Rivalry began in Akron: Chris Evert played Martina Navratilova 50 years ago

One of the greatest rivalries in sports history began 50 years ago in Akron.

American tennis star Chris Evert, 18, played Czech prodigy Martina Navratilova, 16, on March 22, 1973, at the $25,000 Akron Tennis Open, a professional tournament sponsored by the Junior League of Akron.

It was the first of 80 career matches between the future Hall of Famers.

More than 40 women from around the world competed in Memorial Hall at the University of Akron. Qualifying round tickets cost $2 for adults and $1 for children. Reserved seats were $4 while reserved bleachers were $3.

Florida native Evert, a golden girl nicknamed “Cinderella in Sneakers,” was ranked No. 3 in the world behind Billie Jean King and Nancy Richey.

Evert was one of the Akron tournament’s big draws along with Australia’s Evonne Goolagong and England’s Virginia Wade. Not many Americans were familiar with powerful, muscular Navratilova, who was visiting the United States for the first time from communist Czechoslovakia.

She was so unknown that the Beacon Journal misspelled her name as “Marita,” “Nauratilova” and “Navritilova.” In a few years, everybody knew her name.

The Junior League marshaled an army of volunteers to plan and run the tournament.

“It was exciting for the town,” recalled 1973 tournament chairman Ann Allan, who now lives in California. “There was always something going on all week long.”

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Allan said the Junior League had looked for something different for a fundraising project. The previous year, the group had sponsored an educational exhibit at Morley Health Center.

“Tennis was becoming very popular then,” she said. “So that’s why I suggested we have a tennis tournament.”

The librarian enjoyed playing doubles but didn’t know anything about running a tournament, so she sought advice from experts and conducted research.

The Junior League recruited four corporate sponsors that paid $5,000 each: Akron Coca-Cola Bottling Co., First National Bank of Akron, Gene Graham Ford and the M. O’Neil Co.

Chris Evert comes to Akron

Allan remembers talking on the phone with Evert’s father, Jimmy, and inviting his daughter to play in Akron.

“So we arranged to pick her up at the airport and bring her down,” she said.

In those days, women players usually stayed in private homes with host families.

“Chris stayed at our house,” recalled Abby Amer, whose family lived on Tinkham Road in Fairlawn Heights. “She slept in my bedroom. I got kicked out of my room because it had a private bath.”

The 15-year-old daughter of Thomas and Jean Amer didn’t mind because it was really cool to have a famous guest.

“She was super sweet,” Amer said. “Really kind and nice, and not ‘Look at me: I’m Chris Evert.’ She was kind of shy in fact.”

Amer’s mother was in charge of hospitality arrangements and volunteered her home after Evert’s mother, Colette, requested a nice, quiet place for her daughter, who was traveling alone for the first time.

“We were taking care of her,” Amer said.

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Navratilova and fellow Czech Marie Neumannova stayed at the Bath Road home of Furman and Jean Sawyer, the parents of future Akron Mayor Tom Sawyer and tennis pro Ted Sawyer.

“I stacked up on steaks, fruits, snacks and pops, but I forgot to buy honey,” Jean Sawyer told the Beacon Journal in 1973. “The girls like honey and hot milk, sometimes together, sometimes separate, so I’ll have to get some honey. They went crazy over the freshly squeezed orange juice.”

During her six-week visit to America, Navratilova also discovered fast food. She gained 20 pounds.

Memorial Hall, a basketball gymnasium, was converted into a tennis venue with a portable carpet floor. More than 3,000 spectators filled the hall for USLTA-sanctioned singles and doubles events March 19-25.

Dallas Aleman, owner of Towpath Tennis Center, remembers going. He was a senior at UA in 1973 and a varsity player on the Zips tennis team. He also worked at the center, where pro players practiced.

It was a time when women were coming to the forefront in sports and equal rights, Aleman noted. Later that year, Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in “The Battle of the Sexes.”

The Evert-Navratilova rivalry garnered worldwide attention.

“Akron is the place where it all started,” he said.

Matches ran from noon to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday and 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday.

In a news conference, Evert discussed her new celebrity.

“Now I have less of a private life,” she said. “People are always calling or sending letters. Also people are looking for things for criticism.

“You know, a lot of nice things have been written about me, and I think people may be looking for something on the other side.”

Evert played Navratilova in the first round Thursday night.

“I remember the match,” said former Portage Country Club pro Barb Beattie, who served as a line judge at the Akron Tennis Open. “It was really well attended. It was a really good match.”

When she arrived, Navratilova wore a cowboy hat and exuded plenty of confidence for a 16-year-old girl.

“She was a presence when she walked in,” Beattie said. “You saw her and you noticed her.”

Florida resident Sandra Smith, a Junior Leaguer who served as ticket chairman of the 1973 tournament, remembers something else about Navratilova’s apparel.

“She wore shorts,” Smith said. “Most girls wore tennis dresses and skirts at that time, but she wore these shorts and had this tennis ball tucked in her waist. And we thought that was very unusual.”

A former resident of Florida, Beattie used to watch Evert play as an amateur in Fort Lauderdale and attended her first professional tournament.

Martina Navratilova a pure athlete

Evert, a 5-6 right-hander, and Navratilova, a 5-8 left-hander, were two different types of players, Beattie said.

“Martina was a true, pure athlete and Chris Evert was very mechanical, but her strength was her mental ability to strategically figure things out and how to beat people.”

Evert took a 4-1 lead in the first set, but Navratilova broke Evert’s serve three times. After 11 games, the Czech led 6-5. All she had to do was hold her serve in the 12th game to win.

“You’re just so excited you don’t feel any pressure at that young age,” Navratilova recalled years later.

The tense game went to 30-love before Evert captured the next four points to force a tiebreaker, which she won 5-1 for a 7-6 victory. Evert cruised to a 6-3 victory in the second set.

“The first time I played Martina was in Ohio,” Evert told a reporter years later. “She was 15 or 16. I was shocked because the first set was 7-6 and then the second set was easy, but I remember at that point thinking, ‘This girl, if she lost weight and got into shape …’ She was a natural talent.”

Navratilova saw a silver lining in the defeat.

“I said to myself, ‘If I can do this the first time against the best, maybe next time,’ ” she later recalled.

Amer remembers Evert’s uncanny awareness. At the family’s home after a match, the tennis star told her hosts that she had noticed them in the stands. She jokingly chided Amer for giggling with a friend when Evert was behind in a game and then ribbed Amer’s father for spending most of the match with his chin resting on his hand.

“She was very observant,” Amer said.

After ousting Navratilova, Evert beat Sue Stap 6-1, 6-3 on Friday and edged Marita Redondo 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 on Saturday. Evert defeated Russian Olga Morozova 6-3, 6-4 before 3,100 fans Sunday to capture the Akron title and $6,000 prize.

“So when she won the tournament, we were driving home and my dad said, ‘Oh, let’s see the check,’ and she was like, ‘Uhhhhhh,’ ” Amer recalled. “She had forgotten to bring it with her. So we had to turn around and get the check.”

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That first tournament was a big success.

“It went over really well,” Allan said.

“It was entertaining and well-received,” Beattie said.

Others winners in Akron tournament

King won the Akron Tennis Open the next year. Evert regained her title in 1975 when the tournament moved to the Richfield Coliseum and became the Virginia Slims of Akron. Goolagong prevailed in 1976, the final year of the event.

Navratilova lost four more times to Evert before finally beating her 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 in 1975 at the Virginia Slims of Washington. That same year, she defected from Czechoslovakia.

Meanwhile, Navratilova swore off fast food, lost weight and got in shape.

“She actually revolutionized the importance of fitness to women’s tennis,” Beattie said. “When I played, we would run for our workout. She brought in a full workout with weights. She got herself fit as a fiddle.”

Evert and Navratilova battled at the net but became friends off the court.

“Martina has been an inspiration to me,” Evert said at Wimbledon in 1985.

“I think we have one of the great rivalries in sports,” Navratilova said.

After falling to Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1987, Evert told reporters: “It’s almost like Martina’s family now because we’ve been together, played together, played matches, seen other players come and go, but we’ve been the two constants.”

They played 80 matches, including 60 finals, before Evert retired. Their last match was Nov. 14, 1988, at the Virginia Slims of Chicago. Navratilova won 6-2, 6-2, finishing 43-37 in the series.

Evert was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1995. Navratilova joined her five years later.

“We made each other better,” Navratilova said at the ceremony.

And it all began in Akron: Game, set, match.

Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Chris Evert played Martina Navratilova for first time in Akron in 1973