Chris Evert sends good friend Martina Navratilova "lots of love" after American icon beats cancer for 2nd time

Tennis legend Chris Evert recently expressed her joy at her good friend Martina Navratilova beating cancer for the second time.

Martina Navratilova previously underwent treatment for early-stage breast cancer in 2010 but discovered in December 2022 that she had stage 1 throat cancer and that her breast cancer had recurred as well.

However, just four months after being diagnosed with throat and breast cancer, the 18-time Grand Slam champion revealed that her disease was now in remission. Navratilova, 66, told Piers Morgan on Tuesday (March 21) that her doctors have been encouraged by her progress since beginning radiation and chemotherapy treatments.

Following this, Chris Evert took to Twitter to express her relief and send her love to the former World No. 1.

"Such relief! Well done, Martina, sending lots of (love)," Evert wrote.

Such relief! Well done, Martina, sending lots of ❤️ twitter.com/sallyjenkinswa…

"Hate her, you'll play better" - Chris Evert once revealed how Martina Navratilova was able to overcome her losing record against her

Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova pictured at a press conference.

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 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 Lieberman 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'. Unfortunately, it worked. It was bad for our relationship, but she started to beat me once she got that killer instinct going," Evert said.

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, Lieberman intervened and strongly 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 said.

"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," she added.