Empathy on the court and off

I think of empathy as simply dialing into someone else's frequency, and this beautiful interview with Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert is such a wonderful illustration of how that works in real life. Fierce rivals on the court but friends in the locker room and beyond, they could relate to each other and the pressures they managed like no-one else could. When you think about what they've collectively faced (rampant sexism, homophobia, defection from a communist regime, failed relationships, sibling tragedy and - recently - serious cancer diagnoses and treatment) it's a shining example of how people with very different backgrounds found strength in each other.

Not content with consistently pushing boundaries (when it was even harder than today) to campaign for women and LGBTQIA+ rights, their empathy now extends to early cancer awareness for other women, because they don't want anyone else to go through what they have. F*** the media narrative about sporting rivalry. These women exemplify empathy for each other and beyond.

Washington Post article here