Graf was the first tennis player to achieve the feat: wheelchair tennis players Diede de Groot and Dylan Alcott achieved the Golden Slam in 2021. In 1988, Graf became the first tennis player to achieve the Golden Slam by winning all four major singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year. In reaching and winning all four Grand Slam finals, Graf became the first player in history to contest and win 28 Grand Slam singles matches in a single year; albeit including the unplayed walkover against Evert in the US Open. . [47] She would work with him for the remainder of her career. 1 for 186 consecutive weeks (from August 1987 to March 1991; tied with Serena Williams, a record in the women's game) and a record total 377 weeks overall. Victories at Hamburg and Berlin (beating Snchez Vicario in the finals of both) prepared her for the French Open, where she defeated Snchez Vicario in the semifinals after losing the first set 60. In the middle of the second set, Graf suffered back spasms while reaching for a ball in the ad court. Finally Graf was given a match but prevailed 6-3, 7-6 where she would meet a surprise opponent in the final. Steffi Graf was a dominant force in tennis during the late 1980s and for much of the 1990s. At the first round of the season-ending Chase Championships, Graf defeated world No. The earliest sign that Steffi Graf was going to be one of the sport's all-time winners came at the end of a defeat. It was Graf's final Grand Slam singles title as she retired later that year. In the womens tournament, Williams could repeat the achievement if she competes in what will be her fifth Olympic Games. The treatment was for a fracture of the cartilage as well as a shortening and partial rupture of the patellar tendon of her left knee. As usual, the defining shot of the day was the one that earned Steffi her nickname, Frulein Forehand. Steffi Graf with the Wimbledon trophy in 1989 after defeating Martina Navratilova 6-2, 6-7 (1), 6-1 in the final. In 2008 Graf lost an exhibition match against Kimiko Date at Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo. [105] It was the first time in 14 years Graf had played Navratilova. [11][12][13][14] She won six French Open singles titles (second to Evert), seven Wimbledon singles titles, four Australian Open titles, and five US Open singles titles. She would either destroy opponents, clinically and . She won 7 Wimbledon, 6 French Open, 5 US Open and 4 Australian Open . Graf played in her first professional tournament in October 1982 at Filderstadt, Germany. Graf who dated Michael Bartels is the daughter-in-law of Emmanuel Agassi. And on 5 June 1988, the match for the championship against the Soviet Unions Natasha Zvereva lasted a mere 34 minutes, with Zverera mustering only a few points in a 6-0, 6-0 whitewash. Graf won 6-0, 6-0. She won five consecutive singles majors (1988 Australian Open to 1989 Australian Open), and seven out of eight, in two calendar years (1988 Australian Open to 1989 US Open, except 1989 French Open). Martina Navratilova then defeated Graf 76, 67, 64 in a US Open semifinal, the first time she had beaten Graf in four years. Stefanie Graf was born on 14 June 1969, in Mannheim, Baden-Wrttemberg, West Germany, to Heidi Schalk and car-and-insurance salesman Peter Graf (18 June 1938 30 November 2013). Novak Djokovic has arrived in Japan for the Tokyo Olympics 2020, and he is looking as confident as ever. In her semifinal match at the US Open, Graf defeated Sabatini 36, 64, 62. Before Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi became the power tennis couple off court, the two were connected by a remarkable weekend 20 years ago at Roland Garros. [145], In 2001, Graf indicated that she preferred to be called Stefanie instead of Steffi. [122] Graf's racquets were strung at 29 kilograms (64 pounds), significantly above the 50-60 pound range recommended by Wilson. [a] Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. Venus Williams won her first Games titles 19 years ago, and she hasnt finished yet! Venus Williams. [115], Early in her career, Graf wore Dunlop apparel, before signing an endorsement contract with Adidas in 1985. Graf vs Williams H2H MATCHES PLAYED All Rounds Final 1/2 1/4 First Second Third Fourth Qualifying q-First q-Second Pre-q Rubber 1 Rubber 2 Rubber 3 Rubber 4 Rubber 5 Robin Bronze N/A Graf's Grand Slam tournament breakthrough came in 1987. "[38], Graf followed this with easy victories in her next four tournaments at Washington, D.C., San Antonio, Texas, Boca Raton, Florida, and Hilton Head. Five months later, the world no. Her accuracy with the slice, both cross-court and down the line and her ability to skid the ball and keep it low, enabled her to use it as an offensive weapon to set the ball up for her forehand put-aways. She won 22 Grand Slam Singles' teetles, an in 1988 wis the only tennis player tae achieve the "Gowden Slam", winnin, in the Singles, aw fower Grand Slam teetles an the Olympic Gowd medal in the semme year. Even though she lost the opening set, Graf went on to prevail in three sets. First professional tournament: 1982 Porsche Grand Prix at Filderstadt, Germany Plays: right handed, one handed backhand Raquet: Dunlop / Wilson Former Clubs: HTC Heidelberg, LTTC Rot-Weiss Berlin, BASF Ludwigshafen Favorite Tournament: Wimbledon Favorite Surface: Grass court Former Coaches: Pavel Slozil (1986-1991), Heinz Guenthardt . The assailant, a fan of German tennis star Steffi Graf, Top women's tennis player Monica Seles is stabbed by a deranged German man during a match in Hamburg. Her birth name is Stefanie Maria Graf and she is currently 51 years old. She had just lost a three-set semifinal to No. All Rights Reserved. ", "Graf edges Hingis, captures sixth and 'last' French title", "Do Not Disturb: If Steffi Graf could shut out the world the way she shuts down opponents on the court then, for her, life would be perfect", "Tennis | Martinez wins controversial clash", "Results Archive - Steffi Graf - Australian Open Tennis Championships", "Tennis: Wimbledon 99 - Magic mixture of McEnroe and Graf", "TENNIS; Without Dad Around To Disturb Her, Lucic Upsets Fourth-Seeded Seles at Wimbledon", "Graf overcomes layoff to beat Coetzer in farewell exhibition", "* NZine * Tennis - The Biggest Participant Sport In New Zealand - Tennis, Steffi Graf, Indoor Tennis Centre, Davis Cup, Anthony Wilding, Wilding Park, Maurice Agar, Scenic Circles Indoor Tennis Centre, New Zealand Tennis", "Steffi Graf delights crowd at Westside Tennis Club - Houston Chronicle", "Steffi Graf: The Queen Returns to Centre Court", "Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Elton John headline an evening of tennis for charity in Washington", "ASAP Sports Transcripts - Tennis - 1995 - WTA TOUR CHAMPIONSHIPS - November 18 - Steffi Graf", "Today in Performance Sneaker History: Steffi Graf Becomes First Female with 500 Wins in Signature adidas Model", "Take a look at this Dunlop Steffi Graf ad from 1989! [55] In the Hamburg final, she lost for the first time in 1994 after 36 consecutive match victories, losing to Snchez Vicario in three sets. [32] That was the shortest-ever and most one-sided Grand Slam final ever and the only double bagel in a Major final since 1911. [127], Graf has signed many endorsement deals throughout the years including a ten-year endorsement deal with car manufacturer Opel in 1985,[128] and Rexona from 1994 to 1998. She subsequently withdrew from the Pan Pacific Open and had arthroscopic surgery performed on her left knee. She was one of the most fierce Tennis stars of her generation and tasted great success on every court. Serena Williams, who will face Kerber in the final, beat Steffi Graf for the title at Indian Wells, Calif., in 1999. She soon began taking the top prize at junior tournaments with regularity, going on to win the European Championships 12s and 18s in 1982. Graf also won the 1984 demonstration event at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, but this was for players aged 21 or under, and it was not an official Olympic event. It would also be the last loss Graf would ever have to Novotna in a match she completed (she did have a loss after withdrawing with injury after the first set of a late 1996 match). [103] Graf completely ruled out a return to professional tennis. [citation needed] In the year of Graf's retirement, Billie Jean King said, "Steffi [Graf] is definitely the greatest women's tennis player of all time. Graf said after the final that it would be her last French Open, fueling speculation about her retirement.[84]. Having also won bronze in the womens doubles with Claudia Kohde-Kilsch in Seoul, her Olympic record stands at four podium finishes, including two titles counting the one she won in Los Angeles aged 14 when tennis was a demonstration sport! [70][71] He was eventually released after serving 25 months. She claimed a prestigious and symbolic victory in the final against Yugoslavias Sabrina Gole on the courts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), winning 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. She is better than them all. 1988 French Open. Last edited on 20 February 2023, at 18:23, BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, Learn how and when to remove this template message, 3 different Grand Slam titles won without losing a set, 2 titles won without losing a set in the same calendar year, Tennis records of the Open Era - women's singles, "Duden | Steffi | Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition", "The 10 most influential players in the history of tennis", "ON TENNIS; Graf Is Best, Right? Graf started 1988 by winning the Australian Open, defeating Chris Evert in the final 61, 76. Since then, four players managed a 271 winloss record, meaning all of them failed to win the Grand Slam: Graf in 1989 and 1993, Martina Hingis in 1997, Roger Federer in 2006 and Novak Djokovic in both 2015 and 2021. She did not drop a set en route to the final, defeating Czechoslovakias Hana Mandlkov in the quarter-final and compatriot Claudia Kohde-Kilsch in the semi-final. . She would later become the world's number one female tennis player. Their bond was unbreakable, and as Steffi became a force in tennis, Peter was right beside hercontrolling her life and business off the court while she controlled the rhythms on it. The assailant, a fan of German . [144], In 1991, the Steffi Graf Youth Tennis Center in Leipzig was dedicated to her. A commemorative plaque outside the venue in Seoul bears testament to the event: Historic Place for Golden Slam. They have two children. Seles defeated Graf at the Australian Open 46, 63, 62. Only three other players have won the four majors plus the Olympic Games title, and never in the same calendar year. Her singles winloss record was 900115 (88.7 percent). Talk Tennis Guru. 2021 International Olympic Committee. . In the fall, Graf won the Volkswagen Card Cup in Leipzig a day before her foot operation, losing only two games to Jana Novotn in the final. In the late eighties and nineties Graf dominated. Graf and Kohde-Kilsch lost in the semifinals to Jana Novotn and Helena Sukov 75, 63. Whether this scandal affected Graf's form is open to debate. This is a list of the main career statistics of professional tennis player Steffi Graf. 49 . 1 player. Graf became the first player in the open era to defeat the first, second, and third ranked players in the same Grand Slam tournament by beating second-ranked Davenport in the quarterfinals and third-ranked Seles in the semifinals. Highly emotional and sensitive, with a temperament more suited to a poet than to a professional athlete, Steffi had a poignant sadness about . [50][51], During Seles's absence, Graf won 65 of 67 matches,[52] three of four Grand Slam events and the year-end Virginia Slims championships. Steffi Graf -vs- Opponent Name Score: Result: win/loss Part 1 : View Download Part 2 :View Download ., Steffi Graf - My Best: "Steffi is the goddess of Tennis" : John McEnroe "She let her racket do the talking. June 4, 2020 marks the 32nd anniversary of Steffi Graf's ruthless lesson in the 1998 French Open final with Natasha Zvereva on the receiving end. She struggled at the German Open in Berlin where she lost a 60 set to the unheralded Sabine Hack before defeating Mary Joe Fernndez and Sabatini in three-set matches to claim her seventh title there in eight years. Graf has a 20863 (76.8%) record against players who were, at the time the match was played, ranked in the top 10.[1]. SANCHEZ BEATS GRAF 17-YEAR-OLD WINS TITLE", "TENNIS - Sanchez Surprises Graf to Win the French Open", "Graf and Navratilova March to a Showdown", "WTA | Players | Head to Head | Steffi Graf", "TENNIS - Seles Struggles With Injury and W.T.A. That year Graf lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open in straight sets to Amanda Coetzer. Graf retired at the age of 30 in 1999 while ranked as the world No. The similarities and differences between Steffi Graf in 1988 and Serena Williams in 2015. Seles established herself as the new dominant player on the women's tour, winning the Australian Open, French Open, and US Open and, in March, ending Graf's record 186 consecutive-weeks hold on the World No. According to her coaches Pavel Sloil and Heinz Gnthardt, Graf's superior sense of timing was the key behind the success of her forehand. 1999 Athlete of the Century for the category Female Athlete in Ballsports by a panel of the, 1999 The Greatest Female Tennis Player of the 20th century, by a panel of tennis experts assembled by the Associated Press, 1999 Female Athlete of the Year, by the German television broadcaster ARD, 1999 Female Sports Award of the Last Decade, by, 1999 Olympic Order granted by Dr. Antonio Samaranch, president of the IOC, 2002 Medal of Honor, bestowed by the prime minister of Graf's home state, 2008 Cross of the Order of Merit awarded to her by German Federal President Horst Khler. [33] Zvereva, who had eliminated Martina Navratilova in the fourth round, won only thirteen points in the match.[33]. The pair was moderately successful, winning the 1988 Wimbledon Championships together and reaching the finals of the French Open in 1986, 1987 and 1989. [142] The Graf-Agassi family resides in Summerlin, a community in the Las Vegas Valley. Seles was behind 26 in the first-set tiebreaker, but then came back to win six points in a row and take the set. Graf reached 13 consecutive singles major finals from the 1987 French Open to the 1990 French Open, winning nine of them. [150] Flink said in 2020 that the jury was still out on (Serena) Williams as the greatest ever, but Williams' consistency over the long span did not match that of Graf or Navratilova. Graf played a singles exhibition match against Kim Clijsters and a mixed doubles exhibition alongside husband Andre Agassi against Tim Henman and Clijsters as part of a test event and celebration for the newly installed roof over Wimbledon's Centre Court in 2009. Her overall record in 56 Grand Slam events was 27832 (90 percent) (8410 at the French Open, 747 at Wimbledon, 739 at the US Open, and 476 at the Australian Open). . [41][42] Graf, however, recovered to defeat Martina Navratilova 62, 67, 61 in the Wimbledon final after defeating Monica Seles 60, 61 in a fourth round match, Arantxa Snchez Vicario in a quarterfinal, and Chris Evert in a semifinal. 22 in 1984, and No. At the Roland-Garros trophy ceremony, after she . Her 0.977 winning percentage is the second-highest in the open era behind Navratilova.[44]. [37] He went on to add, "I saw what Steffi did to Sabatini at the Australian Open this year, and that was it. It was 1986, and Graf was 17. [95][96][97], In late 1999 and early 2000, as part of her Farewell Tour, Graf played a series of exhibition matches against former rivals in New Zealand, Japan, Spain, Germany and South Africa. It was decided to grant her a joint number-one ranking with Graf who took her first loss of the year in the first round to Amanda Coetzer. Early life. After breaking Novotn's serve, Graf won the next four games to take the match 76, 16, 64. Going back in time, one can recall the right-handed player who fearlessly outplayed her opponents. She won no titles during the next three years, but her ranking climbed steadily to world No. It was important for me to win here, she said afterwards. A mixture of injury problems, personal difficulties, and loss of form made 1991 a tough year for Graf. Stefanie Maria Graf (/rf, rf/ GRA(H)F, German: [tfi af] (listen);[4][5] born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Performance timelines. . Just over 30 years old, Graf retired . Graf began 1993 with four losses in her first six tournaments of the year: two to Snchez Vicario and one each to Seles and the 36-year-old Martina Navratilova. thesportslegends. 'The Ten' went one way; you went another", "The greatest female tennis player of the last 50 years: the fans' verdict", "Exclusive Interview with Steve Flink about the career of Chris Evert", "A celebration of Martina Navratilova's multifaceted legacy", "Special events and records at the 1988 Australian Open Tennis Tournament", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steffi_Graf&oldid=1140574067, Golden Slam (4 majors + Olympic gold in same calendar year), Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam in addition to already winning a Grand Slam, 100% match winning percentage in 1 season, 100% match winning percentage in 3 separate seasons, 89.67% (278-32) match winning percentage overall, 5 calendar years winning 3+ Grand Slam titles, Defeated the top 3 seeded players in the same tournament, Reached the final of all four Grand Slams tournaments in a calendar year, Reached the final of all four Grand Slams tournaments in a calendar year three times, 5 years as wire-to-wire (all 52 weeks) No. In July 2005, Graf competed in one tie of World Team Tennis (WTT) on the Houston Wranglers team. Graf lost her singles match to Elena Likhovtseva 54. After breaking Sabatini's serve to even the third set at 66, Graf defeated Sabatini by winning the next two games to take the match 64, 36, 86. By August 1999, Graf had already announced twice that it was going to be her final year on the tour. Feb 24, 2023. "[89] The pair played their last major tournament together at the 1990 Wimbledon Championships, losing in the quarterfinals. She won there, comfortably beating Helena Sukov in the final after needing three sets to eliminate Gabriela Sabatini and Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. [68] 2 Hingis and world No. Since Graf skipped the Italian Open, she did not take part in the vote. Her winning streak (unbeaten since the 1989 French Open loss to Arantxa Snchez) continued with victories in Tokyo, Amelia Island, and Hamburg. [39] In the Boca Raton final, Graf lost the only set she conceded to Chris Evert in their final seven matches.[40]. "[15] In December 1999, Graf was named the greatest female tennis player of the 20th century by a panel of experts assembled by the Associated Press. She has a younger brother, Michael. At Wimbledon, after struggling through early-round three-setters against Mariaan de Swardt and Patty Fendick, she easily defeated Natasha Zvereva in the quarterfinal, Sabatini in the semifinal, and Seles in the final, 62, 61, with Seles playing in almost complete silence because of widespread media and player criticism of her grunting. At the US Open, Graf was upset in the quarterfinals by Snchez Vicario 76, 63. Steffi Graf - 22; The former German tennis star is third on the list with 22 grand slam titles victories. In an unusual arrangement, she paired with her coaches Pavel Sloil at Wimbledon in 1988 and Heinz Gnthardt in 1992 and 1996, also at Wimbledon. Sabatini served for the match twice, and was two points away from her first Wimbledon title. That was the last competitive match Graf and Snchez Vicario would ever play against one another. Graf lost twice to Sabatini during the spring, once on hardcourts in Boca Raton, Florida, and once on clay at Amelia Island, Florida. On 1 October 1988, in winning the final at the Olympic Games in Seoul, German tennis player Steffi Graf achieved what no one else had done before or has done since. [149], Tennis writer Steve Flink, in his book The Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth Century, named Graf as the best female player of the 20th century. Graf then won in Leipzig, with her 500th career victory coming in a quarterfinal against Judith Wiesner. This was not a first-round sacrifice, an opponent drawn at random. [153] She was elected as the German Sportsperson of the Year in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 and 1999. Answer (1 of 4): It isn't hard to replicate Steffi Graf's forehand, it's just not optimal. [69] In her defense, she stated that her father Peter was her financial manager, and all financial matters relating to her earnings at the time had been under his control. Graf is the only person to have won the 'Golden Slam' (1988). The Serbian tennis player this week surpassed Steffi Graf in the record of weeks at the top of the world ranking (both men's and women's) and there is curiosity to understand where Nole can arrive .