, Navratilova ended with a lead and has 43 victories.

Early challenges for Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova was born and brought up in the Czech Republic. The legendary tennis player had to face many problems in her early tennis playing days.

Since her country was going through political turmoil, she always had to face travel restrictions for her tennis tours. Fed up with this, she decided to take refuge in the United States of America.

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At a very young age, she was all alone in a foreign country. The 18-time Grand Slam champion still faced all the challenges bravely and ended up as one of the most remarkable tennis players of all time.