Before we talk about the Performances of one of the greatest players of all time , it will not be fair if I don’t acknowledge the massive fan base that Steffi Graf had in her career and the cult personality she became. Arenas would sell our just by her name and she became more popular than many of the male players because there was no one better than Steffi Graf when she played tennis. We will talk about her records below but she has won 22 Grand Slam titles which is the second most in the open era and she was ranked number 1 in the world for a record 377 weeks or 6 and a half years.
Steffi Graf is the only player in the open era to win all the 4 Grand Slam titles 4 times. This shows how dominant she was on every surface whether it be hard, clay or grass courts. In 1988 she won all the 4 Grand Slam titles and an Olympic Gold Medal and no one else has been able to do it since. She has a prize total of $21,895,277 in her career. She has a career win-loss record of 900-115 that gives her a win % of 88.7% which is among the very best. Let’s look at her Top 5 best performances.
1995 Wimbledon Final vs Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
This was a comeback performance by Steffi Graf or else she would just obliterate her opponents in the final so it is a mention on this list. She has already won 5 Wimbledon Titles by then and this would be her 6th. Steffi lost the 1st set 6-4 but Ane showed why she was number 1 as she came back in style and won the next 2 sets by 6-1 and 7-5 to win the title yet again. This was Steffi Graf where she showed her comeback ability and won the hearts of the fans once more.
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1995 US Open Final vs Monica Seles
The final immediately following the Wimbledon Final was another one of Steffi Graf’s best performances as she was again in a 3 setter where she yet again prevailed. Steffi Graf won the 1st set 7-6 in after a tie break but shockingly she lost the second set 6-0 without winning a game and it looked like Steffi would lose but as always she came back in the 3rd set and won it 6-3 and that was gee 18th Grand Slam title. Steffi Graf was achieving the Greatest status with each win.
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1996 French Open Final vs Arantxa Sanchez Vicario
Another Grand Slam final between these 2 ladies and this time it was the French Open Final and there were 6 titles in clay between these 2 and this match was one of the most demanding matches in the career of Steffi Graf as it went for over 2 hours. Steffi Graf took the 1st set 6-3 then Sanchez came back in the match strong and she won the second set by 7-6 by the barest of margins. Then came the 3rd set where it went to the wire but in the end it was Steffi Graf who won it 10-8 and the French Open title as well.
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1993 French Open Final vs Mary Joe Fernandez
This was a Grand Slam final where Steffi Graf was not at her best as she was making errors and as a result she lost the first set by 6-4 and it looked like a rare loss for Graf but Steffi stepped up and won the 2nd set in dominating fashion by 6-2 and it came down to the final set and Fernandez was leading 4-3 in the final set but then Steffi showed her best and won the next 3 games and won it by 6-4 and won the title.
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1987 French Open Final vs Martina Navratilova
This was the first Grand Slam title for Steffi Graf and it came against the then world number 1 and Steffi Graf was only 17 years old when she did the impossible. Steffi was very aggressive from the start of the match and won the first set 6-4. Then the number 1 seed came back and took the second set 6-4 herself and it was all to play for but in the decider Martina made 2 double faults when at 5-3 and Steffi after that took the advantage and after a grueling 2 hour marathon and Winnie the final set 8-6, Steffi Graf had created history and it was the first of many in the future.
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