Trapper said:Chris Evert v Martina Navratilova
No way.
For a great rivalry you have to have athletes that don't like each others
also in their non-sport life. Martina and Chris were, if not friends, at
least really respective of each other off court.
To define a great sport rivalry I'd say that you have to choose two
athletes who both had been winning a lot at top level but none of them was
completely dominating (there's no rivalry against a "Cannibal"😉 and two
that represent very different lifestyles.
If you ask about the greatest sport rivalry where I live, they will talk
you about the two best cyclists in the years immediately after WW2: Fausto
Coppi and Gino Bartali. Both won a couple of Tour de France each (and a lot
of other races), so they really were the cream of the crop in their time.
They didn't really like each other, for both sport and lifestyle reasons.
In sport terms, Coppi started out as a young coequipier of Bartali, but
then he betrayed his leader winning the 1940 Giro d'Italia in front of him.
But their lifestyles was what really tore them apart.
Coppi was a very shy guy, really introvert and on his own. Bartali was very
aggressive, a man that used to shout in the public's face all his thoughts.
Coppi was a liberal, maybe even a libertine for his time, who left his wife
and kids to go living with another woman. Bartali was a catholic
traditionalist, who really stood for a conservative vision of family life.
Coppi was more talented but very moody, often a victim of adverse
circumstances. Bartali was an ox, always fighting and often winning against
more gifted opponents.