Chris and Martina: The Ultimate Group Review – The tennis giants discuss their deep bond and intense rivalry | film

HHere’s a Netflix documentary that tells a true story: the titanic friendship and feud (or frivolity) between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, the two giants who throughout the late 1970s and 1980s dominated international women’s tennis and did so much to promote a sport whose very existence, incidentally, helped silence some sexist reactionaries who questioned the viability of women’s football. The film shows us their strong relationship now, as they support each other as they go through the challenge of cancer.

It’s very much a movie worth watching, and it makes a strong and valid point that even in the cutthroat world of professional sports, there is actually room for true friendship and “sportsmanship.” But this leaves open the suspicion that the friendship between Evert and Navratilova, while entirely real, might be a little more complicated than it appears here. The double story tilts the balance slightly, away from the side of the story that is more compelling to me: the extraordinary drama of Navratilova’s courageous defection in 1975, when she was 18, from communist Czechoslovakia to the United States. She knew she might never see her mother or sister again, and for a while she faced a real threat of kidnapping by Soviet or Czech security forces. (Nureyev was 23 when he defected, and chess star Viktor Korchnoi was 45.)

So what does an 18-year-old do, without family, in a strange land? The answer seems to be: finding an alternative, supportive sisterly family in the world of women’s tennis, a world that Evert and Navratilova may have experienced differently, being straight and gay, respectively.

The film takes us through the highs and lows of Chris and Martina’s relationship: the early, uncomplicated friendship and marital partnership, the rocky break when Chris focused more on her career, a period of icy estrangement, and then their growing reconciliation as they embraced their shared international treasure status. We hear from other stars, including Pam Shriver and Zena Garrison who were eliminated by the Evert/Navratilova duopoly – and of course from John McEnroe.

As always with American tennis documentaries, I smile at the legends of British pop culture who make an appearance, perhaps without American viewers noticing; We hear the voice of BBC commentator Dan Maskell describing Navratilova as “the best player we have ever seen” and we continue to see the dazzling and enigmatic Duchess of Kent being handed the Wimbledon trophy.