Genre Sports documentary Original language(s) English Running time 54 minutes | Directed by Lisa Lax, Nancy Stern Producer(s) Hannah Storm | |
Starring Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert | ||
Unmatched is a documentary about tennis players Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, their decades-long on-court rivalry and lifelong friendship, created for ESPN's 30 for 30 documentary series. Evert and Navratilova met in 80 matches, 60 finals and 14 grand slam finals with Navratilova sporting a 43-37 advantage.
The film was shot over three days in Amagansett, New York in October 2009. Unmatched was awarded the 2011 Gracie Award for "Outstanding Producer - News/Non-fiction".
Navratilova was sometimes described as the lesbian tennis player from a communist country: "As one of the first openly gay sports figures, she has spent much of her career overcoming prejudices and stereotypes, giving up millions of dollars in endorsements and sponsorships as a result of her insistence on living a life of integrity and honesty." Evert was described as the all-American girl next door. Today Navratilova is often cited as the greatest tennis player of all-time; she has won 167 singles titles, 177 doubles championships titles and 59 Grand Slam titles, she has been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, was the WTA’s "Tour Player of the Year" seven times, was declared one of the "Top Forty Athletes of All-time" by Sports Illustrated and was named "Female Athlete of the Year" by the Associated Press. Navratilova has served as AARP’s Health and Fitness Ambassador and is also involved with the LGBT movement, The Rainbow Card ® and Rainbow Endowment. Evert on the other hand reached more Grand Slam singles finals than any player, she has been president of the Women's Tennis Association and in 2005 she was named fourth on the list of the 40 Greatest Players of the Tennis Era by TENNIS Magazine. Evert won 157 singles championships, 29 doubles titles and she won 18 Grand Slam singles championships and three doubles titles.
Hannah Storm said of the rivalry: "Just think about the dynamic of competing against your best friend. They would practice together, eat lunch together, then go out and play in the final and then make travel plans to go to the next tournament."
In describing their rivalry and its effect on their tennis careers, Navratilova said: "I don’t think either of us would have lasted as long without the other." Evert said: "It gave us inspiration and a lot of incentive to work harder and try to continue to improve."
Synopsis
The film is a series of personal conversations, where Evert and Navratilova talk about the experiences playing each other while remaining friends off the court. Hannah Storm interviews from off-screen, her questions helped by the fact that she is also friends with Evert from working Wimbledon studio shows for NBC. Navratilova and Evert discuss practicing together before tournaments, and playing doubles to win Wimbledon in 1976. They also talk about their double dating with Dean Martin Jr. and Desi Arnaz Jr., and how Navratilova helped Evert meet her second husband, Andy Mill.