Graf (male) or Gräfin (female) is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count (derived from the Latin Comes, with a history of its own) or a British earl (an Anglo-Saxon title akin to the Viking title Jarl). A derivation ultimately from the Greek verb graphein 'to write' may be fanciful: Paul the Deacon wrote in Latin ca 790: "the count of the Bavarians that they call gravio who governed Bauzanum and other strongholds…" (Historia Langobardorum, V.xxxvi); this may be read to make the term a Germanic one, but by then using Latin terms was quite common.

Since August 1919, in Germany, Graf and all other titles are considered a part of the surname.^[1] The comital title Graf has of course also been used by German-speakers (as official or vernacular language), also in Austria and other Habsburg crown lands (mainly Slavic and Hungary), in Liechtenstein and much of Switzerland.

• A Graf (Count) ruled over a territory known as a Grafschaft, literally 'countship' (also rendered as 'county').

• The comital titles awarded in the Holy Roman Empire often related to the jurisdiction or domain of responsibility and represented special concessions of authority or rank. Only the more important titles remained in use until modern times. Many Counts were titled Graf without any additional qualification.

• For a list of the titles of the rank of Count etymologically related to Graf (and for other equivalents) see article Count.

[edit] List of nobiliary titles containing the term graf

Some are approximately of comital rank, some higher, some lower. The more important ones are treated in separate articles (follow the links); a few minor, rarer ones only in sections below.

Reichsgraf, Gefürsteter Graf[link]

A Reichsgraf was a nobleman whose title of count was conferred or confirmed by the Holy Roman Emperor, and literally meant "count of the (Holy Roman) Empire". Since the feudal era any count whose territory lay within the Empire and was under the immediate jurisdiction of the Emperor with a shared vote in the Reichstag came to be considered a member of the "upper nobility" (Hochadel) in Germany, along with princes (Fürsten), dukes (Herzöge), electors, and the emperor himself.^[2] A count who was not a Reichsgraf was apt to possess only a "mediate" fief (Afterlehen) — he was subject to an immediate prince of the empire, such as a duke or elector.

However, the Holy Roman Emperors also occasionally granted the title of Reichsgraf to subjects and foreigners who did not possess and were not granted immediate territories — or, sometimes, any territory at all.^[2] Such titles were purely honorific. In English, Reichsgraf is usually translated simply as count and is combined with a territorial suffix (e.g. Count of Holland, Count Reuss), or a surname Count Fugger, Count von Browne. But even after the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Reichsgrafen retained precedence above other counts in Germany. Those who had been quasi-sovereign until German mediatisation retained, until 1918, status and privileges pertaining to members of reigning dynasties.

A gefürsteter Graf (in English, princely count) is a Reichsgraf who has been made Reichsgraf by an act of the king, as opposed to one whose ancestors have held this privilege since the High Middle Ages.^{[citation needed]}

Notable Reichsgrafen included:

• Castell
• Fugger
• Henneberg, a title merged into the imperial dignity
• Leiningen
• Nassau-Weilburg since 26 September 1366 (previously, simply Graf)
• Pappenheim
• Tyrol as a dominion of the Austrian crown
• Stolberg

A complete list of Reichsgrafen as of 1792 can be found in the List of Reichstag participants (1792).

Landgrave[link]

A Landgraf or Landgrave was a nobleman of comital rank in feudal Germany whose jurisdiction stretched over a sometimes quite considerable territory. The title survived from the times of the Holy Roman Empire. The status of a landgrave was often associated with sovereign rights and decision-making greater than those of a simple Graf (Count), but carried no legal prerogatives.

Landgraf occasionally continued in use as the subsidiary title of such nobility as the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar, who functioned as the Landgrave of Thuringia in the first decade of the 20th century; but the title fell into disuse after World War I. The jurisdiction of a landgrave was a Landgrafschaft landgraviate and the wife of a landgrave was a Landgräfin or landgravine.

Examples: Landgrave of Thuringia, Landgrave of Hesse (later split in Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Darmstadt), Landgrave of Leuchtenberg.

Gefürsteter Landgraf[link]

A combination of Landgraf and Gefürsteter Graf (both above). Example: Leuchtenberg, later a duchy.

Burgrave / Viscount[link]

A Burggraf, or Burgrave, was a 12th and 13th century military and civil judicial governor of a castle (compare castellan, custos, keeper) of the town it dominated and of its immediate surrounding countryside. His jurisdiction was a Burggrafschaft, burgraviate.

Later the title became ennobled and hereditary with its own domain.

Example: Burgrave of Nuremberg.

It occupies the same relative rank as titles rendered in purist German by Vizegraf, in Dutch as Burggraaf or in English as Viscount^{[citation needed]} (Latin: Vicecomes), in origin also a deputy of a Count, as the burgrave dwelt usually in a castle or fortified town. Soon many became hereditary and almost-a-Count, ranking just below the 'full' Counts, but above a Freiherr (Baron).

It was also often used as a courtesy title by the heir to a Graf^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Rhinegrave, Wildgrave, Raugrave, Altgrave

Unlike the other comital titles, Rhinegrave, Wildgrave (Waldgrave), Raugrave, and Altgrave are not generic titles. Rather, each is linked to one specific, historic countship. By rank, these unusually named counts were equivalent to other Counts of the Empire of Uradel status, i.e. they possessed Imperial immediacy, ranked as Hochadel, and would be mediatised upon dissolution of the Empire in 1806.^[3]

• "Rhinegrave" (German: Rheingraf) was the title of the count of the Rheingau, a county located between Wiesbaden and Lorch on the right bank of the Rhine. Their castle was known as the Rheingrafenstein Castle. After the Rhinegraves inherited the Wildgraviate (see below) and parts of the Countship of Salm, they called themselves Wild- and Rhinegraves of Salm.^[4][3]
• When the Nahegau (a countship named after the river Nahe) split into two parts in 1113, the counts of the two parts, belonging to the House of Salm called themselves Wildgraves and Raugraves, respectively. They were named after the geographic properties of their territories: Wildgrave (German: Wildgraf; Latin: comes sylvanus), after Wald ("forest") and Raugrave (German: Raugraf; Latin: comes hirsutus), after the rough (i.e. mountainous) terrain.^[5][3]
• The first Raugrave was Count Emich I (died 1172). The dynasty died out in the 18th century. Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine purchased the estates, and after 1667 accorded the wife and children of his arguably bigamous (morganatic) second marriage to Baroness Marie Luise von Degenfeld, the title of "Raugravine/Raugrave".^[6]
• Altgrave (German: Altgraf, "old count") was a title used by the counts of Lower Salm to distinguish themselves from the Wild- and Rhinegraves of Upper Salm, since Lower Salm was the senior branch of the family.^[3]

Modern usage in German surnames and alphabetical sorting[link]

German nobility, although not abolished, lost recognition as a legal class in Germany in 1919 under the Weimar Constitution, article 109. Former hereditary noble titles legally simply transformed into dependent parts of the legal surname (with the former title thus now following the given name, e.g. Otto Graf Lambsdorff). As dependent parts of the surnames (nichtselbständige Namensbestandteile) they are ignored in alphabetical sorting of names, as is the eventual nobiliary particle, such as von or zu, and might or might not be used by those bearing them. The distinguishing main surname is the name following the Graf, or Gräfin and the eventual nobiliary particle. Today, having lost their title status these terms are rather not to be translated, unlike before 1919. The unofficial titles do, however, retain prestige in some circles of society.

Other uses[link]

The suffix -graf occurs in various office titles which did not attain nobiliary status but were either held as a sinecure by nobleman or courtiers, or functional officials such as the Deichgraf (in a polder management organism).

See also[link]

• German nobility
• History of Germany
• Holy Roman Emperor
• Reichstag (Holy Roman Empire)
• List of German monarchs
• Sendgraf

Sources and references[link]

(incomplete)

• WorldStatesmen: see every modern state; here Germany/Holy Roman Empire

External links[link]

• Lexikon article "Raugraf"

Steffi Graf

Country	Germany[1]
Residence	Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Born	(1969-06-14) 14 June 1969 (age 43) Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	60 kilograms (130 lb)
Turned pro	1982
Retired	1999
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$21,891,306[2] (5th in all-time rankings)
Int. Tennis HOF	2004 (member page)
Singles
Career record	900–115 (88.7%)
Career titles	107 (3rd all-time)
Highest ranking	No. 1 (17 August 1987)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1988, 1989, 1990, 1994)
French Open	W (1987, 1988, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999)
Wimbledon	W (1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996)
US Open	W (1988, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996)
Other tournaments
Championships	W (1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996)
Olympic Games	Gold medal (1988)
Doubles
Career record	173–72
Career titles	11
Highest ranking	No. 3 (3 March 1987)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	SF (1988, 1989)
French Open	F (1986, 1987, 1989)
Wimbledon	W (1988)
US Open	SF (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989)
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (1991)
French Open	2R (1994)
Wimbledon	SF (1999)
US Open	1R (1984)
Last updated on: N/A.

Olympic medal record
Women's Tennis
Competitor for  West Germany
Gold	1988 Seoul	Singles
Bronze	1988 Seoul	Doubles
Competitor for  Germany
Silver	1992 Barcelona	Singles

Stefanie Maria "Steffi" Graf^[3] (born 14 June 1969, in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany) is a former World No. 1 German tennis player.

In total, Graf won 22 Grand Slam singles titles, second among male and female players only to Margaret Court's 24. In 1988, she became the first and only tennis player (male or female) to achieve the Calendar Year Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year.

Graf was ranked World No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a record 377 total weeks—the longest period for which any player, male or female, has held the number-one ranking since the WTA and the Association of Tennis Professionals began issuing rankings. She also holds the open era record for finishing as the year-end World No. 1 the most times, having done so on eight occasions.^[4] She won 107 singles titles, which ranks her third on the WTA's all-time list after Martina Navratilova (167 titles) and Chris Evert (154 titles).

A notable feature of Graf's game was her versatility across all playing surfaces, having won each of the four Grand Slams at least four times, the only player to do so. She won six French Open singles titles (second to Evert) and seven Wimbledon singles titles (third behind Navratilova and Helen Wills Moody). She is the only singles player to have achieved a Calendar Year Grand Slam while playing on all three major types of tennis courts (grass courts, clay courts and hard courts), as the Calendar Year Grand Slams won by other players before her occurred when the Australian and US Opens were still played on grass. Graf reached thirteen consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, from the 1987 French Open through to the 1990 French Open, winning nine of them. She played in 36 Grand Slam singles tournaments from the 1987 French Open, her first Grand Slam win, through the 1999 French Open, her last Grand Slam win, winning 22 titles. She reached a total of 31 Grand Slam singles finals, third overall behind Evert (34 finals) and Navratilova (32 finals).^{[citation needed]}

Graf is considered by some to be the greatest female player. Billie Jean King said in 1999, "Steffi is definitely the greatest women's tennis player of all time."^[5] Martina Navratilova has included Graf on her list of great players.^[6] 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.^[7] Tennis writer Steve Flink, in his book The Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth Century, named her as the best female player of the 20th century.^[8]. In March 2012, Tennis Channel picked Graf as the greatest female tennis player ever in their list of 100 greatest tennis players of all times.^[9]

Graf retired in 1999 while she was ranked World No. 3. She married former World No. 1 men's tennis player Andre Agassi in October 2001 and they have two children, Jaden Gil and Jaz Elle.

Biography[link]

Early career[link]

Steffi Graf 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 practising 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 US Open champion and former World No. 1 player. (Twelve years later, Graf defeated Austin 6–0, 6–0 during a second round match at the Evert Cup in Indian Wells, California, which was their second and last match against each other.)

At the start of her first full professional year in 1983, the 13-year-old Graf was ranked World No. 124. She won no titles during the next three years, but her ranking climbed steadily to World No. 98 in 1983, No. 22 in 1984, and No. 6 in 1985. In 1984, she first gained international attention when she almost upset the tenth seed, Jo Durie of the United Kingdom, in a fourth round Centre Court match at Wimbledon. In August as a 15-year-old (and youngest entrant) representing West Germany, she won the tennis demonstration event at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.^[10]

Graf's schedule was closely controlled by her father, who limited her play so that she would not burn out. 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 also kept a tight rein on Graf's personal life. Social invitations on the tour were often declined as Graf's focus was kept on practising and match play. Working with her father and then-coach Pavel Složil, Graf typically practised 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^{[citation needed]}, made few friends on the tour in her early years, but it led to a steady improvement in her play.

In 1985 and early 1986, Graf emerged as the top challenger to the dominance of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. During that period, she lost six times to Evert and three times to Navratilova, all in straight sets. She did not win a tournament but consistently reached tournament finals and semifinals, with the highlight being her semifinal loss to Navratilova at the US Open.

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 a further seven times over the next three and a half years.) Graf then won her next three tournaments at Amelia Island, Charleston, and Berlin, culminating in a 6–2, 6–3 defeat of Navratilova in the final of the latter. At the French Open, Graf was the third seed but was seen by many as the tournament favorite. However, she caught a virus and lost to Hana Mandlíková in the quarterfinals 2–6, 7–6, 6–1. The illness caused her to miss Wimbledon, and an accident where she broke a toe several weeks later also curtailed her momentum. 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. The match was played over two days with Navratilova finally winning after saving three match points 6–1, 6–7, 7–6. Graf then won three consecutive indoor titles at Tokyo, Zürich, and Brighton, before once again contending with Navratilova at the season-ending Virginia Slims Championships in New York City. This time, Navratilova beat Graf 7–6, 6–3, 6–2.

Breakthrough year: 1987[link]

Graf's Grand Slam breakthrough came in 1987. She started the year strongly, with six tournament victories heading into the French Open, the highlight being at the tournament in Miami, where she defeated Martina Navratilova in a semifinal and Chris Evert in the final and conceded only 20 games in the seven rounds of the tournament. In the French Open final, Graf defeated Navratilova, who was the World No. 1, 6–4, 4–6, 8–6 after beating Gabriela Sabatini in a three-set semifinal.

Graf then lost to Navratilova 7–5, 6–3 in the Wimbledon final, her first loss of the year. However, in the Federation Cup final in Vancouver, Canada, three weeks later, she defeated Evert easily 6–2, 6–1. The US Open ended anti-climactically as Navratilova defeated Graf in the final 7–6, 6–1.

Unprecedented Calendar Year Golden Slam : 1988[link]

A picture of a decaying scoreboard in Seoul, taken nearly 20 years after the tournament happened, that documents Graf's triumph there.

Graf started 1988 by winning the Australian Open, defeating Chris Evert in the final 6–1, 7–6. Graf did not lose a set during the tournament and lost a total of only 29 games.

Graf lost twice to Gabriela Sabatini during the spring, once on hardcourts in Boca Raton, Florida, and once on clay at Amelia Island, Florida. Graf, however, won the tournament in San Antonio, Texas and retained her title in Miami, where she once again defeated Evert in the final. Graf then won the tournament in Berlin, losing only twelve games in five matches.

At the French Open, Graf successfully defended her title by defeating Natasha Zvereva 6–0, 6–0 in a 32-minute final.^[11] That was the first double bagel in a Grand Slam final since 1911.^[11] Zvereva, who had eliminated Martina Navratilova in the fourth round, won only thirteen points in the match.^[11]

Next came Wimbledon, where Navratilova had won six straight titles. Graf was trailing Navratilova in the final 7–5, 2–0 before winning the match 5–7, 6–2, 6–1. She then won tournaments in Hamburg and Mahwah (where she lost only eight games all tournament).

At the US Open, Graf defeated Sabatini in a three-set final to win the Calendar Year Grand Slam, a feat previously performed by only two other women, Maureen Connolly Brinker in 1953 and Margaret Court in 1970.

Graf then defeated Sabatini 6–3, 6–3 in the gold medal match at the Olympic Games in Seoul and achieved 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.

At the year-ending Virginia Slims Championships, Graf – hampered by illness – was upset by Pam Shriver, only her third loss of the year. She was named the 1988 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.

New challengers and personal challenges[link]

1989[link]

Speculation was rife at the beginning of 1989 about the possibility of Graf winning another Grand Slam. Some noted observers, such as Margaret Court, suggested that Graf could achieve the feat a couple more times. And the year began as expected, with Graf extending her Grand Slam winning streak to five events at the Australian Open, defeating Helena Suková in the final. Her 6–3, 6–0 defeat of Gabriela Sabatini in a semifinal was described by veteran observer Ted Tinling as "probably the best tennis I've seen".^[12]

Graf followed this with easy victories in her next four tournaments at Washington, D.C., San Antonio, Texas, Boca Raton, Florida, and Hilton Head, South Carolina. The Washington, D.C. tournament was notable because Graf won the first twenty points of the final against Zina Garrison.^[13] In the Boca Raton final, Graf lost the only set she conceded to Chris Evert in their final seven matches.^[14]

In the subsequent Amelia Island final on clay, Graf lost her first match of the year to Sabatini but returned to European clay with easy victories at Hamburg and Berlin.

Graf's Grand Slam winning streak ended at the French Open, where 17-year-old Spaniard Arantxa Sánchez Vicario beat Graf in three sets. Graf served for the match at 5–3 in the third set but lost the game at love and won only three more points in the match. She had struggled to beat Monica Seles in their semifinal 6–3, 3–6, 6–3.

Graf, however, recovered to defeat Martina Navratilova 6–2, 6–7, 6–1 in the Wimbledon final after defeating Seles 6–0, 6–1 in a fourth round match, Sánchez Vicario in a quarterfinal, and Chris Evert in a semifinal.

Graf warmed up for the US Open with easy tournament victories in San Diego and Mahwah. In her semifinal match at the US Open, Graf defeated Sabatini 3–6, 6–4, 6–2. In the final, Navratilova led 6–3, 4–2 before Graf rallied to win 3–6, 7–5, 6–1 for her third Grand Slam singles title of the year.

Victories at Zürich and Brighton preceded the Virginia Slims Championships, where Graf cemented her top-ranked status by beating Navratilova in the final 6–4, 7–5, 2–6, 6–2. Graf ended 1989 with an 86–2 match record and the loss of only twelve sets.

1990[link]

Graf defeated Mary Joe Fernandez in the final of the Australian Open, which was her eighth Grand Slam singles title in the last nine she contested. Her winning streak (unbeaten since the 1989 French Open loss to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario) continued with victories in Tokyo, Amelia Island, and Hamburg. In Berlin, she extended her unbeaten streak to 66 matches (second in WTA history to Martina Navratilova's 74) before losing the final to Monica Seles, 6–4, 6–3.

While the Berlin tournament was being played, the largest-circulation German tabloid, Bild, ran a story about an alleged scandal involving Graf's father. The difficulty of answering questions about the matter came to a head at a Wimbledon press conference, 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. Whether this scandal affected Graf's form is open to debate. In an interview with Stern magazine in July 1990, Graf stated, "I could not fight as usual."^[15]

Graf again lost to Monica Seles in the final of the French Open 7–6, 6–4. Seles was behind 2–6 in the first set tiebreaker, but then came back to win six points in a row and take the set. At Wimbledon, Graf lost in the semifinals to Zina Garrison, who with this victory broke Graf's string of 13 consecutive Grand Slam finals. After victories in Montreal and San Diego, Graf reached the US Open final, where she lost in straight sets to Sabatini. Graf won four indoor tournaments after the US Open, but lost again to Sabatini in a Virginia Slims Championships semifinal. Even though Graf won only one Grand Slam singles title in 1990, she finished the year as the top ranked player.

1991[link]

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 US Open and, in March, ending Graf's record 186 consecutive-weeks hold on the World No. 1 ranking. Graf briefly regained the top ranking after winning at Wimbledon but lost it again after her loss to Navratilova at the US Open.

Graf lost an Australian Open quarterfinal to Jana Novotná, the first time she did not reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament since the 1986 French Open. She then lost to Gabriela Sabatini in her next three tournaments before winning the U.S. Hardcourt Championships in San Antonio, beating Monica Seles in the final. After losing a fifth straight time to Sabatini in Amelia Island, Florida, Graf once again defeated Seles in the Hamburg final. Following her tournament victory in Berlin, Graf suffered one of the worst defeats of her career in a French Open semifinal where she won only two games against Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and lost her first 6–0 set since 1984. Graf did, however, win her third Wimbledon title, defeating Sabatini in the final. Navratilova then defeated Graf 7–6, 6–7, 6–4 in a US Open semifinal, the first time she had beaten Graf in four years. Graf then won Leipzig, with her 500th career victory coming in a quarterfinal against Judith Wiesner. After winning two more indoor tournaments at Zürich and Brighton, she failed once again in the Virginia Slims Championships, losing her quarterfinal to Novotná. Soon after, she split with her long-time coach, Pavel Složil.

1992[link]

A bout of German measles forced Graf to miss the first major event of 1992, the Australian Open. Her year continued indifferently with losses in three of her first four tournaments, although she did win unconvincingly at Boca Raton, Florida. Victories at Hamburg and Berlin (beating Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the finals of both) prepared her for the French Open, where she defeated Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals after losing the first set 6–0. She then renewed her rivalry with Monica Seles in the final, which Seles won 10–8 in the third set. Seles won the match on her 5th match point; Graf came within 2 points of winning the match a few games earlier. At Wimbledon, after struggling through early-round three-setters against lowly-ranked Mariaan de Swardt and Patty Fendick, she easily defeated Natasha Zvereva in a quarterfinal, Sabatini in a semifinal, and Seles in the final 6–2, 6–1, with Seles playing in almost complete silence because of widespread media and player criticism of her grunting. Graf then 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 US Open, Graf was upset in a quarterfinal by Sánchez Vicario 7–6(5), 6–3. Four consecutive indoor tournament victories in the autumn improved her year, but for the third consecutive year, she failed to win the Virginia Slims Championships, where she lost in the first round to Lori McNeil.

Second period of dominance[link]

1993[link]

Monica Seles beat Graf in three sets in the final of the Australian Open 4–6, 6–3, 6–2. 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 German fan of Graf, Günter Parche. He claimed that he committed the attack to help Graf reclaim the World No. 1 ranking, which she did on 7 June 1993. More than two years elapsed before Seles competed again.

In the absence of Seles, Graf won three of four Grand Slam events to re-establish herself as the dominant player in women's tennis. It took some time, however, for Graf to separate herself from her challengers, with four losses in her first six tournaments of the year: two to Arantxa Sánchez Vicario and one each to Seles and the 36 year-old Martina Navratilova. She struggled at the tournament in Berlin where she lost a 6–0 set to the unheralded Sabine Hack before defeating Mary Joe Fernandez and Gabriela Sabatini in three-set matches to claim her seventh title there in eight years. Nor was she at her best at the French Open but still managed to win her first title there since 1988 with a three-set victory over Fernandez in the final. The win elevated Graf to the World No. 1 ranking for the first time in 22 months. Her fifth Wimbledon title was aided by a celebrated meltdown in the final from Jana Novotná, who had a point on serve to go up 5–1 in the deciding set before losing the next five games. Graf had an injured right foot during that tournament (and for the next few months), finally resulting in surgery on 4 October.

In the meantime, she lost surprisingly to Nicole Bradtke of Australia in a Fed Cup match on clay before winning the tournament in San Diego and the tournament in Toronto in preparation for the US Open. She won there, beating Helena Suková comfortably in the final after eliminating Sabatini in a three-set quarterfinal. She won the tournament in Leipzig yet again the day before her foot operation, losing only two games to Novotná in the final. Graf lost to Conchita Martínez in her return tournament a month later in Philadelphia. However, she finished her year with a highlight, winning her first Virginia Slims Championships since 1989 by beating Sánchez Vicario in the final despite needing painkillers for a back injury.

1994[link]

Seemingly free of injury for the first time in years, Graf began the year by winning the Australian Open, where she defeated Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final with the loss of only two games. She then won her next four tournaments easily. In the Miami final, she lost her first set of the year—to Natasha Zvereva—after winning 54 consecutive sets. In the Hamburg final, she lost for the first time in 1994 after 36 consecutive match victories, losing to Sánchez Vicario in three sets. She then won her eighth German Open, but there were signs that her form was worsening as she almost lost to Julie Halard in a quarterfinal.Back-to-back losses followed; Graf lost to Mary Pierce in a French Open semifinal, 6–2, 6–2, and followed that with a first-round straight-sets loss at Wimbledon to Lori McNeil, her first loss in a first round Grand Slam tournament in ten years. Graf still managed to win San Diego the following month but aggravated a long-time back injury in beating Sánchez Vicario in the final. She then began to wear a back brace and was unsure about playing the US Open but elected to play while receiving treatment and stretching for two hours before each match. She made it to the final and took the first set there against Sánchez Vicario—Sanchez Vicario's last victory over Graf. Her back injury, however, flared up and she lost the next two sets. She took the following nine weeks off, returning only for the Virginia Slims Championships where she lost to Pierce in a quarterfinal.

1995[link]

Injury kept Graf out of the Australian Open. She came back to beat Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the finals of both the French Open and Wimbledon. The US Open was Monica Seles's first Grand Slam event since 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 (6–1, 2–6, 6–1, 4–6, 6–3) in 2 hours 46 minutes. 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 Graf in 1997, when she agreed to pay a fine of 1.3 million Deutsche Marks to the government and an unspecified charity.

1996[link]

Graf again missed the Australian Open because of injury and then successfully defended the three Grand Slam titles she won the year before. In a close French Open final, Graf again overcame Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, taking the third-set 10–8. Graf then had straight-sets wins against Sánchez Vicario in the Wimbledon final and Monica Seles in the US Open final. Graf also won her fifth and final Chase Championships title with a five set win over Martina Hingis. She was unable to participate in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta because of an injured left knee.^[16]

Final years on the tour: 1997–99[link]

The last few years of Graf's career were beset by injuries, particularly to her knees and back. 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. In 1997 Graf lost in the 4th round of Australian open in straight sets 2–6, 5–7 to Amanda Coetzer.^[17] After several months injury lay off, Graf returned to play in the German Open in Berlin in front of a home crowd and had the worst defeat of her career in the quarter final, when Amanda Coetzer beat her in just 56 minutes 6–0, 6–1.^[17][18] In the French Open Graf was again beaten by Amanda Coetzer in straight sets 6–1, 6–4.^[19] Graf then skipped Wimbledon due to injury.

After missing almost half of the tour in 1998, Graf defeated World No. 2 Hingis and World No. 1 Lindsay Davenport en route to the Philadelphia title. At the first round of the season-ending Chase Championships, Graf defeated World No. 3 Jana Novotná.

At the beginning of 1999 Graf played the warm up event to the Australian Open in Sydney; she defeated Serena Williams in the 2nd round and Venus Williams in the quarter-finals before losing to Lindsay Davenport in the semi-final. Graf then went on to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open before losing to Monica Seles 7–5, 6–1. Graf stated after the match she was extremely nervous heading into match primarily because of how strongly Seles had started in their prior match at the 1998 Corel WTA Championships. In Indian Wells,1999 Graf lost to Serena Williams 3–6,6–3,5–7.^[20] Serena hit 8 times more winners than Graf in this match.^[21]

At the 1999 French Open, Graf 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 top ranked Hingis in three sets for a memorable victory. Graf also became the first player in the open era to defeat the first, second, and third ranked players in the same Grand Slam tournament by defeating second ranked Davenport in the quarter-finals and third ranked Monica Seles in the semifinals. Graf said after the final that it would be her last French Open,^[22] fueling speculation about her retirement.

Graf then reached her ninth Wimbledon singles final, losing to Davenport 6–4, 7–5. In mixed doubles at Wimbledon, Graf partnered with John McEnroe, but she withdrew at the semi-final stage to protect her knee in advance of the singles final.^[23]

In August 1999, after retiring from a match in San Diego, Graf announced her retirement from the women's tour. She was ranked World No. 3 at that time. Graf said, "I have done everything I wanted to do in tennis. I feel I have nothing left to accomplish. The weeks following Wimbledon [in 1999] weren't easy for me. I was not having fun anymore. After Wimbledon, for the first time in my career, I didn't feel like going to a tournament. My motivation wasn't what it was in the past."^[24]

Post-retirement activity[link]

2005[link]

Graf competed in one tie of World Team Tennis on the Houston Wranglers team. Graf was beaten in two out of three matches. Each match was one set. Graf lost her singles match to Elena Likhovtseva 5–4. She teamed with Ansley Cargill in women's doubles against Anna Kournikova and Likhovtseva but lost 5–2. She was successful in the mixed doubles match, however. Graf completely ruled out a return to professional tennis. "It was a lot of fun. It was not as I expected it to be."^{[citation needed]}

2009[link]

Graf played a singles exhibition match against Kim Clijsters and a mixed doubles exhibition alongside husband Andre Agassi against Tim Henman and Clijsters as part of a test event and celebration for the newly installed roof over Wimbledon's Centre Court. She lost a lengthy one-set singles match to Clijsters and also the mixed doubles.

2010[link]

Graf participated in the World Team Tennis Smash Hits exhibition in Washington, D.C., to support The Elton John Aids Foundation. She and her husband, Andre Agassi, were on Team Elton John who competed against Team Billie Jean King. Graf played in the celebrity doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles before straining her left calf muscle and being replaced by Anna Kournikova.

Summary of career[link]

Graf won seven singles titles at Wimbledon, six singles titles at the French Open, five singles titles at the US Open, and four singles titles at the Australian Open. 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 (a record until Lindsay Davenport surpassed this amount in January 2008). Her singles win-loss record was 900–115 (88.7 percent).^[25] She was ranked World No. 1 for 186 consecutive weeks (from August 1987 to March 1991, still the record in the women's game) and a record total 377 weeks overall. Graf also won 11 doubles titles.

Records[link]

• These records were attained in Open Era of tennis.
• Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.

Career statistics[link]

Playing style[link]

The main weapons in Graf's game were her powerful inside-out forehand drive, which earned her the moniker "Fräulein Forehand," and her foot speed.^[26] She often positioned herself in her backhand corner, and although this left her forehand wide open and vulnerable to attack, her court speed meant that only the most accurate shots wide to her forehand caused any trouble.

Graf also had a powerful backhand drive but over the course of her career tended to use this less frequently, opting more often for her very effective backhand slice. In baseline rallies, she used the slice almost exclusively. Her accuracy with the slice, both cross-court and down the line, and her ability to skid the ball and keep it low, enabled her to use it as an offensive weapon to set the ball up for her forehand put-aways.

She built her powerful and accurate serve up to 180 km/h (110 mph), making it one of the fastest serves in women's tennis, and was a capable volleyer.

Personal life[link]

In the 1990s, she had a long term relationship with racing car driver Michael Bartels.^[27]

She married Andre Agassi on 22 October 2001, with only their mothers as witnesses.^[28] Four days later Graf gave birth, six weeks prematurely, to their son Jaden Gil. Their daughter, Jaz Elle, was born 3 October 2003.

In 1991, the Steffi Graf Youth Tennis Center in Leipzig was dedicated.^[29] She is the founder and chairperson of "Children for Tomorrow", a non-profit foundation for implementing and developing projects to support children who have been traumatized by war or other crises.^[29]

See also[link]

Tennis portal

• Graf–Navratilova rivalry
• Graf–Sabatini rivalry
• Graf–Seles rivalry

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Steffi Graf

• Official website
• Steffi Graf at the Women's Tennis Association
• Steffi Graf at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Steffi Graf at the Fed Cup
• Official Wimbledon profile
• BBC profile
• ESPN biography
• Steffi Graf Biography
• (German) Steffi Graf' victories

Steffi Graf (Achievement precedessor & successor) Sporting positions Preceded by Martina Navratilova Monica Seles Monica Seles Monica Seles Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Arantxa Sánchez Vicario ' ' World No. 1 August 17, 1987–March 10, 1991 August 5, 1991–August 11, 1991 August 19, 1991–September 8, 1991 June 7, 1993–February 5, 1995 February 20, 1995–February 26, 1995 April 10, 1995–May 14, 1995 June 12, 1995–March 30, 1997 inc. August 15, 1995–November 3, 1996 (w/ M. Seles) inc. November 18, 1996–November 24, 1996 (w/ M. Seles) Succeeded by Monica Seles Monica Seles Monica Seles Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Martina Hingis ' ' Awards and achievements Preceded by Cornelia Hanisch German Sportswoman of the Year 1986 – 1989 Succeeded by Katrin Krabbe Preceded by Katja Seizinger German Sportswoman of the Year 1999 Succeeded by Heike Drechsler Preceded by Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Prince of Asturias Award for Sports 1999 Succeeded by Lance Armstrong Preceded by Martina Navratilova ITF World Champion 1987-1990 Succeeded by Monica Seles Preceded by Monica Seles ITF World Champion 1993 Succeeded by Arantxa Sánchez Vicario Preceded by Arantxa Sánchez Vicario ITF World Champion 1995-1996 Succeeded by Martina Hingis Preceded by Heike Drechsler United Press International Athlete of the Year 1987 Succeeded by Florence Griffith-Joyner Preceded by Florence Griffith-Joyner United Press International Athlete of the Year 1989 Succeeded by Merlene Ottey Preceded by Florence Griffith-Joyner Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year 1989 Succeeded by Beth Daniel