Misconduct | The best sports rivalry: your answers

In my opinion, the greatest rivalry in sport was that between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the two gentlemen of tennis. Normally, in sporting clashes, we don’t like our favorite player’s opponent. This was not the case in the Nadal-Federer matches. And what about their exchanges in their virtuoso duels!

For my part, leaving the world of hockey, the biggest rivalries were among others those between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher, Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and so on. . But the greatest rivalry of all time is undoubtedly that between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox which has lasted since the days of Babe Ruth. The exchange that brought the Babe to the Yankees, for a pittance of money, gave rise to the curse of the Bambino which lasted until 2004. This rivalry continues and should not die out any time soon!

The greatest rivalry in sport took place in hockey in 1972, during the Century Series between Canada and Russia, because it was of international level and tinged with geopolitics. The Canadian-Nordiques rivalry only interested people from Montreal and Quebec.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Toronto FC-Montreal Impact. The evil Lex Luthor Bradley, the bully Jozy Altidore and his tackles worthy of NHL hockey. The episode of poorly painted lines to guarantee the entry of newly searched partisans. Travelers Cup matches. I knew the Canadian-Nordiques rivalry, but I never felt such sincere hatred, beyond the policy of the two solitudes. When a gentleman like Patrice Bernier says “we really hated them” on camera, that says it all.

Another Montreal-Quebec rivalry: Carabins-Rouge et Or in football. Except that here, everything is done with mutual respect, whether in terms of recruitment, coaching or on the field. We are far from a Good Friday and stuff of junior. Having attended these clashes in Montreal, I was able to see that the fans of both camps support their respective teams by displaying exemplary behavior. But the rivalry is still omnipresent.

In tennis, the rivalry between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova: 80 clashes between the two players in 15 years, from 1973 to 1988 (as many as between Connors-Borg-McEnroe combined at the same time), including 60 in tournament finals. For 12 years, they dominated the tennis rankings, sharing first place 592 out of 615 weeks. They won 36 major singles tournaments, at a time when it was common not to participate in the Australian one.

The problem with the Canadiens-Nordiques rivalry is that the Nordiques have been too bad for too much of their short existence to properly threaten the Canadiens. The real clash of titans came when the dealership moved to Colorado. When the Avalanche played the Red Wings, it wasn’t just the two best teams facing each other, it was two great teams who admittedly hated each other! The NHL hasn’t really seen this level of intensity since.