Chapter 3: Fellow Hall of Famers Tracy Austin and Pam Shriver reflect on their rivalries with Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova
All told, the two played one another 80 times. Navratilova won 43, Evert 37. A staggering 60 of those matches came in finals.
Tennis Channel's year-long celebration of the WTA Tour's 50th anniversary, brought to you by Intuit Quickbooks, continues with Chapter 3: Chrissie & Martina. (Watch our feature video above.)
- For Chapter 1, Thank You, Gladys, CLICK HERE
- For Chapter 2, Red Hot Women's Tennis, CLICK HERE
Nothing in sports engages fans more than rivalries.
The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Ohio State and the University of Michigan. The Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers.
“Sports are a lot more fun when you’re choosing sides,” says Jackie MacMullan, who collaborated with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson to write the book, When the Game Was Ours.
Things spice up even more when the rivalry is personalized.
“Larry would pick up the morning paper to see what Magic had done the night before,” says MacMullan. “And Magic would see what Larry had done. They were literally measuring themselves by the other guy’s box score.”
Tennis’ supreme rivalry began in February 1973, when Chrissie Evert beat Martina Navratilova at a tournament in Akron, Ohio. Though it ended less than 400 miles west of Akron—in Chicago, in November 1988—this tennis pairing circled the globe again and again over the course of those 15 years. All told, the two played one another 80 times. Navratilova won 43, Evert 37. A staggering 60 of those matches came in finals.
“It’s hard for some players to have that long of a career, let alone to be at their peak for so many years out of their careers,” says Tennis Channel analyst Chanda Rubin.
“The common thread of these great rivalries is that both of the competitors are maniacal in the way they go about their craft,” says MacMullan. “They can only accept the best.”
Of all the players Evert and Navratilova competed against, none knew these two titans better than a pair of Tennis Channel analysts and Hall of Famers, Tracy Austin and Pam Shriver.
Austin’s first of two US Open singles titles came in 1979, when, at the age of 16, she beat Navratilova in the semis and Evert in the finals. Two years later, Austin defeated Navratilova in the finals by the unusual score of 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1). By the end of her career, Austin had played 34 matches versus Navratilova 34 (13-21) and 17 against Evert (9-8).
Shriver also made a major statement when she was 16. In 1978, playing the US Open for the first time, Shriver upset Navratilova in the semis and strongly tested Evert in the final, losing by the tight score of 7-5, 6-4. Four years later, she’d again beat Navratilova at the US Open, on that occasion in the quarterfinals. Shriver was also Navratilova’s doubles partner for the bulk of the 1980s, the two pairing up to win 20 Grand Slam titles. Though Evert won the vast majority of times she and Shriver played, Shriver did earn three victories.
Much like Evert, Austin won her matches primarily from the baseline, a relentless application of groundstroke-fueled pressure. Shriver’s great serve and crisp volleys made her a relentless net-rusher, more akin to Navratilova. The contrast in their respective styles meant that these two Hall of Famers prepared to play Navratilova and Evert in very different ways.
Says Austin, “Whichever match I led up to play Martina, the best preparation for me was to spend an extra half-hour after the match to get a coach or hitting partner and work on passing shots, lobs, and return of serve. It was going to be important to be grooved on those three parts of my game.”
Given the way Navratilova’s serve paved the way for her volleys, return of serve was particularly important.
“If I could, I’d get a lefty to hit serves to me for ten minutes,” says Austin. “You want that exact spin.”
“With Martina and me, it was a race to the net, so I’d try to get there before she did,” says Shriver. “And I’d hope I had a great day with my serve and my volleys. So I’d practice some quick volleys. I’d also practice more serves down the T in the ad court, since that was to Martina’s backhand.”
While competing against a net-rusher like Navratilova demanded the need to counter a quick strike, Evert was a master of attrition.
“Bring your lunch,” says Austin. “It’s going to be back and forth, left and right. Chrissie’s physical element is that you know it’s going to be a long point every time.”
A quintessential example of the labor-intensity surrounding the Austin-Evert rivalry came in the semifinals of the 1979 Italian Open. In a match lasting nearly three hours, the two made barely an unforced error, Austin in the end winning 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (4).
That defeat snapped Evert’s amazing record of 125 straight match wins on clay.
Versus Chrissie you have to find that extra drive and willpower. Your feet are tired or blistered. You have to force yourself to love the commitment. Tracy Austin
While Austin and Evert mirrored one another, Shriver knew she’d need to have her attacking game in high gear.
“My shots had to be that much better deeper, and that much harder,” says Shriver. “I always knew I needed to serve well, so I would get a volley that wasn’t uncomfortable.”
Naturally, the way matches played out versus each was very different.
“With Chrissie, it was more like a slow death,” says Shriver. “She just wouldn’t make a mistake. Her lobs were very tough for me.
She had that perfect lob, just the right arc, part defense, part offense. Pam Shriver
“And I was always more comfortable attacking the backhand, which I shouldn’t have done so much versus her. Both sides were great, but the forehand wasn’t quite as good as the backhand.”
“You can’t have a lapse against either of them,” says Austin. “The Martina physical element is about strength. You’ve got to combat her power. You’ve got to confront her serve and dealing with her trying to smother you. And you better get in a lot of first serves, because if you don’t, she’ll chip and charge off that backhand wing.”
As the Evert-Navratilova rivalry continued, the sheer process of competition compelled each to improve. Evert, the better player in those early years, was the primary catalyst for Navratilova significantly upgrading her fitness, backhand and already superb volleys. Navratilova in turn inspired Evert to spend more time in the gym and add strength to her game. On and on it went.
“It was so important for tennis,” says MacMullan. “I always laugh when people think women don’t sweat or want to win. There was this juxtaposition of these two. They both helped to dispel a lot of myths about female athletes and the competitiveness of female athletes.”