Remembering What Made Steffi Graf a Tennis Legend

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: July 13, 2016

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Steffi Graf will always be a legendary standard for women’s tennis. To many fans and observers who watched the entirety of her career, she is the greatest player of all time with her record-setting 22 major titles for the Open era.

At the least, Graf is a mythical figure to younger people and those who discovered tennis in the 21st century. She is the German superstar that Serena Williams tied with her own 22nd major in winning Wimbledon 2016.

Part of the joy in Williams' championships is to remember Graf’s greatness as a player, her graceful personality and what she meant to women’s tennis during her glory years.

 

The Image of Tennis Perfection



Tennis fans around the world could see that 18-year-old Graf was the real deal when she defeated Martina Navratilova in the 1987 French Open final.

She acknowledged in Peter Bodo's profile for Tennis Magazine that she was shy but liked to laugh. The young Graf had frizzy hair and simple Adidas whites, but she played a futuristic brand of tennis that was already tearing through the top players in the world.

Graf was a unique tennis athlete, the first and last of her kind. Standing at 5’10”, she was slender but powerful. Best of all for her tennis, she had strong legs and gazelle-like footwork that retrieved tough balls and allowed her to blast her forehand. In many respects, she had the kind of stylistic footwork and grace seen in men’s superstar Roger Federer.

It was remarkable to watch her glide to the ad corner to hit her trademark inside-out forehand with straight posture and identical form. American TV watchers could remember the late Bud Collins enthusiastically calling her "Fraulein Forehand." She shifted tennis from the softer groundstrokes of Chris Evert to inspiring future big-hitting stars like Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati and the Williams sisters.
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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