[22] She began practising on a court at the age of four and played in her first tournament at five. Seles won the match on her fifth match point; Graf came within two points of winning the match a few games earlier. Her name was Martina Hingis. 2 (21-06-10) Titles. 1 Ranking", "Graf wastes no time reaching another final", "Roland-Garros - the 2021 Roland-Garros Tournament official site", "The 1988 French Open: how Agassi arrived, Graf ruled and Wilander won", "TENNIS; Graf Shuts Out Zvereva to Gain French Open Title", "Wimbledon; An Era Ends as Graf Beats Navratilova", "Forget Calendar Slam, "Surface Slam" Almost as Rare", "THE SEOUL GAMES: Women's Tennis: Graf Turns Her Slam Into a Golden One", "SURPRISE! Serena did that only for a few tournaments in her career while Steffi did . 1 ranking. More to Graf's net worth, family, height, net worth, nationality, residence, mansion, stats, retirement, now, news, updates and facts. This is a list of the main career statistics of professional tennis player Steffi Graf. [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. Soon after, she split with her long-time coach, Pavel Sloil. The match was poised for a final set to decide the . [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. [103] Graf completely ruled out a return to professional tennis. The American then took her opponent to a tie-break in the second set, eventually going down 7-3. Finally Graf was given a match but prevailed 6-3, 7-6 where she would meet a surprise opponent in the final. Venus Williams won her first Games titles 19 years ago, and she hasnt finished yet! Stefanie Maria Steffi" Graf 1969614 GOAT Chosen by World Economic Forum As Young Global Leader for 2008, Godmother of the Navigator of The Seas (Royal Caribbean Cruiselines), 2002. Graf then won the tournament in Berlin, losing only twelve games in five matches. 1 . Martina Navratilova then defeated Graf 76, 67, 64 in a US Open semifinal, the first time she had beaten Graf in four years. . Graf had complained of an issue with her left knee but showed little trouble outplaying her opponent. "[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. The assailant, a fan of German . Argentinas Gabriela Sabatini reached her first ever final, but Graf secured a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory. This was not a first-round sacrifice, an opponent drawn at random. Graf reached 13 consecutive singles major finals from the 1987 French Open to the 1990 French Open, winning nine of them. At the first round of the season-ending Chase Championships, Graf defeated world No. Her father was arrested in August and was sentenced to 45 months in jail. The pair was moderately successful, winning the 1988 Wimbledon Championships together and reaching the finals of the French Open in 1986, 1987 and 1989. Kerber's opponent will be the defending champion, . [75] Graf then had a straight-sets win against Snchez Vicario in the Wimbledon final. I have complied some stats . Five months later, the world no. [151], Graf was voted the ITF World Champion in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1995 and 1996. [98][99] It was Graf and Snchez Vicario's first head-to-head meeting since 1996. Navratilova, therefore, . Although Sabatini got the best of Graf in the semifinals of the season-ending Virginia Slims Championships, Graf still finished the year as the top-ranked player. Martina revolutionized women's tennis with her hardcore workout regimen to become more fit and stronger than her opponents. A commemorative plaque outside the venue in Seoul bears testament to the event: Historic Place for Golden Slam. [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. Graf was trailing Martina Navratilova in the final 75, 20 before winning the match 57, 62, 61. The match was the Wimbledon women's singles semi-final between Ms Graf and Kimiko Date. [a] Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. used to be curious about one player who will make the women's singles Grand Slam finals as the other name was always Steffi Graf. In October, Graf defeated Sabatini in an exhibition match in Mannheim, Germany, winning both of their sets. 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. [70][71] He was eventually released after serving 25 months. But Vicario took the first set and Graf took the second. Graf and Navratilova faced each other six times and Graf had the advantage, 4-2. . [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. 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. At the US Open, Graf was upset in the quarterfinals by Snchez Vicario 76, 63. 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. [33] Zvereva, who had eliminated Martina Navratilova in the fourth round, won only thirteen points in the match.[33]. 1 player. 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. 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. As true as that forehand was, the mask was no less a lie. [154] Her unprecedented Golden Slam saw her receive the 1988 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year. 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. After breaking Novotn's serve, Graf won the next four games to take the match 76, 16, 64. Steffi Graf - 22; The former German tennis star is third on the list with 22 grand slam titles victories. She then successfully defended the three Grand Slam titles she won the year before. Graf's schedule was closely controlled by her father, who limited her play so that she would not burn out. In 1988, Graf became only the second tennis player in history to win a Slam on hardcourt, clay, and grass all in the same season. It was the longest French Open women's singles final in history, both in terms of time (3 hours and 3 minutes) and number of games played (40). Steffi Graf with the Wimbledon trophy in 1989 after defeating Martina Navratilova 6-2, 6-7 (1), 6-1 in the final. [156], Graf was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004 and the German Sports Hall of Fame in 2008.[157][158]. After losing the Wimbledon final against the USAs Lindsay Davenport that same year, Graf retired from sport in August while she was still world no. My father taught me that if you really do want to reach your goals, you can't spend any time worrying about whether you're going to win or lose. 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. Even discounting that result, no other player had played and won 27 Grand Slam matches in a single year before. 2021 International Olympic Committee. She is better than them all. 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. [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. [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. 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. 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. 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. Some noted observers, such as Margaret Court, suggested that Graf could achieve the feat a couple more times. Graf then lost to Navratilova 75, 63 in the Wimbledon final, her first loss of the year. [65] She came back in February, winning four consecutive tournaments in Paris, Delray Beach, Miami and Houston. Just over 30 years old, Graf retired . 1 ranking to Martina Hingis and failed to win a Grand Slam title for the first time in ten years in 1997. Wimbledon authorities then threatened to immediately shut down any subsequent press conferences where questions about the issue were asked. However, seeing the current situation, Graff also feels frightened. Graf did not lose a set during the tournament and lost a total of only 29 games. Steffi Graf went on to win Wimbledon in 1996, beating Arantxa . She first used the Wilson Pro Staff 7.0 lite, then switched to the Pro Staff 7.5 in 1996 and to the Pro Staff 7.1 in 1998. 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. [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. For the German painter, see. 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. 1 German tennis player. She retired from tennis in 1999. 49 . This narrow focus meant that Graf, already shy and retiring by nature,[24] made few friends on the tour in her early years, but it led to a steady improvement in her play. 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. According to her coaches Pavel Sloil and Heinz Gnthardt, Graf's superior sense of timing was the key behind the success of her forehand. 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. [92][93], Graf also occasionally played mixed doubles, although she never won a title. [123] In 2006, she signed an endorsement deal with Head. Last edited on 28 February 2023, at 20:01, Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steffi_Graf_career_statistics&oldid=1142150918, Virginia Slims Championships, New York City, WTA Tour Championships, New York, United States. 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. Graf later stated it was the best tennis she had ever played in a Grand Slam final. 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. Graf won seven singles titles at Wimbledon, six singles titles at the French Open, five singles titles at the US Open, and four singles titles at the Australian Open. 1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland. She then won her eighth German Open, but there were signs that her form was worsening as she almost lost to Julie Halard in a quarterfinal. Steffi Graf: Steffi Graf has 22 grand slams to her name, most coming during the late 80s and 90s. TMF. In 1987, Grafs career truly took off: she won her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, beating world no. The difficulty of answering questions about the matter came to a head at a Wimbledon press conference, where Graf broke down in tears. Though she lost the game to opponent Tracy Austin by 6-4, 6-0, this did very little to dishearten the young blood. [54] She then won her next four tournaments in Tokyo, Indian Wells, Delray Beach and Miami respectively. Nominated and voted the title Mother of the nation in her country, Germany, 2010. 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.