Biggest Rivalries of All Time

The Liberty get a new coach, Richie Adubato. They're determined to win a championship. Meanwhile, the WNBA players decide to unionize: they have some demands. And tragedy hits the Houston Comets.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

August 30th, 1997. It's the first ever WNBA Championship Final. Comets vs Liberty. Who will come up on top?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the WNBA kicks-off its first season, the Comets have a problem: their star player, Sheryl Swoopes, is pregnant. But what Houston doesn’t realize is that they have the best player in the league, a 34-year old point guard whose name no one seems to recognize: Cynthia Cooper. With her, the Comets are unstoppable. And they’re on a collision course with the league’s favourites: the...

It’s early 1996 and there is no professional basketball league for women in the United States. Players have to move abroad to play the sport they love. But that year, everything changes. Two leagues get off the ground almost at the same time: the ABL and the WNBA. They’re competing for talent and fans. The WNBA knows that to build momentum, they need a rivalry. And they have an obvious...

Season 2 of Biggest Rivalries of All Time, hosted by Cari Champion, takes us back to the early days of the WNBA and the league’s first real rivalry: the Houston Comets vs the New York Liberty. They faced each other in three of the first four WNBA championship finals. This is the story of two powerhouse teams and the players who dominated the sport — the women whose names are often forg...

Chris has one more shot at beating her rival. Martina goes back home to Czechoslovakia for the first time since she defected 10 years earlier. This last episode explores the end of these two giants’ careers, their rivalry-turned-friendship and their legacy for the sport.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Martina is dominant, even as her team is falling apart, and the media is turning her into a villain. On the court, no one can stop her – not even Chris. But Chris is determined to prove to everyone that she is not done. For the first time, she tries changing her game. And the two meet in the final of the US Open. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a humiliating loss to Chris, Martina meets someone new – a woman who believes she can transform her. Martina begins to assemble a team of unconventional characters who may be able to help her reach new heights. With their support, she can finally take on Chris. But in the conservative climate of the 1980s, rumors start to swirl around Martina.  See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...

In the world of tennis, Wimbledon is sacred ground. It is the tournament that every great player dreams of winning. When Martina and Chris meet there in the 1978 final, history is on the line. Chris is still dominating, but Martina has been working on her mental game. Can she upset her rival? And what if Chris has something else on her mind, something that has little to do with tennis?  See o...

In the aftermath of her defection from Communist Czechoslovakia, Martina is feeling lost, both on and off the court. But she and Chris start to become friends, and decide to compete as a team in doubles. Until Chris, concerned her singles rival may be getting too familiar with her game, breaks it off.  CORRECTION:  The final score of the 1975 US Open final between Chris Evert and Evonne...

In the 1970s, Chris Evert is the face of women’s tennis. Female players have just rebelled over equal pay and started their own tour, and Chris is their superstar -- cool, composed and all but unbeatable. But when a young woman from Czechoslovakia shows up, Chris senses that she may have some real competition. This first episode traces the origins of the rivalry between Martina Navratilova a...

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