Apparently, there’s a World Cup on and, while I know from the RT postbag it’s not everyone’s favourite TV treat, even for us non-sporties, there’s one headline that transcends this impenetrable game: “Messi versus Ronaldo”. We’ve had 20 years of balletic goals and Ballons d’Or, now it’s the sixth World Cup outing for both and surely the last hurrah. The excitement of both fans and pundits at this prospect is more proof that, in sport as in life, you can’t beat a rivalry.
It was certainly a commentator’s dream to have a contest between two such equals and opposites: feminine Evert with her ruffle bloomers, facing an increasingly muscular Navratilova across the net. One a right-handed baseliner, impenetrable and stoic from sunny Florida, the other a left-handed attacker, volatile and emotional from communist Czechoslovakia.
This was the stuff of tennis TV heaven and, inevitably for two such longtime titans of a gladiatorial game, a lot of this material has been covered before. Even so, it’s revelatory to hear of the loneliness both suffered.
What gives their story an almighty update, as well as a prism through which to view their past, is their shared present-day predicament. In an irony not lost on either woman, 2023 saw them both diagnosed with cancer for the second time. As athletes, they presume to take the physical challenges in their stride. But cancer, particularly chemo, is the great leveller.
The pair curl up on a sofa to rewatch their previous Grand Slam encounters, joke about their former competitiveness – “I lost my hair,” “Me too, plus I’m nauseous” – and hold hands as they face uncertain futures. Evert’s ex-husband reflects: “They were battling a war forever on the tennis court, now they’re trying to save each other.”
Both shows are a reminder that, however easy they make it look on the court (or even on the football pitch), true champions’ biggest lessons can come long after the shadows have appeared on Centre Court.
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