Tennis Legends: Steffi Graf
Stefanie Maria Graf is a former World number 1 player in
women’s tennis. Her performance depended mostly in her powerful forehand
because of which she was nicknamed Fraulein Forehand. She even cultivated an
impressive slice backhand and consistent volley. Her serve was so accurate and
powerful that it travelled at the speed of 180 km per hr, which was one of the
fastest serve. She not only had an amazing footwork but also her strokes were
very powerful.
Graf’s first tournament as a professional was played in
October 1982, Germany. In that match, she lost to Tracy Austin, who she
defeated twelve years later. Although she didn’t win any titles for the next
three years, her rank was steadily increasing and her skills improved rapidly.
Defeating Chris Evert won her first tour title in April 1986.
When tennis was re-introduced in 1988 Olympic games after
forty years, Steffi Graf took full advantage of it by winning the Olympic gold
medal in the singles. The same year she won all the four Grand Slam singles
titles, making her the only women tennis player to do so. This feat of hers’
was declared as the Golden Slam. She is also the only female to win all the
four Grand Slams, Wimbledon Open, French Open, Australian Open and US Open, for
four times each. During this period the US Open and Australian Open were played
on grass unlike now where all the venues have clay court. So Graf has the
credit of playing on all kinds of tennis courts. From French Open in 1987 to US
Open in 1996, she played a total of thirty-six Grand Slam singles tournaments,
in which she made it to the finals of twenty-nine tournaments and won
twenty-one of them.
For three hundred and seventy seven weeks Graf was ranked the
Women’s Tennis Association’s Number 1 player. Any male or female tennis player
could never set this record. She won a total of seven Wimbledon singles titles
and six French Open singles titles. From the 1987 French Open to 1990 French
Open, Graf made it to the finals of thirteen Grand Slams consecutively and won
nine of the thirteen.
A panel of judges of the Associated Press declared her as the
greatest female tennis player of the twentieth century, in December 1999.
Graf’s twenty-second Grand Slam title was her final one in the 1999 French
Open. She retired in the same year and became the highest ranked player to
retire at third position in the world.
Her father Peter Graf, who was an aspiring tennis coach, was
responsible for introducing her to the world of tennis. Although her training
started at the age of three, she began playing on the court from the age of
four. Her father kept a close watch on her routine and lifestyle. She was
always expected to practice and that was the reason why she didn’t socialize
much. But this narrow focus drastically improved her performance. But later on
in life, she was involved in a controversy of Graf tax scandal as she had some
issues with her father. After retiring from the tennis circuit in 1999, she
began dating Andre Agassi, who himself is an ex-World number 1 male tennis
player. They both got married in October 2001 and Steffi gave birth to their
son Jaden Gil, four days after their marriage. Their second child, a daughter,
Jaz Elle, was born in October 2003.
