Steffi Graf

German Born 1969 175 cm Right handed
Head to heads vs Gabriela Sabatini (40)vs Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (36)vs Jana Novotna (33)vs Helena Sukova (22)vs Natalia Zvereva (21)vs Nathalie Tauziat (21)

Match log

1999

San DiegoHard, August
R16LAmy Frazier6-4 5-7 1-2 RET
WimbledonGrass, June
FLLindsay Davenport4-6 5-7
SFWMirjana Lucic6-7 6-4 6-3
QFWVenus Williams6-2 3-6 6-4
R16WKim Clijsters6-2 6-2
R32WCorina Morariu6-1 6-3
R64WMariaan De Swardt4-6 6-3 6-2
R128WLudmila Cervanova6-1 6-4
Roland GarrosWon the titleClay, May
FWMartina Hingis4-6 7-5 6-2Won the title
SFWMonica Seles6-7(2) 6-3 6-4
QFWLindsay Davenport6-1 6-7(5) 6-3
R16WAnna Kournikova6-3 7-6(4)
R32WAsa Carlsson6-1 6-4
R64WInes Gorrochategui6-2 6-4
R128WMagdalena Maleeva6-2 6-0
BerlinClay, May
QFLJulie Halard Decugis7-5 4-6 4-6
R16WCara Black7-6 6-2
R32WSandra Nacuk2-6 6-3 6-4
Key BiscayneHard, March
SFLVenus Williams2-6 4-6
QFWLindsay DavenportW/O
R16WNatalia Zvereva6-2 6-4
R32WHenrieta Nagyova6-1 6-3
R64WJennifer Capriati6-0 6-1
Indian WellsHard, March
FLSerena Williams3-6 6-3 5-7
SFWChanda Rubin2-6 6-4 6-2
QFWJana Novotna6-2 6-0
R16WAi Sugiyama6-0 6-1
R32WKveta Peschke6-1 6-2
HanoverCarpet, February
SFLVenus Williams3-6 6-3 3-6
QFWBarbara Schett6-3 6-2
R16WAnne Gaelle Sidot6-1 6-3
TokyoCarpet, February
QFLMartina Hingis6-3 2-6 4-6
R16WElena Likhovtseva4-6 7-6 6-2
R32WSamantha Reeves6-0 6-1
Australian OpenHard, January
QFLMonica Seles5-7 1-6
R16WBarbara Schett6-1 6-1
R32WMary Joe Fernandez4-6 6-3 6-4
R64WBarbara Schwartz4-6 6-1 6-2
R128WPaola Suarez6-0 6-3
SydneyHard, January
SFLLindsay Davenport2-6 5-7
QFWVenus Williams4-6 6-2 6-4
R16WSerena Williams6-2 3-6 7-5
R32WAi Sugiyama6-0 6-4

1998

WTA Tour ChampionshipsCarpet, November
SFLLindsay Davenport1-6 6-2 3-6
QFWMonica Seles1-6 6-4 6-4
R16WJana Novotna6-7 6-4 6-1
PhiladelphiaWon the titleCarpet, November
FWLindsay Davenport4-6 6-3 6-4Won the title
SFWNathalie Tauziat6-1 6-4
QFWMartina Hingis6-2 4-6 6-0
R16WElena Likhovtseva6-7 6-2 6-4
R32WMary Joe Fernandez6-3 7-6

Steffi Graf

The shot came first. Steffi Graf hung back in her own backhand corner, waited for the ball, then ran around it and drove her forehand flat and early, the Fräulein Forehand, the biggest weapon the women's game had seen. Add the fastest feet on tour and it made her almost impossible to move. In 1988 she did the thing no player, woman or man, has done before or since: the Golden Slam, all four majors and Olympic singles gold in one calendar year. Her 22 major titles run seven Wimbledons, six at Roland Garros, five US Opens and four Australian Opens.

Born in Mannheim in what was then West Germany, she reigned for a record 377 weeks at world No. 1 and gathered 108 career titles. The great tests came from Monica Seles, from Gabriela Sabatini and, by the mid-1990s, from Arantxa Sanchez Vicario across seven major finals. She stopped in 1999, weeks after a last Roland Garros title, still near the top of the game.

Tales

Tennis families

The family business: Cruz Hewitt debuts where his father won, and he is far from the only one

Twenty-two years. That is how long it has been since Lleyton Hewitt won the title in Washington, and this week his son came through qualifying into the main draw of the same tournament. Cruz Hewitt is 17, ranked outside the top 600, and plays Marcos Giron in the first round. It is his first ATP main draw, and it is a smaller novelty than it sounds. The tour is thick with players whose surname arrived before they did.

Feature