On July 2, 1988, German Steffi Graf won the important tennis tournament at Wimbledon, in England, for the first time, defeating American Martina Navratilova. German tennis player Steffi Graf would turn it into the start of a new era of modern tennis. Since August of the previous year, Steffi Graf had already climbed to the top of the world rankings, but until then she had only won a single Grand Slam tournament – the French Open, in 1987.
After Steffi Graf’s easy victory over Chris Evert-Lloyd in straight sets in the 1988 Australian Open final in Melbourne, the luck was cast. Rod Laver, the Australian who had twice won (in 1962 and 1969) all four Grand Slam tournaments, commented incisively: “I don’t think anyone can beat Steffi in 1988.”
This, however, did not reach Steffi Graf’s supremacy. In the spring tournaments in the USA, she lost twice. Returning to Europe, she returned to perform at her best. In less than half an hour and partials of 6:0 and 6:0, she crushed Belarusian Natascha Zvereva in the Paris final, becoming a two-time French Open champion.
With that, she was already the best player of the year when she traveled to Wimbledon. But it seemed unimaginable that Steffi Graf would win Wimbledon. So she, who avoided playing close to the net as much as possible, how could she win in a lawn tournament? How could she defeat Martina Navratilova, the queen of the lawn, who was preparing to celebrate her ninth Wimbledon victory?
challenge on the lawn
Initially, Steffi Graf “walked” carelessly through the tournament, but when the final began, everything seemed to indicate a new triumph for Navratilova, a Czech naturalized American tennis player. The first set was won by her by 6:3. But Steffi Graf kept fighting and turned the tables. The successful matchball came after an hour and 33 minutes of play.
At just 19 years old, Steffi Graf had reached the goal that thousands of professional tennis players never manage to achieve. And he was fully aware of the value of his triumph: “That I managed to impose myself, after losing by 6:3 and 4:2, that I was able to turn the game around, it was a great performance, which is something very special for me.”
What young Steffi Graf could not say, owing to her inexperience in making public statements, is that this victory had a special character. With its slow and long plays, the French Open was, without a doubt, the most tiring tournament, a test of strength.
The US Open was the Grand Slam tournament that required the most concentration from the players, with the constant noise of spectators and planes flying over the court at all times. But by tradition, Wimbledon has always been the number one tournament for all tennis professionals. At the age of 20, Steffi Graf had won the Oscar of the tennis world.
And that playing against Martina Navratilova, undisputed queen of the lawn. It was the third time that the Czech-American tennis player faced Steffi Graf at a remarkable moment in the young German sportswoman’s career. In 1986, Steffi had beaten Martina Navratilova for the first time in Berlin. Her first victory in a Grand Slam tournament in Paris in 1987 was also against Navratilova. And then the Wimbledon triumph.
from big to gold
Two months later, facing Gabriela Sabatini in the New York final, Steffi Graf also won the US Open. With that, she closed the Grand Slam cycle, which no longer surprised anyone. And a month and a half later, she capped off her performance of the year, also winning the title at the Seoul Olympics. In the final match, she beat Argentine Gabriela Sabatini in straight sets, 6: 3 and 6: 3.
Steffi Graf achieved in 1988 what no other tennis player had achieved until then: in addition to winning the Grand Slam, she crowned it with Olympic gold – thus, the Golden Slam was born. But even if the last two victories, in New York and Seoul, were indispensable for this, it was the success at Wimbledon that paved the way for this historic moment.
It is for this reason that the Wimbledon victory in 1988 was one of the most important of Steffi Graf’s entire career, alongside her first and last Grand Slam tournament wins in 1987 and 1999 – both in Paris. .
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