Kim Clijsters's childhood tennis idol was Steffi Graf. She cites her lone WTA Tour match against Graf at Wimbledon in 1999 as being very influential, saying, "It was unbelievable. All I wanted to do was watch her. I wanted to see how she tied her shoelaces, what her ponytail looked like, how she carried her bag. Even though I lost, the impact of that and the motivation it gave me was huge. It was definitely the biggest moment of my career".
Serena said Seles was her childhood favorite and she Crushed her in their first meeting’97 Chicago 4-6,6-1,6-1. The difference is staggering in the mentality of a Champion vs GOAT.
@@seensay2132 But I doubt that little Serena had Seles posters on the walls of her sleeping room. Little Kim had posters of Steffi there (same as Justine Henin, BTW!).
It is a long time ago I watched a Steffi Graf match and watching some Federer matches about an hour ago for me it's very interesting that she remembered me of him. Both did nothing else than taking away the time of their opponents taking the ball very early and trying permanently to push the other one from one angle to another on the court. Very beautiful to watch because they played with high precision and risk and this with very little mistakes. 🙂
Steffi so athletic. Footwork incredible. She ran around her back hand to hit the huge forehand. Amazed he how she got away with only slicing her backhand as good as it was. She didn’t slice the ball to attack net. She sliced it to keep it low. And was great defensive shot to set up her forehand. Young Kim went on to get better. Graff retired on top.
@@seensay2132 knowing Steffi she would never let that happen. She knew when to stop. Unlike Serena, Venus, Hingis and Seles. One was too arrogant to realize she was over, another still has the same syndrome, another didn’t need to be carried off court but needed mom to guide her back on court and another actually really needed to be carried off court. My analysis was better.
Brilliant! Nicely edited. The tension between these two excellent players can't be higher. Young Kim, fearless & ferocious against a formidable opponent. Unbelievable quality by both. Graff's single-handed backhand is scary, not a vulnerable point at all. Much more than the scoreline may tell!
Yeah, that backhand was just insane. "Steffi's backhand is very far from being a weakness, I think it's the most underrated shot of all times, it can be a total nightmare"... this is more or less what Monica Seles had to say about it.
Imagine retiring at the end of the year, and still able to hit such formidable forehands and running around like a teenager at her prime. Her body wasn't what it used to be, but I still think she was mentally done in 1999. Barty probably took inspiration from her, retire while you are still on top of your game, before mental exhaustion pull you down.
Barty was slow to reach the top.. had a break also.. and quit quite a bit younger. She just doesn't want to play one sport all the time .. more like an olympian with multiple disciplines.
I would say that Justine Henin (along with Kim) had she not prematurely 'retired', she would have established a genuine rivalry with Serena Williams and won well over 12 GS's. After 2010, Williams almost had the pick of what GS's she could participate in and win, despite alleged 'injuries' etc and eventually retiring at 40.
Small trivia:- This was Graf's 900th career win (counting her qualifying matches & fed cup). Only Martina & Chrissy won match than her in the WTA. After her retirement only Serena with 858 & Venus with 818 wins come close despite playing far longer than Graf. Meanwhile at the same time all the members of big 3 won 1000 matches in ATP tour.
Steffi and Serena played about the same amount of matches. Serena did play a lot of full seasons and missed a lot of because of injuries and personal reasons.
@@owenbeharry8478yeah Serena had many interest outside of tennis. Even when she was fully fit she often only cares about slams even despite being qualified for WTA finals 6 times (1999, 2000, 2003, 2010, 2015 & 2016) she didn't play. That's so weird.
@@owenbeharry8478 Is that true? I know that Serena played a lot more grand slams than Steffi (something like 20 or 30, I think, though I could be way off). I never realized their total matches were close.
@@wilsochyeah Serena played in 81 slams & Graf played in only 54 slams. Graf played 215 tournament (223 if we add qualifying tournament) but Serena played over 240 tournaments. So Serena played more tournament than Steffi but won less than her.
Thanks for uploading this match. An historic meeting between the former and the future No 1 player of the world. Incidentally, Graf is also 1-0 over another future GS winnwr and No 1 player Mauresmo (FO 1997)
Steffi was way more consistent in this match but it’s interesting to watch the highlights on the new power players. The players of steffi’s generation really feared the forehand. The younger players wasn’t afraid to challenge it.
Very true and great to see the new players coming through, though the Steffi of ‘99 was a shadow of the player from 95/96. Still hanging tough but nowhere near fitness with her ball striking, speed or mental agility.
@@Menexpert the new crop of the late 90s and early 00s were much superior that her competitors of the early 90s. They were more powerful off of both wings and move just as well.
It would be great to see what the nextgen might have done against peak Steffi. In 1999 Steffi nowhere near her peak. Yeah NextGen had more power (because of new racquet technology & modern traning) but players of 80's & 90's had more consistency & more variety.
@@owenbeharry8478That is nonsense. Steffi always preferred the power players over S&V players or junk ballers. Capriati knew this when she said about Steffi in 2002, “If she would have been playing now, not retired quite yet, this would be her time."
Kim at this point shows she will be the next champion 🏆🏆🏆 power and grace for both players. Both are prima ballerinas with formidable power and grace❤❤❤❤
At 0:14 Graf absolutely pulverizes a short high forehand. I’ve never totally understood how she would do that with an eastern grip. I’m assuming it was an eastern grip, that’s how her grip always looked to me.
Nah she knew Venus and Serena would only get better and got out at the right time. After Serena waxed her in the Indian Wells final and Venus hit her off the court in Key Biscayne, I believe Graf knew her window was closing fast and her days of winning Grand Slams wouldn’t reach the 2000s. She got out before she got carried out.
@@seensay2132atleast Steffi knew when to retire rather than Serena who kept losing to journey women & NextGen before she retired in 2022 & Venus still wasting wild card by losing again & again.😉😉 BTW when Steffi retired she was ranked no 3 (only behind Davenport & Hingis) which was higher than both Williams sisters ranking. Both Williams sisters didn't have won any slam till that time.
@@rajusaha855 the difference is Serena was still playing for history. You know trying to break Margaret Court’s record. Something Steffi wouldn’t have been ANYwhere close to if one of her crazed fans hadn’t stabbed Seles. But, you know, maybe if she had a backhand as a weapon, a bigger first serve and The Williams will to win, maybe *** she gets the record - without help from her fans 😂
@@seensay2132nobody gonna stab Wozniacki, Ivanovic, Jankovic, Safina, Halep, Azarenka, Muguruza, Dopapova lol😂😂. Despite playing in a weak era especially after Henin's retirement in 2008 she couldn't beat Margaret Court 24 slams records. She got in ass kicked by nextgen in slam finals. Despite playing 10 years longer she couldn't match Steffi's golden slam, Steffi's total weeks at no 1 & year end no 1, quadruple slam. Steffi in her era was far superior & dominate than Serena ever was. Henin's at her peak completely dominate Serena from 2003-07 with 5-2 h2h & 4-1 in slams. After her retirement she won extra 15 slams in extremely weak era.
Interesting that Graf beat young up and coming players like Venus and Clijsters at Wimbledon in 1999. Graf lost to Davenport in the final but for some reason Graf had issues with Davenport. Maybe it's Davenport ball striking that put Graf off her game. Wise decision for Graf to retire after Wimbledon as Venus, Serena and Davenport would of given her alot of trouble. Venus Williams got alot better the following year.
In the final Graf was battling knee injury after her tough QF & SF match while Davenport had an easy draw & won all of her matches in straight sets. You have to remember Graf was past her prime while Davenport was at her absolute peak. Atleast Graf knew when to retire than Serena who retired as world no 600 & got her ass kicked by nextgen & journeyman while Venus still playing without winning anything in last 5 or 6 years.😉😉
Steffi played nowhere near her full capabilities in that final. Forget her peak, she didn't even play at the level she did against Venus in the QF. Lindsay was always going to be a tough matchup for anyone due to the sheer quality of her groundstrokes (14-13 H2H against even Venus), but a post-prime Steffi more than held her own against peak Davenport (3-3 H2H from late-98 to the end of her career). Not to take credit away from LD, but I think Graf's losses to Davenport in those years can be largely attributed to the fact that they often met in later rounds - one of the things athletes lose most as they age / decline physically is the ability to recover quickly and produce their highest level day after day. As for her potentially struggling against prime Venus and Serena...yeah, such is life. She would've still been a top 5-10 player in those years had she stuck around, her and Monica were the blueprints for the Williams Sisters and everyone else.
Steffi did not have issues with Davenport. Even though only a shadow of het former self after her 1997 reconstructive knee surgery she was 3-3 win/loss against Davenport in the last 12 months of her career. In the last two months she beat Lindsay comprehensively at the FO and lost only narrowly in Wimbledon. You think Steffi retired in August 1999 because of Venus, Serena, Davenport? 😂😂😂 A Davenport who lost to Halard, van Roost (twice!), Kournikova among others in the next 12 months? A Venus W. who lost to Coetzer and Dokic (16 26)? A Serena W. who lost to Testud, Likhovtseva, Tauziat, Suarez? Yeah, Steffi must have shaken in her boots…. 😜
@@thb1091The Wimbledon 99 final was a very close affair: Davenport won 70 points, Steffi 67. Both had only 2 break points. Davenport converted hers, Steffi didn’t.
