The Final Set, an incredible doc about @ChrissieEvert and @Martina Navratilova drops on Netflix today. It’s about their friendship, rivalry and joint battle against cancer. It’s especially poignant knowing Chrissie’s latest news that her cancer has returned. I know she’ll get… pic.twitter.com/fAoDvelFJ0
— Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) June 26, 2026
From 1975 to 1987 one of them held the top spot in women’s tennis (all except for 23 weeks)
Both were 18-time Grand Slam tournament winners
Navratilova, born in communist Czechoslovakia who defected to the U.S, was always unfavorably compared to Evert, a Florida native who was called “All-American”
Evert was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021; Navratilova was diagnosed with throat and breast cancer in 2022
The new Netflix documentary tells the story of how Evert and Navratilova re-established their friendship and how they both faced cancer together
“I can’t get away from her,” Evert jokes. “We had a 15-year career, and then we got cancer at the same time. It really is freaky, but I always say: If I want someone to be in the trenches with me, it’s Martina because she has been so supportive and so understanding.”
Navratilova agrees: “We have such a level of trust that we know whatever we say to each other, it stays there. We give each other the best advice we know how to. And there is no ulterior motive, no playing games.”
Though they were both in remission from cancer for quite some time, Evert recently disclosed she’d been diagnosed with a recurrence of ovarian cancer. Evert had to miss the special screening held the day before Wimbledon officially started
Email written by Evert to Navratilova: “Go to Wimbledon for me, Martina. We have been together through our careers, through the documentary and through cancer”
