[44] Graf briefly regained the top ranking after winning at Wimbledon but lost it again after her loss to Navratilova at the US Open. 1 . Graf then won the tournament in Berlin, losing only twelve games in five matches. The weeks following Wimbledon [in 1999] weren't easy for me. 1, Reached the final of every tournament played in a calendar year, Two streaks of 5 years with winning percentage of 90%+, 8 WTA Tier 1/Premier-5/Premier Mandatory clay titles, 89.63% win rate (147-17) in WTA Tier 1/Premier-5/Premier Mandatory events, This page was last edited on 20 February 2023, at 18:23. [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. [70][71] He was eventually released after serving 25 months. Steffi Graf was born as Stefanie Maria Graf to Peter and Heidi Graf in Mannheim, Germany. Graf defeated Mary Joe Fernndez in the final of the Australian Open, which was her eighth Grand Slam singles title in the last nine she contested. Once again, she reached the final without conceding a single set. 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).When she was nine years old, her family moved to the neighboring town of Brhl.She has a younger brother, Michael. WATCH THIS STORY: When Roger Federer toyed his opponent so bad, he asked for advice from Andre Agassi in the crowd Wimbledon championships. 1988 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, 1996 Most Exciting Player of the Year, by the WTA, 1998 Most Exciting Player of the Year, by the WTA, 1999 Most Exciting Player of the Year, by the WTA. Graf ended 1989 with an 862 match record and the loss of only 12 sets. Steffi is the GOAT in women's tennis because she's the most dominant player to ever play this game. [133], In 1997, she left the Catholic Church, citing personal reasons. Steffi Graf was a dominant force in tennis during the late 1980s and for much of the 1990s. She subsequently withdrew from the Pan Pacific Open and had arthroscopic surgery performed on her left knee. This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 20:01. Instead of being hailed as the undisputed female GOAT, people will always talk about her mysterious backhand deficiency. Chicago was notable, however, for being the first tournament Graf played with her new coach, former Swiss player Heinz Gnthardt. She also won her fifth and final WTA Tour Championships title with a five set win over Martina Hingis, with Hingis cramping up in the fifth set. Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams. At the end of the year, the municipality of Brhl, her hometown, gave her the title of honorary citizen. She hit the sliced backhand harder and with more underspin than any woman I have ever seen. Graf won a majority of her slams using her sharp slice backhand and her incredible forehand. 1 ranking for the first time in her career, a ranking she would hold for the next 186 consecutive weeks, a record (it was tied by Serena Williams in 2016). In the French Open final, Graf defeated Navratilova, who was the world No. [105] It was the first time in 14 years Graf had played Navratilova. Sela said: Is it possible to have another 1988 Golden Grand Slam Steffi Graf: yeah sure, anything's possible, like having all eight planets aligned in the solar system. As true as that forehand was, the mask was no less a lie. In total, she won 22 Grand Slam titles: the Australian Open four times, Roland Garros six times, Wimbledon seven times and the US Open five times. Despite their differences, their careers, on and off the court . [16], In March 2012, Tennis Channel picked Graf as the greatest female tennis player ever in their list of 100 greatest tennis players of all time. Graf, meanwhile, was back to defend her Olympic title on the clay courts of Barcelona 1992, where she took silver after losing to the USAs Jennifer Capriati in the final. This including playing basketball and working with specialists in nutrition, physical and mental strength. And Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, arguably the most accomplished sports couple there ever was, had good reason to be on campus that day. All Rights Reserved. She repeated the feat in 1993, 1995, and 1996. [66] In August Monica Seles made her much anticipated return to tennis at the Canadian Open. 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. Graf had complained of an issue with her left knee but showed little trouble outplaying her opponent. On 17 August, after defeating Evert in a straight set final in the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles, Graf overtook Navratilova for the world No. She was anchored in the top spot in the Women's Tennis Association rankings for a record 377 weeks, including 186 consecutive from August 1987 to March 1991. [131][132] In 2015, she was appointed as the brand ambassador of Kerala tourism, for promoting Ayurveda in North America and Europe. In the third and deciding set, Novotn had a point to go up 51 on her serve. Then on 11 September in New York, Graf became the first woman to win all four Grand Slam tournaments in the same year since Australias Margaret Smith-Court in 1970. Feb 24, 2023. 98 in 1983, No. . Chosen by World Economic Forum As Young Global Leader for 2008, Godmother of the Navigator of The Seas (Royal Caribbean Cruiselines), 2002. Four consecutive indoor tournament victories in the autumn helped improve her season, but for the third consecutive year, she failed to win the Virginia Slims Championships, where she lost in the first round to Lori McNeil. She teamed with Ansley Cargill in women's doubles against Anna Kournikova and Likhovtseva but lost 52. 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. 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. In Indian Wells Graf lost to Serena Williams in three sets. Graf then won three consecutive indoor titles at Tokyo, Zurich, and Brighton, before once again contending with Navratilova at the season-ending Virginia Slims Championships in New York. 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. 3 at that time and said, "I have done everything I wanted to do in tennis. 1 men's tennis player Andre Agassi in October 2001. [109], Note: #3. Stefanie Maria "Steffi" Graf (German pronunciation: [tf gaf]; born 14 Juin 1969) is a umwhile Warld No. Fury's brother suggests alternative opponent if Usyk fight does not happen. That was the last competitive match Graf and Snchez Vicario would ever play against one another. Shortly after the US Open, she underwent surgery to remove a bone spur in her right wrist. After surviving a scare in a three-setter against Amanda Coetzer in the first round, Graf reached the final with relative ease, while Seles went through her side of the draw in even more convincing fashion. . Do Not Disturb. . Finally Graf was given a match but prevailed 6-3, 7-6 where she would meet a surprise opponent in the final. [82] Upon her return Graf defeated world No. David Douillet writes judo history in Sydney in 2000. [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. Sport - Tennis: Novak Djokovic equals Steffi Graf's record for most weeks as world number one: Novak Djokovic equals Steffi Graf's record for most weeks as world. 1999 Germany Television Award for her outstanding performance as tennis player and her importance to the German public. [135][136], From 1992 to 1999, Graf dated racing driver Michael Bartels. This is a list of the main career statistics of professional tennis player Steffi Graf. [59][60] She began to wear a back brace and was unsure about playing the US Open but elected to play while receiving treatment and stretching for two hours before each match. 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. Seles defeated Graf at the Australian Open 46, 63, 62. 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. 1 ranking for the first time in 22 months. The experience of 88 in Seoul probably stands out, just coming from the US Open where I won the Grand Slam. Only results in WTA Tour (incl. In the late eighties and nineties Graf dominated. Her rivalries with Yugoslavias Monica Seles and Spains Arantxa Snchez Vicario in the 1980s and 1990s have gone down in tennis folklore. [134] During her career, Graf divided her time between her hometown of Brhl; Boca Raton, Florida; and New York City where she owned a penthouse in the former Police Headquarters Building in SoHo. She was named the 1988 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year. Next up were the grass courts of Wimbledon, where Graf was never in any danger until the final, when she came up against six-time defending champion Navratilova, unbeaten since 1981. Steffi Graf was already world number one, and just shy of 19 years old, when she began the 1988 season. At the US Open, Graf beat Sabatini in a three-set final to win the Grand Slam by 63, 36, 61, a feat previously performed by only two other women, Maureen Connolly Brinker in 1953 and Margaret Court in 1970. I was not having fun anymore. Graf lost an Australian Open quarterfinal to Jana Novotn, the first time she did not reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament since the 1986 French Open. . 1 Martina Navratilova, and reached two finals, at Wimbledon and the US Open, losing out to Navratilova in both. Though she lost the game to opponent Tracy Austin by 6-4, 6-0, this did very little to dishearten the young blood. 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. It was 1986, and Graf was 17. In October, Graf defeated Sabatini in an exhibition match in Mannheim, Germany, winning both of their sets. In their prime, they ruled their eras with their own dominating styles. [48] In Boca Raton, Florida, Graf reached her first final of the year, where she faced Conchita Martnez for the title. During a quarterfinal match between Seles and Magdalena Maleeva in Hamburg, Seles was stabbed between the shoulder blades by a mentally ill German fan of Graf, Gnter Parche. Novak Djokovic has arrived in Japan for the Tokyo Olympics 2020, and he is looking as confident as ever. Opponent W L Win% TB W L TB% First Last MS DR A% DF% 1stIn 1st% 2nd% SPW RPW BPSvd% BPCnv% 40: Gabriela Sabatini [ARG] 29: 11: 72.5%: 14: 7: 7: 50.0%: . 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. Martina Navratilova included Graf at the top of her list of the greatest players ever. She partnered with doubles specialist Mark Woodforde at the Australian Open in 1994, with Henri Leconte at Wimbledon in 1991 and at the French Open in 1994, and with Charlie Pasarell at the US Open in 1984. Fernandez had two break points to take a 30 and double break lead in the third set. 3, She was not included in the official year end ranking. She lost twice to Sabatini in the early spring at the Lipton International and the Bausch & Lomb Championships, which now brought her to seven losses in her last eight matches against Sabatini; however, the Bausch & Lomb loss would be Graf's final loss to Sabatini, winning her next, and last eight matches against Sabatini.[49]. Her toughest battle came against rising star Martina Hingis in the semifinal, with Hingis unable to convert on five set points. 1 was in peerless form on the clay courts of Roland .