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Stefanie Maria Graf (born June 14, 1969, in Mannheim, West Germany) is a former World No. 1 ranked female tennis player from Germany. She is generally considered to be one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other player – male or female – has won since the start of the open era. (Margaret Court won the most (24) but only 11 of them were in the open era).

In 1988, Graf became the only player, male or female, to win the "Golden Slam" – capturing all four Grand Slam singles titles and an Olympic gold medal in the same year. She was ranked the Women's Tennis Association's No. 1 player for a record 377 weeks – the longest of any player, male or female, since rankings began – and is the only player to have won all four Grand Slam singles tournaments (Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the French Open and the Australian Open) at least four times each.

A notable feature of Graf's game was her versatility across all playing surfaces, exemplified by her winning six French Open singles titles (second to Chris Evert) and seven Wimbledon singles titles (third behind Martina Navratilova and Helen Wills Moody). She is the only singles player, male or female, to have achieved a true Grand Slam across all three types of tennis courts, as the other five true singles Grand Slams occurred when the Australian and U.S. Opens were still played on grass. Graf reached thirteen consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, from the French Open in 1987 through the French Open in 1990, winning nine of them. She played in 36 Grand Slam singles tournaments from the 1987 French Open through the 1996 U.S. Open, reaching the finals 29 times and winning 21 titles. Her French Open title in 1999 left her with a career total of 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second only to Margaret Court's 24.

Graf retired in 1999, giving her the distinction of being the highest ranked player to retire.

Graf is married to the former World No. 1 men's tennis player Andre Agassi.

Playing style

The main weapon in Graf's game was her powerful forehand, which earned her the nickname "Fräulein Forehand". Over time, Graf also developed a very effective slice backhand, as well as a consistent volley. She built her powerful and accurate serve up to 180 km/h, and at one point, hers would be the fastest serve in the tournaments she would play. She was also very fast and athletic, chasing down balls that seemed unplayable. Her footwork was unique and instantly recognizable. Her powerful strokes, along with those of Monica Seles, are thought by some to have started the current trend of power baseline tennis that is common among women tennis players today.

Graf's unique combination of focus, determination, physical attributes, all-court style and a forehand described by Chris Evert as the greatest forehand ever in women's tennis, allowed Graf to potentially dominate on any surface. Contemporary tennis legends such as Chris Evert and Billie Jean King go even further in accolades, and consider her to be the greatest female player ever.

Biography

Early career

Steffi was introduced to tennis by her father Peter Graf, a car and insurance salesman and aspiring tennis coach, who taught his three-year-old daughter how to swing a wooden racket in the family's living room. She began practicing on a court at the age of four and played in her first tournament at five. She soon began winning junior tournaments with regularity, and in 1982 she won the European Championships 12s and 18s.

Graf played in her first professional tournament in October 1982 at Stuttgart, Germany. She lost her first round match 6-4, 6-0 to Tracy Austin, a two-time U.S. Open champion and former World No. 1 player. Austin famously remarked of the then-thirteen year old Graf that "there are hundreds of girls like her in America." Twelve years later, Graf defeated Austin 6-0, 6-0 during a second round match in Indian Wells, California, which was their second and last match against each other.

At the start of her first full professional season in 1983, the 13-year-old Graf was ranked No. 124. She won no titles in the next three years, but her game improved consistently and her ranking steadily climbed: to No. 98 in 1983, No. 22 in 1984, and No. 6 in 1985. In 1984, she represented West Germany in the tennis demonstration event at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles and won the gold medal. Her schedule was closely controlled by her father, who limited her play so that she would not burn out as many young tennis stars had. In 1985, for instance, she played only 10 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. Peter Graf also kept a tight rein on Graf's personal life. Social invitations on the tour were often declined as Graf's focus was kept very much on practicing and match play. Working with her father and then-coach Pavel Slozil, Graf typically practiced for up to four hours a day, often heading straight from airports to practice courts. This narrow focus meant that Graf, already shy and retiring by nature, made few friends on the tour in her early years, but it led to a steady improvement in her play.

Graf finally won her first tour title in April 1986 at Hilton Head, South Carolina, defeating Chris Evert in the final. She followed this up with seven further tournament victories in 1986 and finished the year ranked No. 3.

Breakthrough year

Graf's Grand Slam breakthrough came in 1987. She started the year strongly, with six tournament victories heading into the French Open. In the final, she defeated the World No. 1 Martina Navratilova in an epic battle, 6-4, 4-6, 8-6. Graf lost to Navratilova in the finals at Wimbledon and the US Open later that year. But she won four more tournaments after the French Open, including the season-ending Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden, and did enough to claim the World No. 1 ranking from Navratilova in August 1987, finishing the year with a 75-2 match record. She also helped West Germany win the Fed Cup that year.

Olympic medal record
Women's Tennis
	1988 Seoul	Singles
	1988 Seoul	Doubles
	1992 Barcelona	Singles

"Golden Slam"

1988 is widely considered to be the pinnacle of Graf's career. She started out the year by winning the Australian Open, beating Evert in straight sets (6-1, 7-6) in the final. Then at the French Open, she successfully defended her title by routing Natalia Zvereva 6-0, 6-0 in a 32-minute championship match. Next came Wimbledon, where Navratilova had won six straight titles. After a tight start to the final, Graf took control in the second set and beat Navratilova 5-7, 6-2, 6-1, taking 12 of the last 13 games. She then beat Sabatini in three sets in the US Open final to duplicate the feat of winning all four Grand Slam singles titles in one year, previously achieved by only two women – Maureen Connolly (in 1953) and Margaret Court (in 1970). With tennis becoming a full medal sport at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Graf defeated Sabatini 6-3, 6-3 in the Olympic final to win the gold medal and achieve what the media had dubbed the "Golden Slam." Graf also won her only Grand Slam doubles title that year – at Wimbledon partnering Sabatini – and picked up a women's doubles Olympic bronze medal. She was named the 1988 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.

New challengers and personal challenges

Graf extended her Grand Slam winning streak to five events at the Australian Open in 1989, where she easily defeated Helena Sukova in the final. The winning streak ended at the 1989 French Open, where 17-year-old Spaniard Arantxa Sánchez Vicario beat Graf in three sets. Graf, however, defeated Martina Navratilova in three-set finals at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and in four sets in the final of the season-ending Virginia Slims Championships.

In 1990, most believed Graf would dominate the women's game for years to come when she beat Mary Joe Fernández in the final of the 1990 Australian Open, making it her eighth Grand Slam championship in the last nine she contested. Major personal issues arose, however, when Graf's father Peter was the subject of a fraudulent paternity suit brought by a former Playboy model. The difficulty of answering questions about the matter came to a head at a press conference early in the tournament at Wimbledon, where Graf broke down in tears. Wimbledon authorities then threatened to immediately shut down any subsequent press conferences where questions about the issue were asked. The blackmail scheme eventually failed when DNA tests proved Peter was not the baby's father. In the same year at the French Open, 16-year-old Monica Seles beat Graf in straight sets. At Wimbledon, Graf was unexpectedly beaten in the semifinals by Zina Garrison. She then reached the U.S. Open final, but lost in straight sets to Gabriela Sabatini. Graf remained the top ranked player at the end of 1990, even though she did not win a Grand Slam event after the blackmail scandal broke.

A mixture of injury problems, personal difficulties, and loss of form made 1991 a tough year for Graf. Seles established herself as the new dominant player on the women's tour, winning the Australian Open, French Open, and U.S. Open, and ending Graf's reign as World No. 1 in March. Seles did not play at Wimbledon, where Graf won her only Grand Slam final of the year.

Still struggling with injuries, in 1992 Graf won only one Grand Slam event, Wimbledon. Because of injuries, she did not compete at the Australian Open. Seles and Graf met in the French Open final, which Seles won in a very close battle, taking the third set 10-8. Seles and she met again in the Wimbledon final, with Graf winning 6-2, 6-1, a record for the most lop-sided defeat in Wimbledon history of the number one ranked player. Graf won all five of her Fed Cup matches, helping Germany defeat Spain in the final by defeating Sánchez Vicario 6-4, 6-2. At the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Graf lost to Jennifer Capriati in the final and claimed the silver medal. At the U.S. Open, Graf was upset in a quarterfinal by Sánchez Vicario 7-6(5), 6-3.

In 1993, Seles beat Graf in three sets in the final of the Australian Open. The burgeoning rivalry between them was then cut short. During a quarterfinal match between Seles and Magdalena Maleeva in Hamburg, Seles was stabbed between the shoulder blades by a mentally ill Günter Parche He claimed that he committed the attack to help Graf reclaim the number one ranking. Graf later visited Seles at the hospital. Almost two years elapsed before Seles competed again.

Some wonder whether Seles would have remained number one had she not been attacked. Conversely, some wonder whether Seles would have become the top ranked player if Graf not been plagued by the blackmail scandal and injuries from 1990 through 1992. Head-to-head, Graf never had a losing record versus Seles at any point in her career, and prior to the year the black mail scandal first broke, Graf was undefeated versus Seles in three encounters. Seles, however, won four of the seven matches they played from 1990 through 1993, including a 3-1 advantage over Graf in Grand Slam tournaments. Graf retired with a 10-5 lifetime record over Seles, including a 6-4 winning record versus Seles in Grand Slam singles tournaments.

Second period of dominance

Graf won three of four Grand Slam events in 1993, and in the beginning of 1994, Graf beat Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final of the Australian Open. For the second time in her career, Graf was the holder of all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously. She lost, however, to Mary Pierce in the semifinals of the French Open and then was surprisingly eliminated in the first round at Wimbledon by the American Lori McNeil. Graf reached the final of the U.S. Open, where she lost to Sánchez Vicario in three sets.

Injury kept Graf out of the Australian Open in 1995. She came back to beat Sánchez Vicario in the finals of both the French Open and Wimbledon. The U.S. Open was Seles' first Grand Slam event after the 1993 attack. Seles and Graf met in the final, with Graf winning 7-6, 0-6, 6-3. Graf then capped the year by beating countrywoman Anke Huber in a five-set final at the season-ending WTA Tour Championships.

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. In her defense, she stated that her father Peter was her financial manager, and all financial matters relating to her earnings at the time had been under his control. As a result, Peter was sentenced to 45 months in jail. He was eventually released after serving 25 months. Prosecutors dropped their case against Steffi in 1997, when she agreed to pay a fine of 1.3 million Deutsche Marks to the government and an unspecified charity.

In 1996, Graf again missed the Australian Open due to injury and then successfully defended the three Grand Slam titles she won the year before. In a close French Open final, Graf again overcame Sánchez Vicario, taking the third-set 10-8. Graf then had straight-sets wins against Sánchez Vicario in the Wimbledon final and Seles in the U.S. Open final. Graf also won her fifth and final WTA Tour Championships title with a five set win over Martina Hingis.

Final years on the tour

The last few years of Graf's career were beset by injuries; particularly to her knees and back. Injury problems caused Graf to miss much of the season in 1997. She lost the world No. 1 ranking to Martina Hingis and failed to win a Grand Slam title for the first time in ten years. After missing almost half the season in 1998, she finished that year ranked No. 9, her lowest ranking since 1984.

At the 1999 French Open, she reached her first Grand Slam final in three years and fought back from a set and two breaks down in the second set to defeat the tennis world's new young star, #1 ranked Martina Hingis, in three sets. She also became the first player in the Open era to beat the #1, #2, and #3 world ranked players in the same Grand Slam tournament by defeating then #2 ranked Lindsay Davenport in the quarterfinals and #3 ranked Monica Seles in the semifinals. She then reached her ninth Wimbledon final, where she lost in straight sets to Lindsay Davenport.

Graf announced her retirement from the tour in August 1999. She was ranked the World No. 3 at the time of her retirement.

During her career, Graf won 107 singles titles and 11 doubles titles. Her 22 Grand Slam singles titles are second only to Margaret Court, who won 24. Graf won 7 singles titles at Wimbledon, 6 singles titles at the French Open, 5 singles titles at the US Open, and 4 singles titles at the Australian Open. She is the only person to have won at least 4 singles titles at each Grand Slam event. Her overall record in 56 Grand Slam events was 282-34 (89 percent) (87-10 at the French Open, 75-8 at Wimbledon, 73-10 at the US Open, and 47-6 at the Australian Open). Her career prize-money earnings totalled US$21,895,277. Her singles win-loss record was 902-115 (89 percent). She was ranked No. 1 for 377 weeks (non-consecutive), including a record 186 consecutive weeks (from August 1987-March 1991) – longer than any other man or woman player.

Personal life

With her father reining in her personal life until the Graf tax scandal in 1995, Graf often declined social invitations and made few friends on tour. Soon after retiring she made headlines off the court for dating Andre Agassi. They married in October 2001 with only their mothers as witnesses. Four days later Steffi gave birth, six weeks prematurely, to their son Jaden Gil (named for Andre's longtime trainer Gil Reyes). Their daughter, Jaz Elle, was born in October 2003.

Grand Slam singles finals

Wins (22)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1987	French Open	Martina Navratilova	6-4, 4-6, 8-6
1988	Australian Open	Chris Evert	6-1, 7-6
1988	French Open (2)	Natalia Zvereva	6-0, 6-0
1988	Wimbledon	Martina Navratilova	5-7, 6-2, 6-1
1988	U.S. Open	Gabriela Sabatini	6-3, 3-6, 6-1
1989	Australian Open (2)	Helena Suková	6-4, 6-4
1989	Wimbledon (2)	Martina Navratilova	6-2, 6-7, 6-1
1989	U.S. Open (2)	Martina Navratilova	3-6, 7-5, 6-1
1990	Australian Open (3)	Mary Joe Fernández	6-3, 6-4
1991	Wimbledon (3)	Gabriela Sabatini	6-4, 3-6, 8-6
1992	Wimbledon (4)	Monica Seles	6-2, 6-1
1993	French Open (3)	Mary Joe Fernández	4-6, 6-2, 6-4
1993	Wimbledon (5)	Jana Novotná	7-6, 1-6, 6-4
1993	U.S. Open (3)	Helena Suková	6-3, 6-3
1994	Australian Open (4)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6-0, 6-2
1995	French Open (4)	Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario	7-5, 4-6, 6-0
1995	Wimbledon (6)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	4-6, 6-1, 7-5
1995	U.S. Open (4)	Monica Seles	7-6, 0-6, 6-3
1996	French Open (5)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6-3, 6-7, 10-8
1996	Wimbledon (7)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	6-3, 7-5
1996	U.S. Open (5)	Monica Seles	7-5, 6-4
1999	French Open (6)	Martina Hingis	4-6, 7-5, 6-2

Runner-ups (9)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
1987	Wimbledon	Martina Navratilova	7-5, 6-3
1987	U.S. Open	Martina Navratilova	7-6, 6-1
1989	French Open	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	7-6, 3-6, 7-5
1990	French Open (2)	Monica Seles	7-6, 6-4
1990	U.S. Open (2)	Gabriela Sabatini	6-2, 7-6
1992	French Open (3)	Monica Seles	6-2, 3-6, 10-8
1993	Australian Open	Monica Seles	4-6, 6-3, 6-2
1994	U.S. Open (3)	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	1-6, 7-6, 6-4
1999	Wimbledon (2)	Lindsay Davenport	6-4, 7-5

Major tournament singles performance timeline

NH = tournament not held

A = did not participate in the tournament

SR = the ratio of the number of tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played

Tennis was a demonstration sport during the 1984 Olympic Games.

Awards

1986 "Most Improved Player" WTA TOUR
1987-90 "Player of the Year" WTA TOUR
1993-96 "Player of the Year" WTA TOUR
1996, 98-99 "Most Exciting Player of the Year" WTA TOUR
1987-90 "World Champion" ITF award.
1993, 95-96 "World Champion" ITF award
1988 "BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year"
1989 "Associated press female athlete of the year"
1999 "Prince of Asturias Award" one of the most important awards of Spain named after the apparent heir of Spain, Prince Felipe
1999 "Germany Television Award"
1999 "Athlete of the Century" for the category "female athlete in ballsports" by IOC panel
1999 "Female Athlete of the Year" by German TV broadcaster ARD
1999 "Female Sports Award of the last Decade" by ESPY, Las Vegas
1999 "Olympic Medal of Honor" granted by Dr. Antonio Samaranch, President of the IOC, Lausanne
2002 "Medal of Honor" decorated by the Prime Minister of Graf's home state Baden-Württemberg, Mr. Erwin Teufel

Steffi Graf was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2004.

Special honours

• German tennis players
• Tennis Hall of Fame members
• Australian Open champions
• French Open champions
• Wimbledon champions
• US Open champions
• Olympic tennis players of Germany
• Summer Olympics medalists
• Tennis players at the 1984 Summer Olympics
• Tennis players at the 1988 Summer Olympics
• Tennis players at the 1992 Summer Olympics
• People from Mannheim
• Prince of Asturias Award winners
• 1969 births
• Living people