@@donniewelborn1008 Winning the Golden Slam. Plus holding ALL relevant titles at the same time in October 1988: 1) Fed Cup 87 2) YEC 87 3) AO 88 4) FO 88 5) Wimbledon 88 6) USO 88 7) Olympic Gold 88 (The 88 FedCup was played after the 88 Olympics) ABSOLUTELY INSANE!!! Young people can't imagine what a superstar Steffi was back then! Only Madonna and Lady Diana came close!
Steffi was shown a video of this match in 1989 and was amazed at her patience. She said she'd never be able to play a match like that again. Steffi also said some time later that her approach back then wasn't to try and win grand slams really young like some other players before (and after). The idea was to improve her game year on year. It's why she skipped the 1987 Australian Open - to work on her backhand and serve. It's a great philosophy - it takes away a lot of the pressure and also allows the player to focus on what really matters in the long run.
This was the match when Grafs career and her ascent to the top really kicked off. Had never beaten evert up to then and never won a tour title. She went from being a good to a very good player from here on and one year later she earned the tag "great".
Thank you for this match great quality it's funny how that one guy said ......Or will she fade like so many others. If anything Steffi did not fade however what she did do was insure her place in history as the greatest female tennis player of all time.
This was the only match of Grafs wins that Chris had the ability to win. Because graf came on strong here the opening for Chris to win a slam started to close in. Chris threatened to be number one up until French open of 86. Just 3 months later. Chris basically was out of contention for number one after her French win. By then her body became brittle due to years of playing at very top, last 15 yrs. Mentally Chris was capable on any given day to play her finest but the era of playing her finest every day was closing. Something had to give . Chris had the finest era at top and for longer than anyone . Her success was primarily due to her quick movement recognizing which side of the curt tobreact to the ball. Chris is a second slow here turning to the side of the court to hit the ball. Interestingly evert Navratilova graf all won their first and last slam in same number of years. Graf 1987-1999, evert 1974-1986,navratilova1978-1990.
As graf said “ I don’t think she played very well today” a huge graf. This is where Graf ascendency took ff a great career Ike Everts , Navratilova these three were great champions and always had great respect for each other. It’s funny how graf is seen as ancient history now. Makes me feel old. The present belongs to the young. It represents all the new dreams. Chris had her time at the very top longer than any tennis player who has picked up a racket.
Steffi has her adult body here ready to dominate fr next 10 years. 96 on Steffi was lucky to win a slam Ike Chris is here closing in on her last slam French 86.
Chris had fantastic footwork, so many small steps. Nobody had movement like graf tho, so balletic but sometimes I forget that Evert had such anticipation and good movement as well. Her movement reminds me a lot of Justine Henin, very fast but very quick steps but not in an overly elegant way, just very efficient.
Evert serving at 3-4 deuce was turning point. She served a serve called long and Chris stopped to question it then served a second serve fault . This threw her and then uncharacteristically hit a backhand wide. Then built up AA lead in second and Lost heart. Chris wasn’t going to play a 3 setter.nthe old Evert wouldn’t have given in the thought f scrapping out the third set just was not appealing to Evert and I don’t blame her.
The commentator was American. German commentators were even more biased. They always rooted for Steffi since they were catering to German TV viewers (who were 99 % pro-Steffi).
Chris Evert was still the tennis queen in America, at an American tournament...and Graf not anywhere near her greatness yet...plus Evert was heavily favored to win this match since she had won all their previous meetings.
Those balls travels so slow and it will be immediately eaten up by today's professionals. I have not seen taken up to another level when Steffi played Serena Williams for the first time and pace of the game was stunning.
Heureusement hana mandlikova la battra à Roland Garros!!! Remettant les choses à leur place! Pas encore prêt le démon pour tricher! Il attendra ses 18 ans pour voler le grand chelem en 1987!
