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© Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum |
Germany's Steffi Graf won the Wimbledon Singles crown
seven times in a stellar career that included a Golden Grand
Slam in 1988.
Steffi Graf was definitely the player of her era, dominating
the women’s game for over a decade to win 22 singles
Grand Slam titles. That’s four more than Martina Navratilova
collected, though the ex-Czech totalled many more when you
bring her doubles achievements into the equation.
Hailing from Bruhl in Germany, the 5’9” Graf
first came onto the Grand Slam scene in 1983 aged 14. Two
years later her potential became evident as she reached
the last four of the US Open, a few months after I first
met her at her family home. Looking back I can remember
feeling that here was someone destined for the big time.
Whilst quiet and modest, an underlying determination was
always evident.
She revealed then that she had only played on grass “about
four times”, and, whilst a keen admirer of Wimbledon
champions Martina Navratilova – “I think her
game is perfect" – plus Jimmy Connors’
“fighting qualities” and John McEnroe’s
“touch and feel”, she didn’t expect to
make much of an impact at SW19 for a few years to come.
And she was right. She won The Championships for the first
time in 1988, having reached the final of all the five previous
Slams, losing just two of them. That year was to prove her
greatest year. She not only made the Grand Slam –
winning all four majors in a calendar year, only the third
woman to do so – she turned it into a Golden Slam
by taking the Olympic title when tennis returned to the
Games in Seoul.
She reigned as world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and in
total won 106 tour titles, all contributing to her US$21,895,277
prize-money fortune. She was named World Champion by the
International Tennis Federation on seven occasions, another
record.
Injuries started to affect her career in 1996 and during
the ensuing years she underwent a series of operations to
remove bone chips in her left knee and both feet. Chronic
back pain also hampered her during this period but she eventually
retired when she was beaten in a second round match by Amy
Frazier in San Diego, in August 1999.
Her fans remain numerous and it was one of her more fanatical
ones that shocked the world in April 1993 when he stabbed
Monica Seles in the back during a change-over in a match
played in Hamburg in order to help Graf regain the world
number-one slot.
She won Wimbledon seven times and her last appearance at
a Slam was at the 1999 final, when she lost in straight
sets to Lindsay Davenport. She refused to confirm it would
be her last Wimbledon and when later asked why she hadn’t,
she simply replied: “It was Lindsay’s day.”
However, a few weeks earlier she had won the French for
a sixth time in a classic encounter, destroying Martina
Hingis 6-2 in the third set. It proved to be a traumatic
experience for the Swiss, then No.1 in the world, who had
come within three points of winning her first Roland Garros
title. Hingis never recovered, losing in the first round
of The Championships four weeks later.
Graf married Andre Agassi in October 2001 and gave birth
to a son later that same month, and a daughter in October 2003.
As expected, on her retirement and subsequent marriage,
Graf has avoided the limelight, preferring to watch her
husband in action from the stands whenever possible. There
has been no mention of any form of comeback, though she
was ranked three when she announced her retirement. But
a buzz of excitement was felt in tennis circles when her
husband announced, during Melbourne last January, that she
had agreed to play Mixed Doubles with him at the French
Open should he go on to win the Australian Open singles.
He did, but was then forced to admit she hadn’t agreed
and would not play!
A determined lady who never abused her position and was
always considerate of others; admired world-wide for her
graciousness in defeat and victory, she is sorely missed
on the pro circuit. And the stroke which proved her most
striking weapon, her sledgehammer forehand, has assured
her of a place in tennis history.
Written by Barry Newcombe
STEFFI GRAF
Singles Champion: 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996
Singles Runner-up: 1987, 1999
Doubles Champion: 1988
