Game for Graf

To measure her achievement only by such means or, indeed, by pointing to her over 20-million-dollar prize money takings, would be something like speaking solely of Don Bradman’s centuries and not of his style or of Mohammed Ali’s greatness minus his butterfly-like gliding and bee-like stinging. What distinguished Steffi through the 17 years of her sporting saga was the way she played which was what seemed to make winning a way of life for her until almost the last moments of her career. Anamazing temperament went into the making of her much-trophied career. What fascinated her fans vastly more than her figures, were her famous forehand returns, her baseline play and, above all, her untiring athleticism.

What made her a remarkable tennis player for everyone, however, was that she was remarkable only as a tennis player. Not as a tennis personality. The robust and eminently presentable Steffi was no on-court oddity like the austere, bespectacled Martina Navratilova whom she replaced as the game’s champion. Nor was she the gorgeous attraction of the circuit the way Gabriela Sabatini was.

She was never known for the grunts of the once gamine Monica Seles. She was not known for her off-court activities either. Except for the brief period when her father’s tiffs with taxmen led to his stint in jail, Graf generally steered clear of controversy. The German star was also not noted for symbolising extra-sport causes like Martina did the gay movement and her compatriot, Boris Becker, who feltcompelled to confront his country’s neo-Nazis.

Steffi concentrated on her game. Here, she had no contender after Martina and Monica until the latter was unfortunately stabbed during a match. It was a steadily rising Graf since then, with her recovery from the reverses of her father’s misdemeanours being as remarkable as any she staged on court.

And she said goodbye when the going was good. Teenagers have stormed their way into women’s tennis, spearheaded by Martina Hingis of the Swiss-chocolate smile. None of them would appear to be a tennis player of Steffi’s mould. Hingis has managed to lose the Number One rank in a short span, with no one else bidding fair to wear the crown for the moment at least.

Most of these women are already better known for their extra-tennis attributes and identities. Martina has her horses; Venus Williams, her beads; and Anna Kournikova, her billowing skirts. But for Steffi Graf, it was tennis, only tennis.