STEFANIE GRAF, better known as Steffi Graf, is perhaps the greatest ever female tennis player to have played the game. Some of her facts and achievements are listed below:
Born: 6-14-69 Height: 5'9 Weight: 132 lbs
Turned Pro: 1982 Country: Germany
Played: Right-handed
1983: Became the 2nd youngest player to receive a ranking at 13 years.
1984: Won an Gold Medal in the tennis demonstration at the Los Angeles Olympics. Defeated Sabrina Goles in the Finals in 3 sets. Reached her first career final.
1985: Reached 3 more tournament finals and moved into the Top 10, finishing the year ranked 6th.
1988: Had probably the best season in tennis history. Won the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open, becoming the 3rd woman and 5th player overall to win the Grand Slam. Also won a Gold Medal at the Olympics in Seoul, becoming the first person in tennis history to win the Golden Grand Slam. She also is the only person to win a Grand Slam on four different surfaces (carpet, clay, grass, hardcourt). Was 72-3 in matches. Named WTA player of the year for the 2nd straight year. Won her only Grand Slam doubles title with Gabriela Sabatini at Wimbledon. Won 11 tournaments for the 2nd consecutive year. Had a 46 match win streak from May 9 to Nov 18.
1989: Won the Australian Open, giving her 5 consecutive Grand Slam victories, one short of the record. Lost in the finals of the French Open to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, but came back to win Wimbledon and the US Open, giving her 7 wins in the last 8 Grand Slams and 11 consecutive Grand Slam Finals.
1990: Won the Australian Open for the 3rd straight year, giving her 8 wins in the last 9 Grand Slam events. Lost in the finals of the French Open, extending her streak to 13 consecutive Grand Slam finals.
1991: Her victory at Wimbledon made her the sixth woman to win 10 Grand Slam events. Regained the #1 ranking from Aug 5-12 and from Aug 19-Sept 8. She won her 500th career match on Oct 2. Won at least one Grand Slam event for the 5th straight year.
1993: Lost in the finals of the Australian Open to Monica Seles in 3 sets. Went on to win the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Regained the #1 ranking on June 7. Became the only person to win all 4 Grand Slams in the '90s and one of very few people to win all 4 Grand Slams in 2 different decades. Graf won at least 3 Grand Slams for the 3rd time in her career, setting a new record
1994: Won the Australian Open, becoming the 2nd woman to win a non-calendar year Grand Slam. She became the 1st person to win both a calendar year and a non-calendar year Grand Slam on separate occasions.
1995: Did not enter the Australian Open due to injury, but won the French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open. Beat Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon (4-6, 6-1, 7-5, in an incredible match--game 11 of the third set had 32 points!) and defeated Monica Seles in the finals to win her 4th US Open
1996: Once again missed the Australian Open because of an injury and once again won the other three, making it six in a row that she played and probably just missing two consecutive Grand Slams only because of injuries! Again, just like last year, she Defeated Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in the finals of the French Open (6-3, 6-7, 10-8, fighting off several match points, in one of the greatest matches ever) and Wimbledon (6-3, 7-5), and beat Monica Seles in the finals of the US Open (7-5, 6-4).
1997: Finally returned to the Australian Open and won her record 45th consecutive Grand Slam match in the third round, but lost to Amanda Coetzer in the fourth round. A week later, she withdrew from a tournament in Japan just before the finals against Martina Hingis because of a knee injury that required surgery. Missed about 3 months and lost her #1 ranking to Hingis during that time after a record total of 377 weeks, basically 1/4 of her life!
1998: Graf's comeback was delayed many times and she missed both the Australian and French Opens before she finally made it back. Wimbledon was her first Grand Slam in just over a year, and while she still showed flashes of brilliance, she also was very rusty and got upset in the 3rd round by Natasha Zvereva.
1999: Continued her comeback at the Australian Open, where once again, she did one round better than her last Grand Slam, losing to Seles in the quarterfinals. Soon after, she became the WTA career leader in prize money. Kept moving up the ranks and was #6 going into the French Open, the 4th Grand Slam since she came back. Although still missing half a step compared to a couple years ago, that was still good enough to dominate the early rounds. She faced #2 Lindsay Davenport in the QF, and won in a tough 3-setter. Then she had a rematch with her old rival Seles (3 seed), which also went to 3 sets, Graf pulling away in the 3rd, setting up a dream final with current #1 Martina Hingis, her record 9th French Open final. Hingis won the first set and was up a break in the second, serving for the match, but Graf, showing the true heart of a champion, fought back to take the second set and went on to win the third, claiming her 22nd Grand Slam and first since '96, moving her to 2nd with 6 French Opens, one short of Chris Evert's record! She is the only player ever to beat the 1, 2, and 3 seeds in a Grand Slam. After the match, she announced that she would not play another French Open, saying that she could not hope to top her performance in this one.
Alas!! Every great thing has an end. On Friday the 13th of August, Steffi Graf, winner of 22 Grand Slams, the #1 player in the world for a record 377 weeks, the greatest player in the history of tennis, currently ranked #3, and two-time defending Grand Slam finalist, retired at the age of 30..
There should be no doubt about the greatest tennis player ever now, should there?
