She teamed with Ansley Cargill in women's doubles against Anna Kournikova and Likhovtseva but lost 5–2. In a close French Open final, Graf again overcame Sánchez Vicario, taking the third set 10–8. [88][89] She played her last Grand Slam doubles tournament at the 1999 Australian Open with Gorrochategui, losing in the second round. Pundits and sportswriters were already talking about her decline, but in 1999 at Roland-Garros, Graf proved that she was not to be counted out. [66] Graf was popular wherever she played, and won a lot wherever she played. In her latest comeback, the 30-year-old Graf stunned top-ranked Martina Hingis to win the French Open. [72] Graf had led 4–1 in the second set tiebreak, only to lose six points in a row and force a decider. Graf, Court and Maureen Connolly are the only women to complete the slam. In 1982, at the age of 13, she became the youngest player to ever earn a WTA ranking. It was also a turning point for German tennis, as Boris Becker, who also dominated the world of tennis in the late 1980s and early 1990s, had announced he would retire at the end of 1999 as well. [19] 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. Found insideWith an insight into the world of the man behind the cue, and what made him such a top-class player, this is the definitive autobiography of the legend that is Stephen Hendry. The tennis star offers a candid account of his athletic career that reveals his rise to fame on the court, his most dramatic on-court moments, his famed rivalry with Andre Agassi, and the pressures of and lessons learned about success. Steffi Graf was born June 14, 1969 in Mannheim, Germany. After victories in Montreal and San Diego, Graf reached the US Open final, where she lost in straight sets to Sabatini. The German claimed 22 Grand Slam titles in her career, and when she triumphed at the US Open in 1995, she became the first player ever to hold the title at all four majors at the same time. Graf later stated it was the best tennis she had ever played in a Grand Slam final. He matched up against Andre Agassi once again, and Sampras won his 14th Grand Slam singles title. 6 in 1985. #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER Far more than a superb memoir about the highest levels of professional tennis, Open is the engrossing story of a remarkable life. Andre Agassi had his life mapped out for him before he left the crib. I decided to play a few more tournaments to see if that feeling would go away, but it didn’t. Found insidePraise for the first edition of this book: This translation is something of an event. On top of that, the German displayed legendary footwork. In 1997, Graf suffered a knee injury that required surgery and put an end to her season just after Roland-Garros. [8] She won 107 singles titles, which ranks her third on the WTA's all-time list after Martina Navratilova (167 titles) and Chris Evert (157 titles). Peter Graf also kept a tight rein on Graf's personal life. The last few years of Graf's career were beset by injuries, particularly to her knees and back. [7] Furthermore, she is the only tennis player, male or female, to have won each Grand Slam tournament at least four times. Agassi missed the . Steffi Graf would end her career with record total prize winnings of $21,895,277* and a total of 107 titles. In the first round, Graf faced 26th-ranked Amy Frazier, whom she had never lost to before – losing only one set in five encounters. She had to overcome three difficult three set matches en route to this final, against Mariaan De Swardt in the third round, Venus Williams in the quarterfinals and Mirjana Lučić in the semifinals. This collection of fascinating biographies of outstanding women athletes past and present including superstars such as Nadia Comaneci, Mia Hamm, Jackie-Joyner Kersee, Danica Patrick, and Serena and Venus Williams. Prosecutors dropped their case against Graf in 1997, when she agreed to pay a fine of 1.3 million Deutsche Marks to the government and an unspecified charity.[70]. Steffi Graf. . In this career biography of Sampras, the author recaptures the magic of the man, recalling the supreme hold he had on his era, bringing this isngulary gifted player vividly back to life. Her 6–3, 6–0 defeat of Gabriela Sabatini in a semifinal was described by veteran observer Ted Tinling as "probably the best tennis I've seen". [152][153][154][155], Graf was voted the ITF World Champion in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1995 and 1996. "As a motivated, well-conditioned, disciplined and competitive athlete, she has been a role model for women athletes in all sports. Martina Hingis - the world number one doubles player and five-time Grand Slam singles champion - will retire from tennis after this week's WTA Finals. Rafael Nadal does not. After several months injury lay off, Graf returned to play in the German Open in Berlin in front of a home crowd and had the worst defeat of her career in the quarterfinal, when Amanda Coetzer beat her in just 56 minutes 6–0, 6–1. see Steffi Graf after she announced her retirement from the game in the beginning of August. [20] She began practising on a court at the age of four and played in her first tournament at five. Seles was behind 2–6 in the first-set tiebreaker, but then came back to win six points in a row and take the set. [45] She would work with him for the remainder of her career. Graf reclaimed the No. Hours later, the American took her out for a meal to celebrate, fuelling speculation that they had finally become an official item. She played Jelena Dokic in Christchurch, New Zealand, Amanda Coetzer in Durban, South Africa, and her former rival Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in Zaragoza, Spain. In February 2000, Graf played against Kimiko Date at Nagoya Rainbow Hall in Tokyo, winning in three sets. Graf's professional career spanned 17 years from 1982 to when she retired in 1999.Interestingly, her career roughly coincided . [107], Note: “The weeks following Wimbledon weren’t easy for me. In fact, she is the first and only aboriginal Australian to become an international tennis player. Now married to Steffi Graf, Agassi was one of the most dominant players in the 90s . 124. Your email address will not be published. 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. "This is no way about injuries.". Eighteen-time Grand Slam champion and former rival Chris Evert opined, "Steffi Graf is the best all-around player. Seemingly free of injury for the first time in years, Graf began the year by winning the Australian Open, where she defeated Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final with the loss of only two games. . [149] 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. She managed to hold the famous womanizer in a relationship for a little over a year before he decided to explore pastures anew. Nicknamed "Fraulein Forehand" for her devastating trademark shot, Graf won more than $20 million in her career. [46] In Boca Raton, Florida, Graf reached her first final of the year, where she faced Conchita Martínez for the title. Many of Graf’s records remain unbroken. The couple, holding a total of 30 Grand Slam trophies, eventually got married in 2001. . Every day, Tennis Majors takes you back in time to relive a tennis event which happened on this specific day. [87][112], Graf also had a powerful backhand drive but over the course of her career tended to use it less frequently, opting more often for an effective backhand slice. On this day, August 13 in 1999, tennis legend Steffi Graf announced her retirement from professional tennis at a press conference – 10 days after her last match on the tour. [13][12], An exceptionally versatile competitor, Graf remains the only player, male or female, to have won the calendar-year Grand Slam on three surfaces or to have won each Grand Slam at least four times. With that, Graf had climbed back to No 3 in the world rankings. 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, Günter Parche. August 13, 1999: Steffi Graf retires. Monica could put more distance between herself and her archrival, Steffi Graf. 1 ranking. [148], 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. The closest anyone came was at Wimbledon 1995, when Steffi Graf defeated Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in the final, after they lost in the first and fourth rounds respectively in 1994. "I was pulled back-and-forth, but when I made my decision I didn't think about it one minute afterwards.". After a 1987 . “On the plane coming back from San Diego, I just started pouring through these magazines and thinking of all the places I could go.”. After winning two more indoor tournaments at Zurich and Brighton, she failed once again in the Virginia Slims Championships, losing her quarterfinal to Novotná. When she was nine years old, her family moved to the neighboring town of Brühl. Martina Navratilova (Czech: Martina Navrátilová [ˈmarcɪna ˈnavraːcɪlovaː] (); née Šubertová [ˈʃubɛrtovaː]; born October 18, 1956) is a Czech-American former professional tennis player and coach. Her year continued indifferently with losses in three of her first four tournaments, including a semifinal loss to Jana Novotná in Chicago. Some noted observers, such as Margaret Court, suggested that Graf could achieve the feat a couple more times. Copyright © 2021 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Found inside"A can't-put-it-down modern Western." —Kirk Siegler, NPR Longlisted for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing The Last Cowboys is Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter John Branch’s epic tale of one American family struggling to hold ...