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Netflix documentary “Chris and Martina: The Final Set” examines how Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova fused rivalry with friendship during and after cancer treatment
The Apex Times

THE APEX TIMES

Culture/The Apex Times/Jun 25, 9:25 AM EDT

Netflix documentary “Chris and Martina: The Final Set” examines how Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova fused rivalry with friendship during and after cancer treatment

A new Netflix film pairs tennis history with a personal account from two women who dominated the sport for decades, tracing how their on-court competition coexisted with a bond that later became life support through cancer care.

2 min readEditor-approved Apex article

“Chris and Martina: The Final Set” arrives on Netflix with a premise built around two reigning tennis titans, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, and the paradox of their relationship: intense rivalry alongside an enduring friendship. The Guardian preview, published June 25, 2026, frames the documentary as both a sports retrospective and a personal story, anchored in the athletes’ reflections on their decades of overlap at the top of women’s tennis.

The film’s center is the evolution of that bond over time, including how the pair came to support each other through cancer treatment. In the Guardian account, the documentary ties late-life health experiences to earlier sporting moments, showing how their competitive history did not erase their closeness, but in some ways intensified it.

Evert and Navratilova are described in the Guardian preview as having dominated international women’s tennis across the late 1970s and 1980s. The documentary, according to the writeup, positions their shared history as a window into both the era’s sporting pressures and the personal decisions that followed, including how public figures navigate private illness.

The Guardian’s review characterizes the Netflix release as a “real story to tell,” emphasizing what it calls a giant friendship and “frenmity” or “frivalry,” a reference to the way their competitive relationship coexisted with mutual respect and continued contact. Rather than treating their careers as separate legends, the documentary appears to weave the narrative together by focusing on what they say they learned from one another.

Because the Guardian preview is a review rather than a full transcript or production memo, details about structure, specific scenes, and interview cadence are limited in the reporting provided. What is clear from the published description is that the documentary uses the lens of their tennis rivalry to explore a broader theme, how two high-profile athletes supported each other off the court when cancer entered their lives.

The release also lands within a larger media pattern in which major platforms use sports icons to connect public achievement to private stakes. By centering Evert and Navratilova’s reflections, Netflix is effectively blending sports history content with a biographical framework aimed at audiences interested in endurance narratives that remain grounded in relationships.

For viewers, the practical takeaway is that the documentary is positioned as more than match footage or legacy storytelling, according to the Guardian preview, it focuses on the relationship itself and its endurance through adversity, including the moment when both women faced serious health concerns and leaned on the bond they had built years earlier.

Why It Matters

  • The Netflix release pairs a major sports legacy with a personal illness-centered narrative, shaping how wide audiences may understand athlete relationships beyond competition.
  • The emphasis on support during cancer treatment may broaden viewer expectations for sports documentaries to include family and community stakes tied to healthcare and caregiving.
  • By revisiting the rivalry as part of a longer friendship arc, the film potentially affects how sports institutions and media outlets frame athlete legacies for future documentary projects.

Sources

Key Facts

  • A new Netflix documentary titled “Chris and Martina: The Final Set” focuses on Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.
  • The Guardian published a review/preview of the film on June 25, 2026.
  • The documentary is described as tracing Evert and Navratilova’s decades-long relationship built on both rivalry and friendship.
  • The Guardian says the film includes the athletes supporting each other through cancer treatment.
  • The Guardian characterizes Evert and Navratilova as dominant figures in international women’s tennis in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Netflix documentary “Chris and Martina: The Final Set” examines how Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova fused rivalry with friendship during and after cancer treatment | The Apex Times