The body of a 44-year-old Congolese pastor lay inside a wooden coffin ready for the journey to Mongbwalu.

It was strapped into the back of an aging Nissan SUV with the backseats pushed flat. A group of young relatives were crammed in, too, sitting atop the casket.

By the time it reached its destination, some three hours later, the coffin was cracked, after collapsing under the weight of those sitting on it.

These are among events being examined by investigators hunting for the "patient zero", or earliest infection, of the Ebola epidemic raging in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, according to four experts on the team conducting the health ministry inquiry.

For more than half a century, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova have stood as twin pillars of modern sport — rivals, friends, foils and co-authors of one of tennis's most compelling stories.

Their duels shaped an era, transcended the game and helped redefine what female athletes could be: fierce, vulnerable, political, glamorous and unapologetically themselves.