Martina Navratilova was at Wimbledon on Friday as The All England Lawn Tennis Club staged a special screening of Chris & Martina: The Final Set, just after news that Chris Evert had surgery following a recurrence of ovarian cancer. The documentary’s timing turned a planned celebration into something heavier, with Evert absent after a Tuesday procedure and Navratilova carrying the room with her reaction.
Chris Evert’s message to Wimbledon
Evert’s words set the tone. She wrote, “No. Me having cancer magnifies the message. Go to Wimbledon for me, for the film, for Martina. It’s the most profound, honest documentary of the year.”
She also told the audience, “I’m so sad not to be there with all of you today.” She said the film was “joyful, liberating, and at times painful” to make, and added, “There is no-one I would rather be in the trenches with than Martina.”
The documentary follows the two former rivals through their cancer journeys as well as the friendship that grew around them. Earlier in June, the film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival, and the Wimbledon screening came on the eve of the tournament, when the sport’s spotlight was already fixed on SW19.
Rebecca Gitlitz changes course
Rebecca Gitlitz said she initially thought the London celebration should be canceled after the premiere, but Evert’s message changed the plan. Evert had been about to travel to London to join Navratilova at the event before resuming her Wimbledon commentary role for.
Then came the text at 6 a.m. on Wednesday. Gitlitz said it sent her onto a flight to London, and she described the moment before the screening this way: “I let it go, and Chrissie had surgery. Martina and I talked, and we cried. Plans were made, planes were delayed.”
Gitlitz also pushed the screening beyond nostalgia. “Because if Chris and Martina can be brave, and vulnerable, and keep going, then we all should. Let’s learn from the best of the best,” she said.
Martina Navratilova at SW19
Navratilova framed the film as larger than tennis. Standing beside Gitlitz, she said, “This is an amazing story that goes way beyond tennis, way beyond anything else” and added, “We wanted to shine a light on this horrible disease.”
She has twice come through her own cancer diagnoses, and the screening drew support from Julia Lemigova and Emma Lem, who were there beside her. Navratilova’s voice cracked further when she said, “I don’t normally pray, but I’m going to pray for Chris.”
That left Wimbledon with a rare kind of premiere: a film about rivalry, friendship and cancer, introduced under the shadow of surgery and recurrence, and carried forward by the people who refused to let the night stop there.
