Tennis: Greatest Players A-Z: Volume G

Tennis Now

From the greatest men's player in Volume F to arguably the greatest woman just one letter later.

Just as Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert took the torch from Billie Jean King, Graf grabbed a hold of it and kept it blazing bright for a decade.

Graf's 22 Grand Slam singles titles are the most of the Open Era and the second-most of all time for any player, regardless of gender.

For her career, she won exactly 900 matches while losing just 115 times, taking 107 titles and winning the single-season Golden Slam in the remarkable 1988 season, adding the Wimbledon's double title and following it up with three more in 1989. 

Graf's resume of statistical dominance is almost overwhelming, even in the era of Roger Federer. Consider she reached 13 consecutive Grand Slam singles finals between the 1987 and 1990 French Opens. 

She played in 36 Grand Slams all told between 1987 and 1999, reaching 29 finals. At age 13, she was already ranked No. 124 in the world, and was No. 6 by 1985. In the Golden Slam year, she won the French Open title 6-0, 6-0, needing just 32 minutes. At Wimbledon, she snapped Navratilova's six-year win streak.

Even post-retirement she found a top-level opponent, marrying men's all-time great Andre Agassi in 2001. The pair have two children.

Tennis Now