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Farewell to Wimbledon Graf says she won’t play again at the All England Club
Posted: Friday August 06, 1999 04:51 PM
WIMBLEDON, England (CNN/SI) -- Steffi Graf quietly left Centre Court on Sunday, giving no clue that it was her final match on the stage that made her famous. The seven-time champion said she'd decided that the final against Lindsay Davenport would be her last match at the All England Club -- win or lose. After Davenport won 6-4, 7-5, Graf walked off Centre Court without even the slightest hint of a wave. "I felt it was her [Davenport's] day and I wanted to keep it that way and not take anything away from her," Graf said. It was Graf's first loss in the Wimbledon finals since 1987 -- the first time she reached the championship match. When she was handed the runner-up plate by the Duchess of Kent, Graf said the royal told her she was "getting used to giving me the winner's plate" and hesitated to hand over the second-place award. The 30-year-old German leaves Wimbledon two singles titles short of Martina Navratilova's record of nine. Her 22 Grand Slam titles are also two shy of Margaret's Court's record 24. "It's been a lot of fun but, I guess, yes, there's going to be a certain time when I've got to move on with something else in my life," Graf said. "Right now, I'm a little sad about everything, which is normal for the moment," she said. "But I still think that I feel ... a winner getting out of this tournament." A month ago, after winning the French Open, Graf said it was her last appearance at Roland Garros. Other than saying she was bowing out at Wimbledon, she said little else about her future as she spoke in a soft voice tinged with sadness. She said playing the U.S. Open was in doubt, although she plans to play "several more tournaments" with the word on her future coming in a few weeks. "I will not comment on anything other than that. I have not had enough time to think about those things," said Graf, whose compatriot and three-time Wimbledon champion, Boris Becker, announced last week he'd also played his last Wimbledon after bowing out in the fourth round. Graf said she made her mind up before the two-week grass-court classic to bow out and a victory would not have changed things. "It's a decision and, you know, I've been pretty sure about it for a long time," she said. "It's not something I just thought about." The WTA Tour guide devotes one page to most players, two to stars like Monica Seles. Graf gets three. A list of her major injuries and illnesses put out by the WTA lists 21 -- almost equaling her Slams -- since she turned professional in 1982: right foot surgery twice, with other operations on her right hand, left knee, left foot and sinuses. She's also had a herniated disc, and broken her right toe and right thumb. "I've had a lot of injuries in the last several years and that has something to do with all of this," said Graf, who played the final with her left thigh wrapped and pulled out of mixed doubles with Joh McEnroe because of it. Her first Grand Slam title was the French Open in 1987. In '88 she won all four Grand Slams, and the next year again reached all four finals, losing only in the French. Three other times she won three of the four Slams ('93, '95, '96). Injuries have hurt her and so have personal problems. Her father, Peter, was released from priso in April 1998 after serving 15 months for tax evasion handling his daughter's tennis winnings, which are US $21 million going into this season. Graf pointed to her '92 Wimbledon victory over Moncia Seles and her '91 win over Gabriela Sabatini as her two most memorable Wimbledon finals. "I went through a lot of struggles during a certain period," Graf said, alluding to problems surrounding her father. "The one match that I played against Gaby for me was personally a big one." While her father was serving prison time, Graf underwent left knee surgery in June 1997, which kept her out of Wimbledon and the next three Grand Slams. She returned last year but was knocked out in the third round. "I think the last few weeks have been pretty amazing. Who would have thought I would be doing so well? It's obvious that I'm disappointed about losing the finals but I do have to say ... it been tough getting there but it's also been ... great here."
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | |||||||||||||||||
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