"I don't feel that way unless you want to turn this into a boxing match" - When Martina Navratilova dismissed No. 1 ranking ahead of Chris Evert final
Martina Navratilova played down the importance of the World No. 1 ranking before a final between herself and Chris Evert.
Navratilova and Evert were the top two seeds at the 1982 Toyota Championships and both booked their respective spots in the final. While Navratilova beat Hana Mandlikova 7-6, 6-1 in her semifinals, Evert thrashed Tracy Austin 6-0, 6-0, thus handing the latter her career's very first double-bagel.
Speaking ahead of the final, Martina Navratilova said that while many thought that the No. 1 ranking was on the line, she did not think that way because, unlike boxing, things weren't down to one match.
"Plenty of people think the No. 1 ranking is at stake. I don't feel that way, unless you want to turn this into a boxing match. Boxing comes down to the one match, but here we've been going at it all year. If you just go on statistics, like you would in football and baseball or anything else, I have the edge," Navratilova said as quoted by the New York times.
In the final of the 1982 Toyota Championships, Evert won the first set 6-4 but Navratilova bounced back to register a 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory and clinch her 15th title of 1982. That season, she won the French Open and Wimbledon while Chris Evert triumphed at the Australian Open and US Open. She finished the 1982 season with nine singles titles.
Navratilova also won three Grand Slam doubles titles in 1982.
Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova were World No. 1 for a combined total of 592 weeks
Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova were both ranked World No. 1 and they had a combined 592 weeks at the top of the rankings.
Evert is the very first woman to be ranked No. 1 since the WTA rankings came out. Her first spell lasted 25 weeks. The American had nine spells as World No. 1, the longest of which lasted 113 weeks from May 10, 1976 to July 9, 1976.
Martina Navratilova spent a whopping 332 weeks as the World No. 1, having first attained the ranking in January 1978. Like Evert, the Czech-American also had nine spells as the World No. 1 and the longest of them was 156 weeks from June 14, 1982 to June 9, 1985.
Navratilova's tally of 332 weeks was a record for most weeks spent as World No. 1 before Steffi Graf overtook her.