Steffi Graf was once the world number one holding the coveted spot for a record 377 weeks. When at her best her career was full of title wins and she earned the impressive title as the greatest female tennis player if the 20th century in 1999 and Graf is a member of the Hall of Fame.
Graf first began playing tennis at the age of four and played in her first tournament at age five and quickly she began to win the tournaments including the European Championships in 1982. In the same year she entered her first professional tournament. Her first full professional year was in 1983 when she was aged just 13 years old. In her first three years she didnt win any titles however she did work her way up in the rankings from 124 in 1983 to number 6 in 1985.
1988 Was an Astounding Year for Steffi Graf
In 1986 Graf finally won her first WTA tournament beating Evert in the final of the Family Circle Cup. Following that win she went on to win more tournaments which all led up to her amazing breakthrough year in 1987. She won six tournaments and won the French Open knocking out Martina Navratilova.
In 1988 Graf won the Australian Open, the Miami, San Antonio and Texas tournaments and the tournament in Berlin. She went on to win the French Open and beat Navratilova in the Wimbledon final. That year she also went on to win the US Open which landed her the Calendar Year grand Slam. Amazingly her success continued as she went on to beat Sabatini is the Seoul Olympic Games, taking home the gold medal. Graf also managed to take home the bronze medal in the womens doubles. Her successful year saw Graf being awarded the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.
In 1990 Steffi Graf managed to retain her World number one ranking despite only winning one Grand Slam title. Her next extremely big year was in 1993 where Graf was able to win four Grand Slam events, even though she wasnt at the top of her game by the time the French Open came around she managed to win the title and she ended the year at World number one once more. 1994 was another impressive year as Graf won the Australian Open, the German Open, four tournaments in-between and made it to the French Open semi-final.
She also won at San Diego but her back injury began to play up and she needed to wear a back brace. However despite this she went on to reach the final at the US Open while she was still receiving treatment.
I’m a tennis fan who loved watching Steffi Graf play tennis. For me she was the best women player of all time. She had an amazing Career that Will Live on Forever. Graf continued to play up until 1999 despite injuries causing multiple issues. During her career she won seven times at Wimbledon, six titles at the French Open, five at the US Open and four at the Australian Open. Steffi also always looked great in her Adidad tennis shoes. You can no loger buy the womens tennis shoes that she used in her career, but you can find lots of other current shoes here. Finally, for all those looking to find out more about her years in tennis, you can check out tennis stats at Stevegtennis.com.
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