Navratilova Completes the Slam

Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert defined women's tennis through the late 1970s and 1980s, and did it as a contrast in styles: Navratilova's aggressive serve-and-volley game against Evert's precise, relentless baseline consistency. They played each other eighty times, one of the most extensive rivalries the sport has had.

By the 1984 French Open, Navratilova already held the reigning Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open titles from the preceding twelve months. Beating the defending champion Evert 6-3, 6-1 in the final added the French Open, which meant she held all four major singles titles simultaneously, the second woman in the Open Era to do it, after Margaret Court in 1970.

It was also the first time any player had held all four majors across three different court surfaces at once, grass, hard and clay, which says something about the range of a game built primarily for one of them. Their rivalry is still the benchmark anyone reaches for when sustained individual competition comes up in any sport.