Stefanie Maria Graf, former World No. 1 woman tennis player and once called the “Queen of the Courts” because of her versatility across all playing surfaces. Graf had a powerful forehand which earned her the nickname “Fraulein Forehand”.
Throughout her playing career, she developed the best slice backhand as well as a consistent volley. She chased down balls that seemed unplayable and had a powerful accurate serve of up to 105 mph.
Steffi Graf is generally considered to be one of the greatest women’s tennis players of all time, winning 22 Grand Slam singles titles and the only player to achieve the “Golden Slam” in 1988, capturing all four Grand Slam singles titles – Wimbledon, the US Open, the French Open and the Australian Open, at least four times. In the same year, she also won the Olympic gold medal and was ranked by the Women’s Tennis Association No.1 player for having a record of 377 weeks, the longest record of any player since ranking began.
Stefanie “Steffi” Maria Graf was born June 14, 1969 in Manheim, Germany. She started playing tennis at the age of three in the living room of her family’s house. Her father, Peter Graf, a car and insurance salesman, was also an aspiring tennis coach and introduced tennis to the then little girl Steffi. At the age of four, she began practicing on a court and played her first tournament at the age of five. She soon began winning junior tournaments with reliability and in 1982 won the 12’ and 18’s European Championships.
She started her full professional season in 1993 at the age of thirteen, her rankings on tournaments improved without fall, steadily climbing from being ranked No.124, No.98 in 1983, No.22 in 1984, to No.6 in 1985. She represented Germany in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984 and won the gold medal. Graf’s plays were limited and controlled by her father so that she would not suffer exhaustion as many young tennis stars had. Her personal life was also kept on tight leash by her father, declining social invitations on tours and focusing on practicing and match plays.
Steffi Graf’s Grand Slam breakthrough came in 1987, when she won six tournaments heading into the French Open. She defeated the World No.1 Martina Navratilova in the finals with a classic clash of 6-4, 4-6, 8-6. She won three more tournaments after the French Open, enough to claim the World No.1 ranking from Navratilova in August 1987, with a finishing match record of 75-2.
The year 1988 is believed to be the peak of Steffi Graf’s career. This year was called the “Golden Slam” year for Graf. She started by winning the Australian Open beating Evert, then defending her title at the French Open against Natalia Zvereva, next came Wimbledon where she beat Navratilova, and the US Open final where she triumphantly won over Sabatini, winning all four Grand Slam singles titles within the year. But it did not stop there; there was one more achievement that Graf added to this unbeatable record, the gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, beating Sabatini, which the media called as the “Golden Slam”.
Steffi Graf’s career had its difficult years too, from 1991 through about 1988, her career had been to ups and downs which included personal problems and injuries that affected much of Graf’s career and ranking in tennis. The last few years of her career were weighed down by injuries to her knees and back, with a series of injuries refusing to go away, Graf announced her retirement from tour in August 1999.
After retirement from the tour, Steffi Graf married Andre Agassi on October 22, 2001 at his home in Las Vegas. Their son Jaden Gil and daughter Jaz Elle, has been her pride and joy after a significant and successful career in the world of tennis. Steffi Graf is also the founder and an active chairperson of ‘Children for Tomorrow’, a non-profit foundation whose goal is to implement and develop projects to support children who have been the victims of war and other crises.
Rules for Playing Tennis
Whether you are an amateur or a professional, the rules for playing tennis is generally the same. You have to know the basic rules for playing tennis which include the following:
? Server and Receiver
One of the important rules for playing tennis: to decide who serves first, one player will spin his racket and his opponent will choose up or down, up means the letters fall upright and down means the letters are facing down. The player who wins the call has the choice of whether to serve first or which side of the net to be on first. To better understand the rules for playing tennis, let’s have an example, if player A wins the call and decides to serve, player B will have his choice of his courts. Player A must stand behind the baseline to the right of the center mark, and hit the ball into Player B’s right service court. Player A is given two serves.
? Fault
A fault is any violation of the rules for playing tennis. In addition to that, here are some other ways that can make a “fault”: If the player swings and misses the ball; if the player hits the ball into the net; even if the ball bounces in the service court but hits any permanent fixture, like the net post, is a fault; the player must not step on or over the baseline before the racket hits the ball or it is called a foot fault. The player may step on or over the line after the racket hits the ball. Just a tip, leaning over the line without touching it during a serve is absolutely legal.
? Let Service
A let service can be called when a player serves a ball and the ball hits the top of the net but still goes into the service court of the opponent; or a player hits the ball into the service court of the opponent before the opponent is ready. The let service is not a fault and does not count as one of their two serves. If a player tosses the ball and catches it without swinging at it, it doesn’t count as a serve and the player can take it over as per rules for playing tennis.
After the first point is made, the player serves from the left of the center mark for the second point, and must hit the ball to into the opponents left service court. After the next point, the player moves back to the right again and is the server all through the game, alternating her position after each point is played. The receiver or opponent can choose any position he wants. If the receiver informs the server that he is not ready yet he still attempts to return the service and fails, he is considered ready and the server scores a point. It is also a point against the receiver if he strikes a service during the server’s volley before the ball has had a chance to bounce. After the service, the server or the receiver can hit the ball either on a volley or after a bounce.
Other rules for playing tennis where a player can lose a point after service are the following: a player racket or clothing touches the net; if the player hits the ball more than once; if the ball touches the player or his clothing; if the player plays the ball before it passes over the net; if a player throws a racket at the ball and hits it.
However, a ball is considered good if the ball lands on either the baseline or sideline; if a player returns a ball which hits the top of the net and lands on the proper court; or if a returned ball hits the net post but lands in the proper court. The Player in whose court the ball lands decides whether the ball is in or out.
The rules for playing tennis are simple and concrete, they may slightly vary in professional tournaments and championships but the basics still apply.
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