Deep Reads: Bitter rivals. Beloved friends. Survivors.
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 July 2023
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This is the first bonus installment of "Deep Reads," the best of The Post's narrative journalism. It's a story about two tennis stars, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, who turned a rivalry into an enduring friendship – and cancer support system.
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Tennis legends Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova became friends as teenagers but then split apart as each rose to No. 1 in the world. But they grew back together as they forged one of the greatest rivalries in sports and embarked on ambitious lives in retirement. After 50 years, they understood each other like no one else could. So when cancer came, they turned to each other.
This story is the first in a collection of new, occasional bonus episodes you’ll be hearing from “Post Reports.” We’re calling these stories “Deep Reads” and they’re part of The Post’s commitment to immersive and narrative journalism.
Today’s story was written by Sally Jenkins of The Washington Post and read by Adrienne Walker for Noa: News Over Audio, an app offering curated audio articles.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Sally Jenkins. I'm a sports columnist for the Washington Post. And I get to tell |
| 0:08.0 | you about something new that you'll be hearing here, usually as a bonus episode on a weekend. |
| 0:13.9 | We're calling these stories deep reads. It's part of the post commitment to narrative |
| 0:19.1 | journalism. The first one we're going to share is a piece I wrote, read to you by a narrator |
| 0:25.4 | from our partners at the app NOAA, News Over Audio. It's a story about two tennis legends. |
| 0:33.2 | And before you hear it, I want to share how I came to write this story. I had lunch with |
| 0:38.3 | Martina Nevratilova, who was in New York being treated for throat and breast cancer at |
| 0:44.0 | Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital. And during the lunch, she began to talk about her great |
| 0:49.2 | rival, Chris Everett, who was also undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer. And during the |
| 0:56.1 | lunch, it became clear just how deep Nevratilova's regard for Chris was. And it really struck |
| 1:03.3 | me that there was something extraordinary between these two people as they were going through |
| 1:09.0 | this cancer experience. They were going through it together and really helping each other. |
| 1:15.1 | I thought that was an important subject to try to get at this incredible bond between two |
| 1:20.2 | people that had developed out of such an adversarial rivalry over so many years. So I very |
| 1:27.4 | tentatively texted them individually and said, would you mind if I tried to write something |
| 1:32.5 | about this, about your friendship and your relationship going through cancer together? |
| 1:38.9 | And they both wrote back and said that they would be happy to participate once they were |
| 1:43.0 | finished with their treatments. And so we began to talk by phone and by text and emails. |
| 1:49.0 | And it all culminated in a trip to Miami where I met with the two of them in person and spent |
| 1:54.0 | the day together, the three of us talking about the relationship. And this story is the result |
| 1:59.3 | of that day. I hope you enjoy listening to this story as much as I enjoyed listening to them |
| 2:06.2 | and reporting it. There is an audible rhythm to a grand slam tennis tournament, a thought |
... |
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