"You go girl" - Chris Evert lauds Martina Navratilova on a 'great speech' as American heaps praise on Leander Paes during Hall of Fame induction

Chris Evert praised Martina Navratilova's speech that she gave during Leander Paes' induction into the Tennis Hall of Fame on July 20 in Newport. Paes was bestowed with this honor alongside Vijay Amritraj and Richard Evans.

Navratilova, who has won two Grand Slams alongside Paes - the 2003 Australian Open and the 2003 Wimbledon Championships, delivered a moving speech at the induction ceremony where she sang the Indian's praises. The American listed out Paes' achievements but mentioned how they were just numbers before mentioning the qualities and aspects of his game that made him the person he became.

“He was an artist on the court, an amazing athlete, a virtuoso... He wielded the tennis racquet like an orchestra conductor wields the baton," Navratilova said about Paes on stage.

"Leander, it was truly my honor to play against you. I enjoyed it a lot more when I played with you. You have done your family proud, you have done our sport proud and most of all, you have done India proud,” she added.

Chris Evert, who is Martina Navratilova's great friend, took to X (formerly Twitter) to laud the American's speech. She wrote:

"great speech; you go girl!"

Evert, a Hall of Famer herself - 1995, was also at the prestigious ceremony. Navratilova had posted a selfie of herself, Evert, and Andre Agassi, another Hall of Famer - 2011, on X.

"It was pretty special because it just came out of nowhere" - Martina Navratilova shares how her relationship with Chris Evert evolved over the years

Martina Navratilova appeared on the 'On With Kara Swisher' towards the end of 2023, where she opened up on how her relationship with Chris Evert had evolved over the years. She mentioned longevity as a key aspect that evolved their relationship despite the differences in other aspects of their personal and professional lives.

"That relationship, friendship, rivalry just evolved because it was over such a long period of time. The contrast in styles, the contrast in everything, our background, our upbringing, and then defecting and then coming here and the styles in play," Martina Navratilova said.

Navratilova mentioned how their contrasting personalities led to fans picking a side but as their friendship developed, she thought that the fans appreciated them as athletes rather than choosing one. The American called their friendship special as it came out of nowhere and stood the test of time.

"But I think as they saw, as our career developed and even the friendship developed, maybe people were more like just appreciating us as athletes and as competitors rather than taking a side.

"You know, it was pretty special because it just came out of nowhere, sort of. And it just kept going and kept going," she added.

Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova faced each other 80 times in their careers with Navratilova leading 43-37 and 36-24 in the finals.