‘Telling Albert Einstein He Needed to Be Smarter’ – Martina Navratilova Once Slammed a Fan for Criticizing Chris Evert’s Tennis Prowess

The rivalry between Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert was legendary. Many argue that it was the best tennis rivalry in the history of the sport. Aside from being great rivals, they were also best friends off the court. 

Over the years, both Navratilova and Evert stood up for each other pretty much in every situation. Back in 2021, the former Czech-American player slammed a fan on social media for questioning Evert’s tennis prowess.

Martina Navratilova stood up for Chris Evert

Last year, Evert posted a tweet thanking the American sports commentator, Mary Carillo, and journalist, Steve Flink, for talking about her famed rivalry with Navratilova. According to them, that was the best tennis rivalry in history. However, a fan took a dig at Evert, questioning her footwork. The Twitter user said, “I wish you possessed better footwork back in the day, you would have won that rivalry.”

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Then, Navratilova did not waste any time commenting on that tweet, as she wrote, “This is a joke, right? Chris had great footwork, not sure who you are talking about… but it’s not Chris.”

Later, she joked, “Telling Chris Evert she needed better footwork is like telling Albert Einstein he needed to be smarter #betterbethoughtafool etc would apply here.“

However, the Twitter user changed his mind and praised both Navratilova and Evert for being great ambassadors of the sport. In the end, Navratilova also made peace with the fan, as she tweeted, “Ok, footwork and athleticism are two quite different things. And Chris is an excellent athlete as well:), but ok, peace out:).”

The famous rivalry between Navratilova and Evert

Throughout their time on the circuit, Navratilova and Evert showed their tremendous tennis prowess as they battled for 15 years on the tennis court. During those years, they played an incredible 80 matches against each other.

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In the beginning, Evert dominated the Czech-American player, as she won most of the matches. However, Navratilova, in the late 70s, started to dominate Evert, particularly after their 20th meeting.

In the end, Navratilova had a better head-to-head record (43-37) against her great rival and friend, Evert. However, both of them ended up winning the same number of singles Grand Slam titles, i.e. 18.

Is the Navratilova-Evert rivalry the best in tennis? Let us know in the comments.