August 31, 2010 03:30PM EDT

Update from Tribeca Cinemas: ESPN 30 For 30's Unmatched

Tennis foes—and good friends—Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert turned out for the premiere of Unmatched, the ESPN 30 For 30 doc about their 15-year rivalry.
 


With 80 matches played between 1973 and 1988—60 finals and 14 grand slams—the rivalry between Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert is unmatched in sports history. On August 26, Tribeca Cinemas hosted the premiere of Unmatched, one of the films in ESPN 30 For 30 series: 30 documentary films, spanning 30 years of riveting sports coverage.

Navratilova and Evert, svelte and vibrant, were in attendance at the red carpet event for Unmatched, followed by a fete and photo exhibition in the gallery.
 


In the documentary, Navratilova and Evert revisit their great rivalry through the prism of a friendship that developed away from their duels on the tennis court. Navratilova laughingly recalls, “Even when I started winning a lot, I was not the favorite… I was playing against the American girl next door, and here I was, the big, muscular lesbian from a communist country.” She adds, “I came up against the Osmond of women’s tennis.”

Navratilova describes playing against Evert as “like playing against a wall, impenetrable.” Evert adds, “I was tougher than you. I would be laughing because I knew I was the tougher one.” Navratilova readily agrees, “My God, she’s as tough as they get.” Navratilova says of Evert, “Chris motivated me because she was so strong; she’s so tough mentally.”
 
Both concede that they didn’t always get along, but that their battles finally morphed into a deep and lasting friendship. In the film, Evert says candidly,  “Her good day was better than me on my good day.  It pains me to say that.”
 

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Directed and produced by Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern Winters, and co-produced by Hannah Storm, Unmatched is an intimate look at the two women who dominated tennis in the 1980s and brought the sport to life for millions. ESPN will broadcast Unmatched on Tuesday, September 14, with encore dates to follow.