In Chris & Martina: The Final Set, a documentary directed by Rebecca Gitlitz, the decades-long rivalry and friendship between tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navaratilova is examined. The documentary goes back to their early days on the women’s pro tour, but also shows how much closer they’ve gotten in recent years, as both women battle cancer.
The Gist: The film starts out with both Evert and Navratilova in 2023. Interspersed between scenes of both Evert, getting treatments for a second occurrence of ovarian cancer (which recently returned for a third time) and Navratilova, getting treatments for breast and throat cancer, we see the history of their on-court rivalry.
While the two are almost like sisters now, at the height of their rivalry in the 1980s, especially as Navratilova started dominating women’s tennis, led to years of chilly relations between Evert and Navratilova. That started right around the time Navratilova started dating basketball legend Nancy Lieberman (though neither was publicly out) and Lieberman trained her to have the killer instinct she lacked when she was coming up in the 1970s.
But Evert and Navratilova were actually close during their younger days, when Evert was the hottest ticket on the tour, making her initial splash at 16 in 1971. Evert was the All-American girl next door, but her determination led to her being dubbed an “ice queen,” a nickname she accepts all these years later. Navratilova, who came from communist Czechoslovakia and defected to the U.S. in 1975, found it tougher to keep her emotions in check, and she wasn’t in as good shape as Evert. The pair even played doubles together in tournaments. Navratilova won her first Grand Slam final against Evert at Wimbledon in 1978, around the time Evert started distancing herself from her friend because of her competitive nature.
Along with interviews with Navratilova and Evert — as well as Evert’s second husband, Andy Mill, who is with her during her treatments, and Navratilova’s younger sister Jana — Gitlitz also talks to other tennis legends, like John McEnroe, Pam Shriver and Zina Garrison, along with journalists Sally Jenkins and Mary Carillo.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of? Chris & Martina: The Final Set has the same feeling as sports-oriented docuseries like Untold or 30 For 30.
Performance Worth Watching: Watching Naratilova and Evert supporting each other so warmly as they both go through their individual cancer battles is the best part of the movie, and something we couldn’t get enough of.
Sex And Skin: None.
Our Take: Chris & Martina: The Final Set does a pretty thorough job going through Evert and Navratilova’s history, especially given how connected the two of them were throughout their careers, and putting it in the context of the current state of their freindship.
The documentary really leans into how both legends were solitary presences in search of some sort of support, but for very different reasons. Evert just didn’t make close friendships, especially with players who were above her in the rankings. Navratilova, on the other hand, left her family behind in Czechoslovakia after she defected, not knowing if she’d ever see them again. It’s not a surprise, then, to find out they connected early on. The examination of their early friendship gives insight into how they grew close again in the latter part of their careers and have just gotten closer since they both retired three-plus decades ago.
We appreciated that both women gave Gitlitz access to their doctors visits, and some of the more vulnerable moments they both had during their cancer journeys in 2023-24. Evert getting her head shaved by her son, then taking off a ponytail-festooned cap before an MRI, and Navratiolva admitting that there are moments she’d rather face alone than with her wife were particularly piognant.
Are a few things glossed over? Sure, that’s inevitable in a 97-minute film. There could have been more examination of how Navratilova found it impossible to be publicly out in the 1980s, despite being out to friends, family, and fellow pros on the tour. We wanted to find out a bit more about how their friendship developed after they both retired. But there definitely seemed to be a good balance between the past and the present, especially when we watch the two of them watching their old matches and being as competitive as they were back then.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Chris & Matrina: The Final Set is a good overview of Chris Evert and Martina Navratiolva’s 50-year frienship, which has gotten closer as both of them supported each other through serious health challenges over the past few years.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.