Thursday, May. 21, 2009

Evert/Navratilova — 1985

You'd struggle to find a more keenly contested rivalry in the history of women's tennis than that between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. By the time they met in the 1985 final, the head to head count was 33-31 in favor of Navratilova. They split the first two sets and the decider was almost impossible to call. But at 5-5, Evert was suddenly 0-40 down on her service, staring at defeat. Instead, she held serve and went on to break her great rival to take the title 7-5. Evert clearly had a liking for clay: she won at Roland Garros seven times and this victory gave her the World No. 1 ranking for the fifth and final time.

Read a TIME story on Chris Evert