Jaz Elle Agassi is best known as being a daughter of former tennis couple Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi.. Parents Wedding. Sport - Tennis: Novak Djokovic equals Steffi Graf's record for most weeks as world number one: Novak Djokovic equals Steffi Graf's record for most weeks as world. "[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. 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. Illness caused her to miss Wimbledon,[26] and an accident where she broke a toe several weeks later also curtailed her play. She has emerged as one of the strongest tennis players of all time. Steffi Graf - Wikipedia This is a list of the main career statistics of professional tennis player Steffi Graf. Steffi Graf career statistics - Wikipedia Victories at Zurich and Brighton preceded the Virginia Slims Championships, where Graf cemented her top-ranked status by beating Navratilova in the four-set final. who often frustrated opponents with variety and consistency. At Wimbledon, however, Graf captured her third women's crown, this time at Sabatini's expense. She would either destroy opponents, clinically and . . Having also won bronze in the womens doubles with Claudia Kohde-Kilsch in Seoul, her Olympic record stands at four podium finishes, including two titles counting the one she won in Los Angeles aged 14 when tennis was a demonstration sport! At Wimbledon, Graf lost in the semifinals to Zina Garrison, who with this victory broke Graf's string of 13 consecutive major finals. 49 . Natasha Zvereva, the 13th seed had shocked Martina Navratilova with a straight sets fourth round . 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. (W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (WL) winloss record. Graf began 1993 with four losses in her first six tournaments of the year: two to Snchez Vicario and one each to Seles and the 36-year-old Martina Navratilova. 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. The Serbian tennis player this week surpassed Steffi Graf in the record of weeks at the top of the world ranking (both men's and women's) and there is curiosity to understand where Nole can arrive . 3, She was not included in the official year end ranking. Kohde-Kilsch Finds She Can Do Nothing Against Dominant Graf Stefanie Graf - International Tennis Hall of Fame In the womens tournament, Williams could repeat the achievement if she competes in what will be her fifth Olympic Games. Ranking. Key; W F SF QF #R RR Q# DNQ A . Steffi Graf and Serena Williams played just twice. 'It is Frightening' - Steffi Graf Opens up About the Negative Impact of The treatment was for a fracture of the cartilage as well as a shortening and partial rupture of the patellar tendon of her left knee. [95][96][97], In late 1999 and early 2000, as part of her Farewell Tour, Graf played a series of exhibition matches against former rivals in New Zealand, Japan, Spain, Germany and South Africa. Graf then won the tournament in Berlin, losing only twelve games in five matches. 49 . In 1988, Graf became the first tennis player to achieve the Golden Slam by winning all four major singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year. Her year continued indifferently with losses in three of her first four tournaments, including a semifinal loss to Jana Novotn in Chicago. Graf then capped the year by beating countrywoman Anke Huber in a five-set final at the season-ending WTA Championships in 2 hours and 46 minutes. 29 Jan Tennis Norge . At the end of the year, the municipality of Brhl, her hometown, gave her the title of honorary citizen. She was successful, however, in the mixed doubles match. Steffi Graf's 1988 Golden Slam - an unprecedented achievement [66] In August Monica Seles made her much anticipated return to tennis at the Canadian Open. Last edited on 20 February 2023, at 18:23, BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, Learn how and when to remove this template message, 3 different Grand Slam titles won without losing a set, 2 titles won without losing a set in the same calendar year, Tennis records of the Open Era - women's singles, "Duden | Steffi | Rechtschreibung, Bedeutung, Definition", "The 10 most influential players in the history of tennis", "ON TENNIS; Graf Is Best, Right? Steffi Graf's 22 Grand Slam singles titles put her second on the list of major wins in the female competition since the introduction of the Open Era in 1968 . thesportslegends. In Indian Wells Graf lost to Serena Williams in three sets. . Seles defeated Graf at the Australian Open 46, 63, 62. 1 Novak Djokovic could do the same if he wins gold, as could Roger Federer if he is involved in the Games. That doesn't mean it will happen. In the meantime, she lost surprisingly to Nicole Bradtke of Australia in a Fed Cup match on clay before winning the Acura Classic in San Diego and the Canadian Open in Toronto in preparation for the US Open. 1 ranking to Martina Hingis and failed to win a Grand Slam title for the first time in ten years in 1997. She claimed a prestigious and symbolic victory in the final against Yugoslavias Sabrina Gole on the courts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), winning 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. [143] Graf's mother and her brother also live there. Opponent W L Win% TB W L TB% First Last MS DR A% DF% 1stIn 1st% 2nd% SPW RPW BPSvd% BPCnv% 40: Gabriela Sabatini [ARG] 29: 11: 72.5%: 14: 7: 7: 50.0%: . Steffi Graf | Player Stats & More - WTA Official Do Not Disturb - Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com Opponent Score Loss: 1986: Year-end championships: Carpet (i) Martina Navratilova: 6-7 (8-10), 3-6, 2-6 Win: 1987: Year-end championships: Graf had already won 5 Wimbledon titles by then and was hunting for her 6th trophy. [73] Graf came back to the tour in March, winning back to back titles in Indian Wells and Miami, followed by a record ninth title at the German Open in May and a quarterfinal defeat in Rome against Martina Hingis. 1999 Prince of Asturias Award, one of the most important awards of Spain and named after the heir apparent of Spain. In the 1980s and '90s Graf was ranked the top woman player by the Women's Tennis Association . 1 on the computer the ITF named Sanchez Vicario its World Champion for the year, while the WTA backed their official rankings and named Graf. I feel I have nothing left to accomplish. However, she finished her year with a highlight, winning her first Virginia Slims Championships since 1989 by beating Arantxa Snchez Vicario in the final despite needing painkillers for a back injury. First Grand Slam victory of the year for Graf: 6-1, 7-6. How Steffi Graf became tennis' Golden Slam winner in 1988 - Olympics.com Only three other players have won the four majors plus the Olympic Games title, and never in the same calendar year. It was Graf's second consecutive loss to Novotna, and dating back to their 1991 Australian Open quarterfinal match, Jana had won three of their last five meetings. She hit the sliced backhand harder and with more underspin than any woman I have ever seen. The day Steffi Graf announced her retirement - Tennis Majors In 1996, Steffi Graf was famously proposed to by a fan as she was getting ready to serve. In their five previous head-to-head matches, Graf had defeated Martnez each time. The greatest: Steffi Graf - power and perfect timing personified At the French Open, Graf successfully defended her title by defeating Natasha Zvereva 60, 60 in a 34-minute final. Having suffered from leg cramps since the middle of the third set, Graf ran off the court seconds after match point to seek medical treatment. 1, 64, 46, 86 after beating Sabatini in a three-set semifinal. More than two years elapsed before Seles competed again. But Vicario took the first set and Graf took the second. Next came Wimbledon, where Martina Navratilova had won six straight titles. played a game called "Can you last an hour on court with Graf" because throughout her career she used to beat her opponents 6-0 6-1. In an interview with Stern magazine in July 1990, Graf stated, "I could not fight as usual."[46]. She had to overcome three difficult three set matches en route to this final, against Mariaan De Swardt in the second round, Venus Williams in the quarterfinals and Mirjana Lui in the semifinals. 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. Novak Djokovic has arrived in Japan for the Tokyo Olympics 2020, and he is looking as confident as ever. Comparing The Grand Years Of Steffi Graf And Serena Williams n civa ani ajunge . That year Graf lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open in straight sets to Amanda Coetzer. 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). 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. The world of tennis is still waiting for another player capable of such a feat in the same calendar year! American star Chris Evert, meanwhile, failed to take a set off Graf in three matches. She returned to win a small tournament at Mahwah just before the US Open where, in one of the most anticipated matches of the year, she encountered Navratilova in a semifinal. She was also inducted to the German Sport Hall of Fame. The assailant, a fan of German . I had one day to turn around, get home, change and get on the flight to Seoul. And Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, arguably the most accomplished sports couple there ever was, had good reason to be on campus that day. 1 Martina Navratilova, and reached two finals, at Wimbledon and the US Open, losing out to Navratilova in both. On 13 April 1986, Graf won her first WTA tournament and beat Evert for the first time in the final of the Family Circle Cup in Hilton Head, South Carolina (she never lost to Evert again, beating her six more times over the next three and a half years). A bout of rubella forced Graf to miss the first major event of 1992, the Australian Open. [54] She then won her next four tournaments in Tokyo, Indian Wells, Delray Beach and Miami respectively. The following day, Andre Agassi won the mens singles tournament, coming back from two sets down to beat Russias Andrei Medvedev, and he and Graf later started dating. Only results in WTA Tour (incl. Graf's Grand Slam tournament breakthrough came in 1987. Both dominated opponents with power and movement. [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 breaking Novotn's serve, Graf won the next four games to take the match 76, 16, 64. She would later become the world's number one female tennis player. Fearless Alcaraz can show next-gen how to topple Djokovic, say sports 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. Speculation was rife at the beginning of 1989 about the possibility of Graf winning another Grand Slam. 1999 Germany Television Award for her outstanding performance as tennis player and her importance to the German public. June 4, 2020 marks the 32nd anniversary of Steffi Graf's ruthless lesson in the 1998 French Open final with Natasha Zvereva on the receiving end. [9] She won 107 singles titles, ranking her third on the WTA's all-time list after Martina Navratilova (167 titles) and Chris Evert (157 titles). Graf then won in Leipzig, with her 500th career victory coming in a quarterfinal against Judith Wiesner. 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. [101] She was also in Berlin to host a charity gala, as well as inaugurating a tennis stadium renamed the "Steffi Graf Stadion". 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a record 377 total weeks. [67][68], 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. Peter Graf also kept a tight rein on Graf's personal life. A mixture of injury problems, personal difficulties, and loss of form made 1991 a tough year for Graf. [101] She was beaten in two out of three matches, with each match being one set. . The Graf Backhand: Strength or Weakness? You judge with As usual, the defining shot of the day was the one that earned Steffi her nickname, Frulein Forehand. On 5 June 1999, backed by a passionate central court crowd at Roland Garros, Graf won an epic final 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 against world no. steffi graf opponents. Her career prize-money earnings totalled US$21,895,277 (a record until Lindsay Davenport surpassed this amount in January 2008). Just Don't Ask Her", "The Shadow of Steffi Graf: Before Serena, Women's Tennis Had Another Unconquerable Force ", "Remembering What Made Steffi Graf a Tennis Legend", "73 Questions with Serena Williams | Vogue", "Tennis in Reunified Germany: Then and Now The Tennis Island", "Serving Her Country A Grand Slam May Have Brought West Germany's Steffi Graf Fame And Fortune, But To The Delight Of Her Countrymen Who've Watched Her Climb To The Top, She Remains 'one Of Them', "Steffi's father Peter Graf dies after cancer battle", "Both on and Off Court, Graf Has Come a Long Way in Past Year", "Tennis Roundup: Mysterious Illness Forces Graf to Withdraw From Wimbledon", "Graf Defeats Evert, Gains No. Yet again, she dropped a minimal number of games on the DecoTurf surface at Flushing Meadows and took full advantage of Everts forfeit in the semi-final. In July, a left knee injury forced Graf to withdraw from the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Her overall record in 56 Grand Slam events was 27832 (90 percent) (8410 at the French Open, 747 at Wimbledon, 739 at the US Open, and 476 at the Australian Open). Date biografice. 1999 Athlete of the Century for the category Female Athlete in Ballsports by a panel of the, 1999 The Greatest Female Tennis Player of the 20th century, by a panel of tennis experts assembled by the Associated Press, 1999 Female Athlete of the Year, by the German television broadcaster ARD, 1999 Female Sports Award of the Last Decade, by, 1999 Olympic Order granted by Dr. Antonio Samaranch, president of the IOC, 2002 Medal of Honor, bestowed by the prime minister of Graf's home state, 2008 Cross of the Order of Merit awarded to her by German Federal President Horst Khler. In a close French Open final, Graf again overcame Snchez Vicario, taking the third set 108. Even discounting that result, no other player had played and won 27 Grand Slam matches in a single year before. "[87], From the beginning of her career until 1990, Graf regularly played doubles matches in Grand Slams and other tournaments, winning a total of 11 doubles titles. [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. Her glittering career saw her occupy the world no.1 spot for a total of 377 weeks (a record), including a run of 186 consecutive weeks between August 1987 and March 1991. Official match time was 34 minutes, which charitably included two minutes of rain delay. Angelique Kerber recalls memories of Steffi Graf at Wimbledon after becoming first German to win trophy since 1996 . [122][129] Other companies she has endorsed include Barilla, Apollinaris, Citibank, Danone and Teekanne. [135][136], From 1992 to 1999, Graf dated racing driver Michael Bartels. 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. [138][139][140] They have two children, a son born in 2001 and a daughter born in 2003. [33] Zvereva, who had eliminated Martina Navratilova in the fourth round, won only thirteen points in the match.[33]. All Rights Reserved. She was absolutely right the term Golden Slam was born at that exact moment. Novak Djokovic: 'I'm not in touch with Steffi Graf but' Angelique Kerber recalls memories of hero Steffi Graf after Wimbledon [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. Graf was trailing Martina Navratilova in the final 75, 20 before winning the match 57, 62, 61. Steffi Graf went on to win Wimbledon in 1996, beating Arantxa . Twice in the third set Snchez Vicario served for the championship but was broken each time by Graf. Graf started 1988 by winning the Australian Open, defeating Chris Evert in the final 61, 76. According to her coaches Pavel Sloil and Heinz Gnthardt, Graf's superior sense of timing was the key behind the success of her forehand. [155], In 2004, the Berliner Tennis-Arena was renamed Steffi-Graf-Stadion in honor of Graf. 'The Ten' went one way; you went another", "The greatest female tennis player of the last 50 years: the fans' verdict", "Exclusive Interview with Steve Flink about the career of Chris Evert", "A celebration of Martina Navratilova's multifaceted legacy", "Special events and records at the 1988 Australian Open Tennis Tournament", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steffi_Graf&oldid=1140574067, Golden Slam (4 majors + Olympic gold in same calendar year), Non-Calendar Year Grand Slam in addition to already winning a Grand Slam, 100% match winning percentage in 1 season, 100% match winning percentage in 3 separate seasons, 89.67% (278-32) match winning percentage overall, 5 calendar years winning 3+ Grand Slam titles, Defeated the top 3 seeded players in the same tournament, Reached the final of all four Grand Slams tournaments in a calendar year, Reached the final of all four Grand Slams tournaments in a calendar year three times, 5 years as wire-to-wire (all 52 weeks) No. Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi met for the first time during a tournament.Andre Agassi had been secretly pining for her since 1990, but she showed no interest in him.. At that time, Steffi Graf was dating Michael Bartels, a racing driver. In total, she won 22 Grand Slam titles: the Australian Open four times, Roland Garros six times, Wimbledon seven times and the US Open five times. At age 13 she became the second youngest player ever to earn an international ranking. 1 was in peerless form on the clay courts of Roland Garros. In 1987, Grafs career truly took off: she won her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, beating world no. Tennis's 10 Greatest Rivalries | GQ Martina [Navratilova] won more on fast courts and I won more on slow courts, but Steffi came along and won more titles on both surfaces. Steffi Graf | Biography, Titles, & Facts | Britannica Stefanie Maria Steffi" Graf 1969614 GOAT . She has a brother named Michael. Williams VS Graf MATCHES VS ALL OPPONENTS She lost a lengthy one-set singles match to Clijsters and also the mixed doubles.[106]. Williams vs. Graf, and Graf's Disciple - The New York Times [117] Early in her career, Graf used the Dunlop Maxpower Pro and Maxpower Kevlar racquets and then played with the Max 200G racquet from 1984 to 1993[118][119][120][121] before switching to Wilson from 1994 to 1999. 124. About - Steffi Graf 2019 Even though she lost the opening set, Graf went on to prevail in three sets. It was the days when the Williams . ", "An Evolutionary History of Tennis Racquets", "Marketing to the female target audience", "OFFBEAT: Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf team up for new tennis racquet", "Viewing Gallery: Happy Birthday! [48] In Boca Raton, Florida, Graf reached her first final of the year, where she faced Conchita Martnez for the title. [88] Sabatini said of the partnership: "doubles is all about communicating with each other, and we didn't communicate that much. [36] Graf also won her only Grand Slam doubles title that yearat Wimbledon partnering Sabatiniand picked up a women's doubles Olympic bronze medal.