(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (WL) winloss record. Meanwhile, her naturally aggressive style of play, effective backhand slice and speed around the court made her even more dominant on fast surfaces such as hard courts, grass and carpet. She soon began taking the top prize at junior tournaments with regularity, going on to win the European Championships 12s and 18s in 1982. (W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (WL) winloss record. . In 1988, there was no bronze medal match, and both beaten semifinalists received bronze medals. Steffi Graf: Steffi Graf has 22 grand slams to her name, most coming during the late 80s and 90s. 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. Speculation was rife at the beginning of 1989 about the possibility of Graf winning another Grand Slam. Serena was 17. Peter Graf also kept a tight rein on Graf's personal life. Working with her father and then-coach Pavel Sloil, Graf typically practiced for up to four hours a day, often heading straight from airports to practice courts. Soon after, she split with her long-time coach, Pavel Sloil. 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. ", "An Evolutionary History of Tennis Racquets", "Marketing to the female target audience", "OFFBEAT: Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf team up for new tennis racquet", "Viewing Gallery: Happy Birthday! [17] Graf married former world No. 2021 International Olympic Committee. Jaz Elle Agassi is best known as being a daughter of former tennis couple Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi.. Parents Wedding. Steffi Graf collided against Spain's Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the finals of the 1995 Wimbledon. "Steffi Graf is the best all-around player," said Evert, whose name is also mentioned as one of the all-time greats. She and Agassi, her husband, were on Team Elton John, which competed against Team Billie Jean King. Graf did not lose a set during the tournament and lost a total of only 29 games. On this day in 1999, Steffi Graf bid adieu to the sport just weeks after winning the French Open and reaching the Wimbledon final. In 1985 and early 1986, Graf emerged as the top challenger to the dominance of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. Graf's father had approached Gnthardt during the 1991 Virginia Slims Championships. In February 2000, Graf played against Kimiko Date at Nagoya Rainbow Hall in Tokyo, winning in three sets. Opponent Score Loss: 1986: Year-end championships: Carpet (i) Martina Navratilova: 6-7 (8-10), 3-6, 2-6 Win: 1987: Year-end championships: [21] Her father, an aspiring tennis coach, first introduced her to the game, teaching his three-year-old daughter how to swing a wooden racket in the family's living room. This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 20:01. Her rivalries with Yugoslavias Monica Seles and Spains Arantxa Snchez Vicario in the 1980s and 1990s have gone down in tennis folklore. 1 German tennis player. 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! 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. Like the exhibition match the previous year against Sabatini, proceeds went to "Children for Tomorrow". The teenager had taken part at the Los Angeles Games in 1984 when tennis made its Olympic return as a demonstration sport, 60 years after it was dropped from the programme. Graf had complained of an issue with her left knee but showed little trouble outplaying her opponent. After victories in Montreal and San Diego, Graf reached the US Open final, where she lost in straight sets to Sabatini. [63][64], A strained right calf muscle forced Graf to withdraw from the Australian Open. thesportslegends. She won her first French Open title since 1988 with a three-set victory over Mary Joe Fernndez in the final. She was successful, however, in the mixed doubles match. 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. Graf served for the match at 53 in the third set but lost the game and won only three more points in the match. In October, Graf defeated Sabatini in an exhibition match in Mannheim, Germany, winning both of their sets. Shortly after the US Open, she underwent surgery to remove a bone spur in her right wrist. He claimed that he committed the attack to help Graf reclaim the world No. The 19-year-old Graf lost the first set 7-5 before getting the measure of her rival and fighting back to take the next two sets 6-2, 6-1. It actually had several major flaws, especially based on today's understanding of stroke. [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. In her professional tennis career, Steffi Graf spent 377 weeks as the No. Her winning streak (unbeaten since the 1989 French Open loss to Arantxa Snchez) continued with victories in Tokyo, Amelia Island, and Hamburg. She has a younger brother, Michael. She basically became a backhand slice guru ,,, This became only single taint in Graf's tennis career. [143] Graf's mother and her brother also live there. . [147] In November 2018, Tennis.com polled its readers to choose the greatest women's tennis player of all time and Graf came in first. [123] In 2006, she signed an endorsement deal with Head. Since Graf skipped the Italian Open, she did not take part in the vote. [122][129] Other companies she has endorsed include Barilla, Apollinaris, Citibank, Danone and Teekanne. 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. [a] Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 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. SAN DIEGO The shock was not that top-ranked Steffi Graf won another match, 6-0, 6-0. She started the year strongly, with six tournament victories heading into the French Open, with the highlight being at the tournament in Miami, where she defeated Martina Navratilova in a semifinal and Chris Evert in the final and lost only 20 games in the seven rounds of the tournament. [73] Graf came back to the tour in March, winning back to back titles in Indian Wells and Miami, followed by a record ninth title at the German Open in May and a quarterfinal defeat in Rome against Martina Hingis. This is a list of the main career statistics of professional tennis player Steffi Graf. Steffi Graf with the Wimbledon trophy in 1989 after defeating Martina Navratilova 6-2, 6-7 (1), 6-1 in the final. At the Roland-Garros trophy ceremony, after she . [34] She then won tournaments in Hamburg and Mahwah (where she lost only eight games all tournament). The match was poised for a final set to decide the . At the 1999 French Open, Graf and Agassi . . [122] Graf's racquets were strung at 29 kilograms (64 pounds), significantly above the 50-60 pound range recommended by Wilson. Along with Boris Becker, Graf was considered instrumental in popularizing tennis in Germany, where it remains one of the foremost national sports.[18][19][20]. The last few years of Graf's career were beset by injuries, particularly to her knees and back. Focus only on getting better. Extremely sound advice! 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%: . Graf developed a bone spur at the base of her spine due to a congenital condition of the sacroiliac joint. [109], Note: And so many times she was able to absorb her opponent's biggest blows and . Graf secured the World 124th position in her first year. Martina revolutionized women's tennis with her hardcore workout regimen to become more fit and stronger than her opponents. She also . Graf won 6-0, 6-0. Graf later stated it was the best tennis she had ever played in a Grand Slam final. [65] She came back in February, winning four consecutive tournaments in Paris, Delray Beach, Miami and Houston. 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. "[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. However, she finished her year with a highlight, winning her first Virginia Slims Championships since 1989 by beating Arantxa Snchez Vicario in the final despite needing painkillers for a back injury. [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. In the middle of the second set, Graf suffered back spasms while reaching for a ball in the ad court. Following her tournament victory in German Open in Berlin, Graf suffered one of the worst defeats of her career in a French Open semifinal where she won only two games against Snchez Vicario and lost her first 60 set since 1984. Graf then won the tournament in Berlin, losing only twelve games in five matches. In the meantime, she lost surprisingly to Nicole Bradtke of Australia in a Fed Cup match on clay before winning the Acura Classic in San Diego and the Canadian Open in Toronto in preparation for the US Open. That doesn't mean it will happen. But the world of tennis is still waiting for another player capable of securing a Golden Slam in one year. (Twelve years later, Graf defeated Austin 60, 60 during a second round match at the Evert Cup in Indian Wells, California, which was their second and last match against each other. At Wimbledon, Graf lost in the semifinals to Zina Garrison, who with this victory broke Graf's string of 13 consecutive major finals. 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. At the beginning of 1999 Graf played the warm up event to the Australian Open in Sydney; she defeated Serena Williams in the second round and Venus in the quarterfinals before losing to Lindsay Davenport in the semifinal. TMF. Venus Williams. 1 ranking. However, Graf admitted in 1995 that she would have preferred having a two-handed backhand in retrospect. Graf lost to Conchita Martnez in her comeback tournament a month later in Philadelphia. They have two children. [54] She then won her next four tournaments in Tokyo, Indian Wells, Delray Beach and Miami respectively. "[87], From the beginning of her career until 1990, Graf regularly played doubles matches in Grand Slams and other tournaments, winning a total of 11 doubles titles. Stefanie Maria "Steffi" Graf; 14. 1969, , ) . [43] In the final, Navratilova led 63, 42 before Graf rallied to win 36, 75, 61 for her third Grand Slam singles title of the year. "[89] Her endurance and superior footwork allowed her to excel on clay courts, where, in addition to six French Open titles, she won 26 regular tour events, including a record eight titles at the German Open. Graf then went on to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open before losing to Monica Seles in two sets. 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. The pair was moderately successful, winning the 1988 Wimbledon Championships together and reaching the finals of the French Open in 1986, 1987 and 1989. 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. One was 19 and one is pushing 34. And Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, arguably the most accomplished sports couple there ever was, had good reason to be on campus that day. [100] In September 2004, Graf dispatched her former doubles partner Gabriela Sabatini, in straight sets, in an exhibition match played in Berlin, Germany. She then beat Snchez Vicario in the finals of both the French Open and Wimbledon. Performance timelines. Graf warmed up for the US Open with easy tournament victories in San Diego and Mahwah. to overwhelm her opponents. It just felt something special that I was going to, recalls Graf. She repeated the feat in 1993, 1995, and 1996. Voted The best female role model in sports in a survey by Barclays, sponsors of the Premier League, 2010. 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. The shock was who she did it against. She subsequently withdrew from the Pan Pacific Open and had arthroscopic surgery performed on her left knee. She then lost to Sabatini in her next three tournaments before winning the U.S. Hardcourt Championships in San Antonio, beating Monica Seles in the final. Answer (1 of 4): It isn't hard to replicate Steffi Graf's forehand, it's just not optimal. The German allowed Zvereva just 13 points, three of them in that one early game. played a game called "Can you last an hour on court with Graf" because throughout her career she used to beat her opponents 6-0 6-1. She had just lost a three-set semifinal to No. [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. 1999 Prince of Asturias Award, one of the most important awards of Spain and named after the heir apparent of Spain. That year Graf lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open in straight sets to Amanda Coetzer. It was 1986, and Graf was 17. Just over 30 years old, Graf retired . Her toughest battle came against rising star Martina Hingis in the semifinal, with Hingis unable to convert on five set points. Graf, Kerber's idol . [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. The 1995 Wimbledon final is regarded as one of the most dramatic women's major finals in history as Graf and Snchez Vicario battled in a tight third set that included a 16-minute long, 13-deuce game on Sanchez Vicario's serve at 55. [101] She was beaten in two out of three matches, with each match being one set. . In 2010, Graf participated in the WTT Smash Hits exhibition in Washington, D.C. to support the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The partnership was the subject of much discussion, as the two women, both known to be shy, usually kept communication to a minimum during changeovers and between points, a highly unusual situation in doubles. After Wimbledon, for the first time in my career, I didn't feel like going to a tournament. Suffering from food poisoning, she had struggled to beat Monica Seles in their semifinal 63, 36, 63 and said that she had menstrual cramps in the final. She lost the world No. Though she lost the game to opponent Tracy Austin by 6-4, 6-0, this did very little to dishearten the young blood. Opel Corsa Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary", "Steffi Graf is Longines' Newest Abassador", "SRK and Steffi Graf to represent Kerala tourism", "Steffi: proof that the rich don't get to heaven", "The Trials of Steffi Graf: with her father in jail and her own innocence being questioned, the world's best woman tennis player has finally been forced to take control of her life", "Tennis: Agassi taking different tact [sic] with fatherhood,", "Tennis legend Steffi Graf talks Royal Ascot and her career to HELLO! [24] In 1985, for instance, she played only ten events leading up to the US Open, whereas another up-and-coming star, Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina, who was a year younger than Graf, played 21. The loss deprived her of the Golden Super Slam. At Wimbledon, Graf defeated Jana Novotn to win her third consecutive, and fifth overall, ladies' title. [28][29][30][31] The official time of the match given on the scoresheet was 34 minutes; however, just 32 minutes of that was spent on the court, as a rain break split the match into two periods of play, of nine and 23 minutes. In 1996, Steffi Graf was famously proposed to by a fan as she was getting ready to serve. 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. She made it to the final and took the first set against Snchez Vicario but lost the next two sets Sanchez Vicario's last victory over Graf. [62] Although Graf ended the year ranked No. Graf is the only female athlete in the list of Forbes Top-30 Most recognizable and marketable athletes in 1995. 1, 64, 46, 86 after beating Sabatini in a three-set semifinal. The match was the Wimbledon women's singles semi-final between Ms Graf and Kimiko Date. She has appeared in many advertisements and television commercials with Andre Agassi including Canon Inc.[130] and Longines in 2008 (Agassi became Longines ambassador in 2007). Steffi Graf is seen as one of tennis' best ever players, winning 22 Grand Slams but 1988 was the year that will never be beaten. . She was unstoppable. Less than three weeks after beating her in New York, Graf inflicted yet another defeat on the Argentinean, giving her no chance with an imposing 6-3, 6-3 victory. [145], In 2001, Graf indicated that she preferred to be called Stefanie instead of Steffi. [148] In July 2020, The Guardian polled its readers to determine the greatest female tennis player of the past 50 years, and Steffi was the clear favorite, picking up nearly twice as many votes as any other player. 1 player. [107] Graf played in the celebrity doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles before straining her left calf muscle and being replaced by Anna Kournikova. 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. Starting in the early 1990s, she used the slice almost exclusively in baseline rallies and mostly limited the topspin backhand to passing shots. Her glittering career saw her occupy the world no.1 spot for a total of 377 weeks (a record), including a run of 186 consecutive weeks between August 1987 and March 1991. This time, Navratilova beat Graf 76, 63, 62. Even discounting that result, no other player had played and won 27 Grand Slam matches in a single year before. Graf was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004. She survived an intense three-set battle with Helena Sukova in the semis, breaking in the tenth and final game to win the third set 64. 1 Martina Navratilova, and reached two finals, at Wimbledon and the US Open, losing out to Navratilova in both. In the late eighties and nineties Graf dominated. 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]. [115], Early in her career, Graf wore Dunlop apparel, before signing an endorsement contract with Adidas in 1985. [155], In 2004, the Berliner Tennis-Arena was renamed Steffi-Graf-Stadion in honor of Graf. Serena did that only for a few tournaments in her career while Steffi did . Graf again lost to Monica Seles in the final of the French Open 67, 46. . Graf's semifinal match at the 1988 US Open was a walkover (so not counted as win), The main weapons in Graf's game were her powerful inside-out forehand drive (which earned her the moniker Frulein Forehand) and her intricate footwork. "Peter Graf" redirects here. At the US Open, Graf was upset in the quarterfinals by Snchez Vicario 76, 63. She reached a total of 31 singles major finals. Wimbledon authorities then threatened to immediately shut down any subsequent press conferences where questions about the issue were asked. Even though she lost the opening set, Graf went on to prevail in three sets. The experience of 88 in Seoul probably stands out, just coming from the US Open where I won the Grand Slam. A bout of rubella forced Graf to miss the first major event of 1992, the Australian Open. Graf's Grand Slam tournament winning streak ended at the French Open, where 17-year-old Spaniard Arantxa Snchez Vicario beat Graf in three sets. Voted Most admirable German woman by Amica magazine, 2005. In 2015, Graf was the recipient of the International Club's Jean Borotra Sportsmanship Award. [145] She is the founder and chairperson of "Children for Tomorrow", a non-profit foundation established in 1998 for implementing and developing projects to support children who have been traumatized by war or other crises. On 13 April 1986, Graf won her first WTA tournament and beat Evert for the first time in the final of the Family Circle Cup in Hilton Head, South Carolina (she never lost to Evert again, beating her six more times over the next three and a half years). Whether this scandal affected Graf's form is open to debate. The following day, Andre Agassi won the mens singles tournament, coming back from two sets down to beat Russias Andrei Medvedev, and he and Graf later started dating. 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. She is the only singles player (male or female) to have achieved a Grand Slam across three surfaces (grass, clay, and hard courts). It was important for me to win here, she said afterwards. I don't care who believes Court and Serena are greater than her because I don't subscribe to highest slam count is the be-all and end-all in GOAT. 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. [74] Graf had led 41 in the second set tiebreak, only to lose six points in a row and force a decider. 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. 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. [115], She built her powerful and accurate serve up to 183km/h (114mph), making it one of the fastest serves in women's tennis and was a capable volleyer. . She lost her first round match 64, 60 to Tracy Austin, a two-time US Open champion and former world No. [67][68], In personal terms, 1995 was a difficult year for Graf, as she was accused by German authorities of tax evasion in the early years of her career. Fury's brother suggests alternative opponent if Usyk fight does not happen. I've always looked up to her and the way she approached the game" : Pete Sampras Steffi Graf Youth Tennis Center was founded and dedicated October 1991 in Leipzig, Germany.Founder and Chairperson of Children for Tomorrow, a non-profit foundation with the goal of implementing and developing projects to support children who have been traumatized by war or other crises, and she is directly involved in the running of the . In July 2005, Graf competed in one tie of World Team Tennis (WTT) on the Houston Wranglers team. Steffi Graf was born as Stefanie Maria Graf on 14th June 1969 in West Germany. Once was in Syndey early in the year at a small tournament, and again at Indian Wells, 1999. [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. Shortly after the stabbing, during a players meeting at the Italian Open in Rome, 17 of the world's top 25 WTA members voted against preserving Seles' world No. Graf began playing tennis with the encouragement of her father, who became her coach. Nominated and voted the title Mother of the nation in her country, Germany, 2010. [22] She began practising on a court at the age of four and played in her first tournament at five. And Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, arguably the most accomplished sports couple there ever was, had good reason to be on campus that day. n 1973 Steffi avea 3 ani cnd a luat prima oar n Brhl (Baden) o rachet de tenis n mn. 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. Only three other players have won the four majors plus the Olympic Games title, and never in the same calendar year. 3. Torture and boredom, boredom and torture, that's how it is for Steffi Graf. 98 in 1983, No. Chicago was notable, however, for being the first tournament Graf played with her new coach, former Swiss player Heinz Gnthardt. Navratilova, therefore, . [58] Graf still managed to win San Diego the following month but aggravated a long-time back injury in beating Snchez Vicario in the final. Stefanie Graf was awarded with the Golden Sports Pyramid, the highest distinction of the German Sports Fund in Herzogenaurach by the Adidas chairman Herbert Hainer on 24 June 2008. Steffi Graf vs. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario ** **Head to Head: **28-8, Graf . Seles won the match on her fifth match point; Graf came within two points of winning the match a few games earlier. . She was one of the most fierce Tennis stars of her generation and tasted great success on every court. She was also inducted to the German Sport Hall of Fame. I had one day to turn around, get home, change and get on the flight to Seoul. I have complied some stats . 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). 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. [144], In 1991, the Steffi Graf Youth Tennis Center in Leipzig was dedicated to her. And the year began as expected, with Graf extending her Grand Slam tournament winning streak to five events at the Australian Open, defeating Helena Sukov in the final. Ideea de a ncerca jocul de tenis aparine tatlui ei, Peter Graf, care era agent la o asociaie de asigurri i vnztor de automobile pn la vrsta de 27 de ani cnd descoper posibilitile sale n domeniul sportului de tenis.