Chris Evert compares Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner rivalry to one of her own
Tennis legend Chris Evert admits the rivalry between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner is giving her flashbacks to her legendary battles with Martina Navratilova.
Evert and Navratilova shared a rivalry that dominated women’s tennis in the 1980s, as the duo both won 18 Grand Slam singles title in iconic careers.
Now a new era of tennis is getting underway in the men’s game, with Alcaraz and Sinner sharing the last six Grand Slam titles between them and threatening to dominate the sport as Evert and Navratilova did in their glory days.
Navratilova edged her head-to-head battles with Evert as she won 43 times and lost 37 times against her elegant rival.
Now Evert has looked back on that rivalry in an exclusive interview with this website conducted at Roland Garros as she worked for TNT Sports.
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“This rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner reminds me of what Martina and I shared in our day,” Evert told Tennis365.
“There are some similarities in the way we played. I was the steady consistent one and Martina was the one who had all the shots in the book.
“You look at Alcaraz and Sinner now and Carlos is the one with all the options and Sinner is the steady one.
“It’s going to be an interesting rivalry and I can’t see anyone coming into it to challenge those two.
“Maybe Jack Draper is the one to watch. I didn’t even realise he had jumped up so high in the rankings, but he has a big game.
“He is so fit, good looking boy. He has a lot going for him and I just hope the press leave him alone in the UK because it would be great to see him challenging Alcaraz and Sinner.”
Alcaraz and Sinner appear to have a good relationship despite their thrilling rivalry on court, but Evert admits it wasn’t always easy to be friendly with Navratilova when they were battling it out for all the biggest titles in tennis.
That animosity faded when their respective career ended and their bond grew even stronger when Evert and Navratilova had cancer battles in recent years.
“When we were playing, we were as friendly as rivals could be. It wasn’t until the end of our careers that we got close,” added Evert.
“Then when we both had cancer together, we got even closer. We were in the trenches together for many years.
“When the rivalry ended, there was no pressure between us. We saw it when Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray joined Rafael Nadal on court for his farewell celebrations at Roland Garros. It was great to see. You share a court with someone for that long and you will always have that experience together.
“Martina and I get on great now. We are making a documentary together.
“When you have lived through experiences like Martina and I have both on the court and now off it, then it does bring you together.”
We will publish more of our exclusive interview with Chris Evert over the course of this week.
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