"Just in time" - Martina Navratilova cheekily reacts to Chris Evert wishing her a belated happy birthday
On October 18, tennis legend Martina Navratilova celebrated her 66th birthday. While the 18-time Grand Slam champion received good wishes from all around the world, her former rival, fellow 18-time Grand Slam champion Chris Evert, apparently forgot to wish her on time.
Chris Evert later took to Twitter to wish Navratilova a belated happy birthday and confessed that she almost forgot to do so.
"Omg! I almost forgot your birthday, @Martina!!! I hope you had the best day, you deserve it my friend," Evert wrote.
Omg! I almost forgot your birthday, @Martina !!! I hope you had the best day, you deserve it my friend…❤️🙏👍👏🎂🎁🎈
Martina Navratilova took to Twitter to react to Evert's tweet. She gave a cheeky reply, saying:
"Just in time:)"
Just in time:), 😘😘😘 twitter.com/ChrissieEvert/…
The nine-time Wimbledon champion also took to Twitter to express gratitude for all the birthday wishes she received. She also encouraged everyone to cast a vote for the midterm elections in the US, regardless of where they reside or who they support.
"Thank you to all my tweeps here for your birthday wishes, very nice to hear from all of you- I will read them all:) Onwards and upwards!!!! And please VOTE wherever you live, whoever you vote for! VOTE!!! Because we are lucky to have that opportunity!!! Xoxoxo," Navratilova wrote.
Thank you to all my tweeps here for your birthday wishes, very nice to hear from all of you- I will read them all:)
Onwards and upwards!!!!
And please VOTE wherever you live, whoever you vote for! VOTE!!!
Because we are lucky to have that opportunity!!!
Xoxoxo!!!!
"Hate Chris, you'll play better" - Chris Evert once revealed how Martina Navratilova was able to overcome her losing record against her
Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert's rivalry is widely regarded as one of the best in tennis history. They faced each other a whopping 80 times, with Navratilova leading the head-to-head 43-37 and 36-24 in the finals. But in the early stages of their rivalry, the win-loss record was severely skewed in Evert's favor.
In a 1990 interview on Bob Costas' "Later" show, the two players discussed their rivalry. Evert disclosed that Navratilova's close friend and legendary American basketball player Nancy Liberman had advised the nine-time Wimbledon winner to "hate" Evert and have a "killer instinct."
"Nancy pretty much drummed it in her, 'Hate Chris, hate Chris, and you'll play better'," Evert said. "Unfortunately, it worked. It was bad for our relationship but she started to beat me once she got that killer instinct going."
The seven-time French Open champion added that, in the majority of their matches at the start of their rivalry, Martina Navratilova was always nice and extremely respectful. At that point Liberman intervened and advised Navratilova to alter her perspective on her opponent, which later proved to be highly effective for the Czech-born American.
"She (Lieberman) had this theory that Martina was losing to me because she was too nice to me and she liked me too much," Evert continued, adding, "She had this theory that you really have to dislike your opponent if you want to win. You have to get that killer instinct going. I can see what happened because Martina had no killer instinct a long time ago. She was just so happy to be in America from Czechoslovakia."