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So it has come down to the business end of the French Open. A match which will feature two veterans facing off each other. A match which will see the defending champion taking on a tennis player who hails from a country which is not famous for producing tennis champs. A match that is expected to showcase fitness, stamina, test of nerves and mental toughness.
Women’s tennis is not far off from men’s tennis when it comes to tennis rivalries. Both put on great performances, and this is what draws people to watch the players in action. Women’s tennis has been a witness to some great rivalries over the years. And these are the rivalries which bring about some of the most memorable showdowns at the biggest of all stages. So on the eve of the French Open finals, we will take a look at some of the most famous tennis rivalries, beginning with the women and following up with the men’s tennis.
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1. MARTINA NAVRATILOVA & CHRIS EVERT
- The Evert Navratilova rivalry is considered to the best in tennis
Chris Evert played her first professional tournament at the tender age of 15 years and went on to win the title. She is considered to be one of the best American tennis players ever to have played the game. The blonde haired Evert played in 34 Grand Slam singles finals and won 18. To her credit, she won all the four slams and had career record of 1309 wins. Her rival, Martina Navratilova, a Czechoslovak born naturalised American, also won 18 Grand Slam singles title. And like her arch rival, she won all the four slams at some point in time. However, whenever it came to the two facing off each other in a match, it proved to be a high voltage affair. Evert and Navratilova played each other in 80 matches with the latter winning 43 of them. And in the 61 finals that they contested, Navratilova won 36. Talking about Grand Slam, Navratilova yet again zoomed ahead with 14 wins in their 22 outings together. What brought the crowd to their feet, were the epic encounters between the two in Grand Slam finals. Navratilova again proved that she was superior to Evert going on to win 10 out of the 14 matches that they played against each other. Interestingly, the two played six consecutive Grand Slam finals in 1984 and 1985. However, it was the grass court where Navratilova dictated terms and won almost anything. On the flip side, if it was the grass court for Navratilova, then clay and hard courts were Chris’ fortes. Some of the most memorable matches that the two played in the grand slams were the French Open finals in 1975, which Evert won 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. It was a remarkable victory in which Navratilova had no answers for the typical baseline play which Evert had displayed. The two again met in the Wimbledon semi final of 1976, and this time it was Evert who played a magnificent match to win 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. One of the most hard fought matches was 1981 the Australian Open final, which Navratliova won 6-7, 6-4, 7-5. The last meeting between the two was in 1988, bringing an end to the rivalry that had kept all tennis lovers on tenterhooks.
2. MARTINA NAVRATILOVA & STEFFI GRAF
- After Evert retired, Graf emerged as Martina’s new rival
As the Navratilova – Evert rivalry passed into the twilight years, a teenager from Germany was beginning to rise through the ranks. Stefanie Graf, had been a tennis prodigy who had been making statements with her game since she was only 16. Graf ran into Navratilova 18 times in her career and won 9 of them. Graf won her first Grand Slam at the French Open, defeating her new found rival Navratilova in the final. And what a win it was! While the first two sets were shared by the two at 6-4, the final set proved to be a mouth watering clash with Graf sneaking a hard fought 8-6. Navratilova, avenged her French Open loss by defeating Graf in the Wimbledon a month later and yet again at the Flushing Meadows two months later. The year 1988 saw Steffi unbeatable in all the four Grand Slams, thus winning the most coveted calendar year Grand Slam. The icing on the cake turned out to be the then 19 year old’s gold medal triumph at the Seoul Olympics in the same year. Steffi finished with a career grand slam of 22 triumphs prompting the legendary Billie Jean King to call her the greatest women’s tennis player of all time. While Graf continued to blossom in the years to come, Navratilova started to play the doubles tournaments more after being on the other side of her tennis years.
3. STEFFI GRAF & MONICA SELES
- Seles and Graf at the 1996 US Open Final
They say “If a champion fades into the echelons of retirement, other champions are born to replace them”. This is exactly what happened in the world of tennis. After Navratilova, Monica Seles emerged the new arch rival for Steffi Graf. Graf, by then had won 7 Grand Slam titles, and was unstoppable on any surface. The French Open final in 1990 had the 16 year old Seles taking on the crowd favourite Graf. Seles romped home to a comfortable 7-6, 6-4 win, much to Graf and her million tennis fans’ shock. Seles was the youngest to win the French Open. Seles started to dominate the women’s tennis thereafter and won three of the four Grand Slams in 1991. Seles repeated the feat in 1992 winning the French Open beating Graf in what is considered as one of the best matches by either player. Seles won the final set 10-8 to lift her third consecutive title, a feat only matched by the Belgian Justine Henin. The grass court at Wimbledon kept Seles from a tournament win, losing the only final she played in to Graf in 1992. The Graf – Seles rivalry came to an abrupt end when Seles was stabbed in the back by a self confessed Graf fan named Günter Parche during a break between the games. The stabbing incident kept Seles away from tennis for more than two years before Seles staged a comeback in 1995. And the first Grand Slam final that she played after her comeback, she faced her old foe Steffi Graf. Graf struggled but managed to carve out a win. Even though Seles won the 1996 Australian Open title, she was far from her best tennis years. US Open later that year again saw Graf beating Seles, this time in straight sets. Seles continued to participate in Grand Slam events despite losing her touch and charisma, in an era which saw Graf continue to dominate. The two met in 15 matches and Graf had the upper hand in 10 of them.
Through the 1990s Graf continued to dominate and retired from the game whilst being ranked 3rd. The decade also saw the emergence of a few other players like Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, Jana Navotna and Martina Hingis. But none could manage to match the intensity of tennis that Graf and Seles produced.
4. The Williams Sisters
- The WILLIAMS sisters
Venus and Serena Williams, despite being siblings, produced one of the greatest rivalries in tennis. If it was the younger of the two sisters, Serena who won a Grand Slam earlier, then the older Venus too joined in the title race sooner than expected. The two were brought up together, went to tennis academy together and brought home Grand Slam titles together. The two of them together managed to bring home 20 Grand Slam titles. If Serena dominated in all the slams, it was Venus who brought home five Wimbledon titles. They played 23 matches against each other with Serena winning 13 of them. More importantly, they played in eight grand slam finals with Serena emerging victorious in six of them. This was next only to Chris Evert – Martina Navratilova’s record of fourteen Grand Slam finals. Their rivalry dates back to the 1998 Australian Open where the two faced off in a second round match. The clash was dismissed as a “subpar” contest, with Venus winning it comprehensively. The sisters played their first Grand Slam final in 2001 at the US Open, where both had been past winners. It was Venus again, who upstaged Serena to clinch the crown. The two continued to play through until 2010 before injury plagued the two sisters.
Even though the Williams sisters were a fierce force on the court, they remained the best of pals off the court. It is perhaps the main reason why the two played doubles together and clinched 19 titles including 12 Grand Slam doubles titles and a two Olympic Gold Medals.
So it is the emergence of fierce rivalries that has seen the game of tennis being taken to new heights. The rivalry between the players takes the game to unparalleled levels, with each player breathing down the other’s neck to tame the other. It is the showdown that wins the hearts of tennis fans, inspires budding tennis stars to work harder and remains a dream for the broadcast producers. The juggernaut continues to roll on as Rafael Nadal will take on Roger Federer, in yet another Grand Slam final on Sunday, not before Francesca Schiavone will look to defend her crown against a spirited Li Na.
