Early career Graf played in her first professional tournament in October 1982 at
Filderstadt, Germany. She lost her first round match 6–4, 6–0 to
Tracy Austin, a two-time US Open champion and former world No. 1 player. At the start of her first full professional year in 1983, Graf was 13 years old and ranked world No. 124. She won no titles during the next three years, but her ranking climbed steadily to world No. 98 in 1983, No. 22 in 1984, and No. 6 in 1985. In 1984, she first gained international attention when she almost upset the tenth seed,
Jo Durie of the United Kingdom, in a fourth round
Centre Court match at Wimbledon. In August as a 15-year-old (and youngest entrant) representing West Germany, she won the tennis demonstration event at the
1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. No medals were awarded as this was not an official Olympic event. Graf's schedule was closely controlled by her father Peter Graf, who limited her play so that she would not burn out. In 1985, for instance, she played only ten events leading up to the US Open, whereas another up-and-coming star,
Gabriela Sabatini, played 21. Peter Graf also kept a tight rein on his daughter's personal life. Social invitations on the tour were often declined as Graf's focus was kept on practicing and match play. Working with her father and then-coach
Pavel Složil, Graf typically practiced for up to four hours a day, often heading straight from airports to practice courts. This narrow focus meant that Graf, already shy and retiring by nature, During that period, she lost six times to Evert and three times to Navratilova, all in straight sets. She did not win a tournament but consistently reached tournament finals, semifinals and quarterfinals, with the highlight being a semifinal defeat to Navratilova at the US Open. On 13 April 1986, Graf won her first WTA tournament and beat Evert for the first time in the final of the
Family Circle Cup in
Hilton Head, South Carolina (she never lost to Evert again, beating her seven more times over the next three and a half years). Graf then won her next three tournaments at
Amelia Island, Indianapolis, and
Berlin, culminating in a 6–2, 6–3 defeat of Navratilova in the final of the latter. Illness caused her to miss Wimbledon, and an accident where she broke a toe several weeks later also curtailed her play. She returned to win a small tournament at
Mahwah just before the US Open where, in one of the most anticipated matches of the year, she encountered Navratilova in a semifinal. Navratilova prevailed over Graf in the semifinal 6–1, 6–7(7–3), 7–6(10–8), saving three match points in an epic spread over two days. Graf then won three consecutive indoor titles at
Tokyo,
Zurich, and
Brighton, before once again contending with Navratilova at the season-ending
Virginia Slims Championships in New York. This time, Navratilova beat Graf 7–6, 6–3, 6–2.
Breakthrough year: 1987 Graf's Grand Slam tournament breakthrough came in 1987. She started the year strongly, with six tournament victories heading into the French Open, with the highlight being at the tournament in
Miami, where she defeated Martina Navratilova in a semifinal and Chris Evert in the final and lost only 20 games in the seven rounds of the tournament. In the French Open final, Graf defeated Navratilova, who was the world No. 1, 6–4, 4–6, 8–6 after beating Sabatini in a three-set semifinal. Graf then lost to Navratilova 7–5, 6–3 in the Wimbledon final, her first loss of the year. However, in the
Federation Cup final in
Vancouver, Canada, three weeks later, she defeated Evert easily 6–2, 6–1. The US Open ended anti-climactically as Navratilova defeated Graf in the final 7–6, 6–1. Graf had a win–loss record of 75–2 for a 97.4 winning percentage in 1987, both losses coming to Navratilova as they split the four matches they played during the year. On 17 August, after defeating Evert in a straight set final in the Virginia Slims of Los Angeles, Graf overtook Navratilova for the world No. 1 ranking for the first time in her career, a ranking she would hold for the next 186 consecutive weeks, a record (it was tied by Serena Williams in 2016). Graf was the first player other than Navratilova or Evert to hold the top spot since Tracy Austin in 1980.
Grand Slam: 1988 Graf started 1988 by winning the Australian Open, defeating Chris Evert in the final 6–1, 7–6. Graf did not lose a set during the tournament and lost a total of only 29 games. Graf lost twice to Sabatini during the spring, once on hardcourts in Boca Raton, Florida, and once on clay at
Amelia Island, Florida. Graf, however, won the tournament in San Antonio, Texas, and retained her title in Miami, where she once again defeated Evert in the final. Graf then won the tournament in
Berlin, losing only twelve games in five matches. At the
French Open, Graf successfully defended her title by defeating
Natasha Zvereva 6–0, 6–0 in a 34-minute final. The official time of the match given on the scoresheet was 34 minutes; however, just 32 minutes of that was spent on the court, as a rain break split the match into two periods of play, of nine and 23 minutes. That was the shortest-ever and most one-sided Grand Slam tournament final ever and the first
double bagel in a major final in the
Open Era. Next came Wimbledon, where Martina Navratilova had won six straight titles. Graf was trailing Martina Navratilova in the final 7–5, 2–0 before winning the match 5–7, 6–2, 6–1. She then won tournaments in
Hamburg and
Mahwah (where she lost only eight games all tournament). At the US Open, Graf beat Sabatini in a three-set final, 6–3, 3–6, 6–1, to win the
Grand Slam, a feat previously performed by only two other women,
Maureen Connolly Brinker in 1953 and
Margaret Court in 1970. Graf's 1988 Grand Slam remains the only one in history completed on three surfaces (grass, clay, hard court), as all other Grand Slams in tennis history were achieved prior to the introduction of hard court at the US Open in 1978. In reaching and winning all four Grand Slam finals, Graf became the first player in history to contest and win 28 Grand Slam singles matches in a single year; albeit including the unplayed walkover against Evert in the US Open. Even discounting that result, no other player had played and won 27 Grand Slam matches in a single year before. Since then, five players managed a 27–1 win–loss record, meaning all of them failed to win the Grand Slam: Graf in 1989 and 1993,
Monica Seles in 1992,
Martina Hingis in 1997,
Roger Federer in 2006, and
Novak Djokovic in 2015, 2021 and 2023. Graf then defeated Sabatini 6–3, 6–3 in the gold medal match at the
Olympic Games in
Seoul and achieved what the media had dubbed the "Golden Slam", the first tennis player to do this. Graf also won her only Grand Slam doubles title that year—at Wimbledon partnering Sabatini—and picked up a women's doubles Olympic bronze medal. Graf was the first tennis player to achieve this. At the year-ending
Virginia Slims Championships, Graf was upset by
Pam Shriver, only her third loss of the year. The loss deprived her of the Golden Super Slam. She was named the 1988
BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year. At the end of the year, the municipality of Brühl, her hometown, gave her the title of honorary citizen.
New challengers and personal challenges 1989 Speculation was rife at the beginning of 1989 about the possibility of Graf winning another Grand Slam. Some noted observers, such as Margaret Court, suggested that Graf could achieve the feat a couple more times. And the year began as expected, with Graf extending her Grand Slam tournament winning streak to five events at the Australian Open, defeating
Helena Suková in the final. Her 6–3, 6–0 defeat of Gabriela Sabatini in a semifinal was described by veteran observer
Ted Tinling as "probably the best tennis I've seen". He went on to add, "I saw what Steffi did to Sabatini at the Australian Open this year, and that was it. She is better than them all." Graf followed this with easy victories in her next four tournaments at Washington, D.C., San Antonio, Texas, Boca Raton, Florida, and
Hilton Head. The Washington, D.C. tournament was notable because Graf won the first twenty points of the final against
Zina Garrison. In the Boca Raton final, Graf lost the only set she conceded to Chris Evert in their final seven matches. In the subsequent
Amelia Island final on clay, Graf lost her first match of the year to Sabatini but returned to European clay with easy victories at
Hamburg and
Berlin. Graf's Grand Slam tournament winning streak ended at the French Open, where 17-year-old Spaniard
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario beat Graf in three sets. Graf served for the match at 5–3 in the third set but lost the game and won only three more points in the match. Suffering from food poisoning, she had struggled to beat
Monica Seles in their semifinal 6–3, 3–6, 6–3 and said that she had menstrual cramps in the final. Graf, however, recovered to defeat Martina Navratilova 6–2, 6–7, 6–1 in the Wimbledon final after defeating Monica Seles 6–0, 6–1 in a fourth round match, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in a quarterfinal, and Chris Evert in a semifinal. Graf warmed up for the US Open with easy tournament victories in
San Diego and
Mahwah. In her semifinal match at the US Open, Graf defeated Sabatini 3–6, 6–4, 6–2. The match was notable for its dramatic ending. Having suffered from leg cramps since the middle of the third set, Graf ran off the court seconds after match point to seek medical treatment. In the final, Navratilova led 6–3, 4–2 before Graf rallied to win 3–6, 7–5, 6–1 for her third Grand Slam singles title of the year. Victories at Zurich and
Brighton preceded the
Virginia Slims Championships, where Graf cemented her top-ranked status by beating Navratilova in the four-set final. Graf ended 1989 with an 86–2 match record and the loss of only 12 sets. Her 0.977 winning percentage is the second-highest in the open era behind Navratilova.
1990 Graf defeated
Mary Joe Fernández in the final of the Australian Open, which was her eighth Grand Slam singles title in the last nine she contested. She survived an intense three-set battle with Helena Sukova in the semis, breaking in the tenth and final game to win the third set 6–4. Her winning streak (unbeaten since the 1989 French Open loss to Arantxa Sánchez) continued with victories in
Tokyo,
Amelia Island, and
Hamburg. Shortly after winning in Tokyo, Graf injured her right thumb while cross-country skiing in Switzerland and subsequently withdrew from the
Virginia Slims of Florida and the
Lipton Championships. In
Berlin, she extended her unbeaten streak to 66 matches (second in
WTA history to Navratilova's 74) before losing the final to Monica Seles, 4–6, 3–6. While the Berlin tournament was being played, the largest-circulation German tabloid,
Bild, ran a story about an alleged scandal involving Graf's father. The difficulty of answering questions about the matter came to a head at a Wimbledon press conference, where Graf broke down in tears. Wimbledon authorities then threatened to immediately shut down any subsequent press conferences where questions about the issue were asked. Whether this scandal affected Graf's form is open to debate. In an interview with
Stern magazine in July 1990, Graf stated, "I could not fight as usual." Graf again lost to Monica Seles in the final of the French Open 6–7, 4–6. Seles was behind 2–6 in the first-set tiebreaker, but then came back to win six points in a row and take the set. At Wimbledon, Graf lost in the semifinals to
Zina Garrison, who with this victory broke Graf's string of 13 consecutive major finals. This was a major upset as Garrison had to save a match point to defeat Monica Seles in the quarterfinal, and was expected to easily fall to Graf, whom she had not beaten in four years. After victories in
Montreal and
San Diego, Graf reached the US Open final, where she lost in straight sets to Sabatini. Graf won four indoor tournaments after the US Open, including a pair of straight-set wins over Sabatini in the finals of
Zürich and
Worcester. Although Sabatini got the best of Graf in the semifinals of the season-ending Virginia Slims Championships, Graf still finished the year as the top-ranked player.
1991 A mixture of injury problems, personal difficulties, and loss of form made 1991 a tough year for Graf. Seles established herself as the new dominant player on the women's tour, winning the Australian Open, French Open, and US Open and, in March, ending Graf's record 186 consecutive-weeks hold on the World No. 1 ranking. She would work with him for the remainder of her career. In
Boca Raton, Florida, Graf reached her first final of the year, where she faced
Conchita Martínez for the title. In their five previous head-to-head matches, Graf had defeated Martínez each time. Even though she lost the opening set, Graf went on to prevail in three sets. She lost twice to Sabatini in the early spring at the Lipton International and the Bausch & Lomb Championships, which now brought her to seven losses in her last eight matches against Sabatini; however, the Bausch & Lomb loss would be Graf's final loss to Sabatini, winning her next, and last eight matches against Sabatini. Victories at
Hamburg and
Berlin (beating Sánchez Vicario in the finals of both) prepared her for the French Open, where she defeated Sánchez Vicario in the semifinals after losing the first set 6–0. Graf then lost a closely contested final to Monica Seles, 2–6, 6–3, 8–10. Seles won the match on her fifth match point; Graf came within two points of winning the match a few games earlier. At Wimbledon, after struggling through early-round three-setters against
Mariaan de Swardt and
Patty Fendick, she easily defeated Natasha Zvereva in the quarterfinal, Sabatini in the semifinal, and Seles in the final, 6–2, 6–1, with Seles playing in almost complete silence because of widespread media and player criticism of her
grunting. Graf then won all five of her
Fed Cup matches, helping Germany defeat Spain in the final by defeating Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, 6–4, 6–2. At the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Graf lost to
Jennifer Capriati in the final and claimed the silver medal. At the US Open, Graf was upset in the quarterfinals by Sánchez Vicario 7–6, 6–3. Four consecutive indoor tournament victories in the autumn helped improve her season, but for the third consecutive year, she failed to win the Virginia Slims Championships, where she lost in the first round to
Lori McNeil.
Second period of dominance 1993 Graf began 1993 with four losses in her first six tournaments of the year: two to Sánchez Vicario and one each to Seles and the 36-year-old Martina Navratilova. Seles defeated Graf at the Australian Open 4–6, 6–3, 6–2. She struggled at the
German Open in Berlin where she lost a 6–0 set to the unheralded
Sabine Hack before defeating
Mary Joe Fernández and Sabatini in three-set matches to claim her seventh title there in eight years. During a quarterfinal match between Seles and
Magdalena Maleeva in Hamburg, Seles was stabbed between the shoulder blades by a mentally ill German fan of Graf, Günter Parche. He claimed that he committed the attack to help Graf reclaim the world No. 1 ranking. More than two years elapsed before Seles competed again. Shortly after the stabbing, during a players meeting at the
Italian Open in Rome, 17 of the world's top 25 WTA members voted against preserving Seles' world No. 1 ranking while she was sidelined. Since Graf skipped the Italian Open, she did not take part in the vote. During Seles's absence, Graf won 65 of 67 matches, three of four Grand Slam events and the year-end Virginia Slims championships. She won her first French Open title since 1988 with a three-set victory over Mary Joe Fernández in the final. Fernandez had two break points to take a 3–0 and double break lead in the third set. The win elevated Graf to the world No. 1 ranking for the first time in 22 months. At Wimbledon, Graf defeated Jana Novotná to win her third consecutive, and fifth overall, ladies' title. In the third and deciding set, Novotná had a point to go up 5–1 on her serve. After breaking Novotná's serve, Graf won the next four games to take the match 7–6, 1–6, 6–4. Graf had a bone splinter in her right foot during this tournament (and for the next few months), finally resulting in surgery on 4 October. In the meantime, she lost surprisingly to
Nicole Bradtke of Australia in a
Fed Cup match on clay before winning the
Acura Classic in San Diego and the
Canadian Open in Toronto in preparation for the US Open. She won there, comfortably beating Helena Suková in the final after needing three sets to eliminate Gabriela Sabatini and
Manuela Maleeva-Fragniere in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. In the fall, Graf won the
Volkswagen Card Cup in Leipzig a day before her foot operation, losing only two games to Jana Novotná in the final. Graf lost to Conchita Martínez in her comeback tournament a month later in
Philadelphia. However, she finished her year with a highlight, winning her first Virginia Slims Championships since 1989 by beating Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final despite needing painkillers for a back injury.
1994 Seemingly free of injury for the first time in years, Graf began the year by winning the
Australian Open, where she defeated Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final with the loss of only two games. Graf later stated it was the best tennis she had ever played in a Grand Slam final. She then won her next four tournaments in
Tokyo,
Indian Wells,
Delray Beach and
Miami respectively. In the Miami final, she lost her first set of the year—to Natasha Zvereva—after winning 54 consecutive sets. In the Hamburg final, she lost for the first time in 1994 after 36 consecutive match victories, losing to Sánchez Vicario in three sets. She then won her eighth
German Open, but there were signs that her form was worsening as she almost lost to
Julie Halard in a quarterfinal. As the defending champion Graf lost in straight sets to
Mary Pierce in the
French Open semifinal. This was followed by a first-round straight-sets loss at
Wimbledon to
Lori McNeil, her only loss at Wimbledon between 1991 and 1997 and her first loss in a first round Grand Slam tournament in ten years. Graf still managed to win
San Diego the following month but aggravated a long-time back injury in beating Sánchez Vicario in the final. Graf developed a bone spur at the base of her spine due to a congenital condition of the
sacroiliac joint. She began to wear a back brace and was unsure about playing the
US Open but elected to play while receiving treatment and stretching for two hours before each match. She made it to the final and took the first set against Sánchez Vicario but lost the next two sets — Sanchez Vicario's last victory over Graf. In the middle of the second set, Graf suffered back spasms while reaching for a ball in the ad court. She took the following nine weeks off, returning only for the Virginia Slims Championships where she lost in straight sets to Pierce in the quarterfinal. Although Graf ended the year ranked No. 1 on the computer the ITF named Sanchez Vicario its World Champion for the year, while the WTA backed their official rankings and named Graf.
1995 A strained right calf muscle forced Graf to withdraw from the
Australian Open. She came back in February, winning four consecutive tournaments in
Paris,
Delray Beach,
Miami and
Houston. She then beat Sánchez Vicario in the finals of both the
French Open and
Wimbledon. The 1995 Wimbledon final is regarded as one of the most dramatic women's major finals in history as Graf and Sánchez Vicario battled in a tight third set that included a 16-minute long, 13-deuce game on Sanchez Vicario's serve at 5–5. In August Monica Seles made her much anticipated return to tennis at the Canadian Open. It was decided to grant her a joint number-one ranking with Graf who took her first loss of the year in the first round to Amanda Coetzer. The
US Open was Monica Seles's first Grand Slam event since the 1993 attack, with much anticipation again around a potential Seles-Graf final. After surviving a scare in a three-setter against Amanda Coetzer in the first round, Graf reached the final with relative ease, while Seles went through her side of the draw in even more convincing fashion. Seles and Graf met in the final, with Graf winning in three sets, saving a set point in the first set. Graf then capped the year by beating countrywoman
Anke Huber in a five-set final at the season-ending
WTA Championships in 2 hours and 46 minutes.
Tax issues In personal terms, 1995 was a difficult year for Graf, as she was accused by German authorities of
tax evasion in the early years of her career. In her defense, she stated that her father Peter was her financial manager, and all financial matters relating to her earnings at the time had been under his control. Her father was arrested in August and was sentenced to 45 months in jail. He was eventually released after serving 25 months. Prosecutors dropped their case against Graf in 1997, when she agreed to pay a fine of 1.3 million
Deutsche Marks to the government and an unspecified charity.
1996 Graf again missed the
Australian Open after undergoing surgery in December 1995 to remove bone splinters from her left foot. Graf came back to the tour in March, winning back to back titles in
Indian Wells and
Miami, followed by a record ninth title at the
German Open in May and a quarterfinal defeat in
Rome against Martina Hingis. She then successfully defended the three Grand Slam titles she won the year before. In a close
French Open final, Graf again overcame Sánchez Vicario, taking the third set 10–8. Graf had led 4–1 in the second set tiebreak, only to lose six points in a row and force a decider. Twice in the third set Sánchez Vicario served for the championship but was broken each time by Graf. It was the longest French Open women's singles final in history, both in terms of time (3 hours and 3 minutes) and number of games played (40). Graf then had a straight-sets win against Sánchez Vicario in the
Wimbledon final. That was the last competitive match Graf and Sánchez Vicario would ever play against one another. In July, a left knee injury forced Graf to withdraw from the
Summer Olympics in
Atlanta. Graf played only one warm-up event ahead of the US Open, the
Acura Classic in
Manhattan Beach, California, where she lost to Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals. She then successfully defended her title at the
US Open, defeating Monica Seles in the final. Her toughest battle came against rising star Martina Hingis in the semifinal, with Hingis unable to convert on five set points. Graf did not lose a set the whole tournament. She also won her fifth and final
WTA Tour Championships title with a five set win over Martina Hingis, with Hingis cramping up in the fifth set. She subsequently withdrew from the
Pan Pacific Open and had
arthroscopic surgery performed on her left knee. After several months injury lay off, Graf returned to play in the German Open in Berlin in front of a home crowd and had the worst defeat of her career in the quarterfinal, when Amanda Coetzer beat her in just 56 minutes 6–0, 6–1. In the French Open Graf was again beaten by Amanda Coetzer in straight sets, 6–1, 6–4. Only one week later, she underwent reconstructive knee surgery in
Vienna and subsequently missed the 1997 Wimbledon and US Open championships. The treatment was for a fracture of the cartilage as well as a shortening and partial rupture of the patellar tendon of her left knee. After missing almost half of the tour in 1998, Graf lost in the third round at
Wimbledon and in the fourth round at the
US Open. Shortly after the US Open, she underwent surgery to remove a bone spur in her right wrist. Upon her return Graf defeated world No. 2 Hingis and world No. 1
Lindsay Davenport en route to the
Philadelphia title. At the first round of the season-ending
Chase Championships, Graf defeated world No. 3, Jana Novotná, before losing in the semifinal to first-seeded Davenport. At the beginning of 1999 Graf played the warm up event to the
Australian Open in Sydney; she defeated Serena Williams in the second round and Venus in the quarterfinals before losing to Lindsay Davenport in the semifinal. Graf then went on to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open before losing to Monica Seles in two sets. In Indian Wells Graf lost to Serena Williams in three sets. At the
French Open, Graf reached her first Grand Slam final in three years and fought back from a set and twice from a break down in the second set to defeat the top ranked Hingis in three sets for a memorable victory. Graf became the first player in the
open era to defeat the first, second, and third ranked players in the same Grand Slam tournament by beating second-ranked Davenport in the quarterfinals and third-ranked Seles in the semifinals. Graf said after the final that it would be her last French Open, fueling speculation about her retirement. Graf then reached her ninth
Wimbledon singles final, losing to third-seeded Davenport in straight sets. She had to overcome three difficult three set matches en route to this final, against
Mariaan De Swardt in the second round, Venus Williams in the quarterfinals and
Mirjana Lučić in the semifinals. On 13 August 1999, shortly after retiring with a strained hamstring from a second round match against
Amy Frazier in
San Diego, Graf announced her retirement from the women's tour at age 30. She was ranked No. 3 at that time and said, "I have done everything I wanted to do in tennis. I feel I have nothing left to accomplish. The weeks following Wimbledon [in 1999] weren't easy for me. I was not having fun anymore. After Wimbledon, for the first time in my career, I didn't feel like going to a tournament. My motivation wasn't what it was in the past."
Doubles career From the beginning of her career until 1990, Graf regularly played doubles matches in Grand Slams and other tournaments, winning a total of 11 doubles titles. In 1986, she formed a partnership with rival
Gabriela Sabatini. The pair was moderately successful, winning the
1988 Wimbledon Championships together and reaching the finals of the French Open in 1986, 1987 and 1989. The partnership was the subject of much discussion, as the two women, both known to be shy, usually kept communication to a minimum during changeovers and between points, a highly unusual situation in doubles. Sabatini said of the partnership: "doubles is all about communicating with each other, and we didn't communicate that much. We would just say the basic things, but nothing else." The pair played their last major tournament together at the
1990 Wimbledon Championships, losing in the quarterfinals. From 1991 until the end of her career, Graf would only play doubles sporadically, forming short-term partnerships with a variety of players, including
Lori McNeil,
Anke Huber and her best friends on the tour,
Rennae Stubbs,
Patricia Tarabini and
Ines Gorrochategui. She played her last Grand Slam doubles tournament at the
1999 Australian Open with Gorrochategui, losing in the second round. Graf also occasionally played mixed doubles, although she never won a title. She partnered with doubles specialist
Mark Woodforde at the Australian Open in 1994, with
Henri Leconte at Wimbledon in 1991 and at the French Open in 1994, and with
Charlie Pasarell at the US Open in 1984. In an unusual arrangement, she paired with her coaches Pavel Složil at Wimbledon in 1988 and Heinz Günthardt in 1992 and 1996, also at Wimbledon. At the
1999 Wimbledon Championships, Graf formed a much-publicized partnership with
John McEnroe, with whom she reached the semifinals before withdrawing due to concerns that her uncertain hamstring, coupled with a bout of
bronchitis, would affect her in the singles final.
Post-career exhibition matches In late 1999 and early 2000, as part of her Farewell Tour, Graf played a series of exhibition matches against former rivals in New Zealand, Japan, Spain, Germany and South Africa. She played
Jelena Dokic in
Christchurch, New Zealand, Amanda Coetzer in
Durban, South Africa, and her former rival Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in
Zaragoza, Spain. It was Graf and Sánchez Vicario's first head-to-head meeting since 1996. In February 2000, Graf played against
Kimiko Date at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium in Tokyo, Nagoya Rainbow Hall in Nagoya, winning in three sets. In September 2004, Graf dispatched her former doubles partner Gabriela Sabatini, in straight sets, in an exhibition match played in
Berlin, Germany. She was also in Berlin to host a charity gala, as well as inaugurating a tennis stadium renamed the "Steffi Graf Stadion". Proceeds from her match against Sabatini went to Graf's foundation, "Children for Tomorrow". In July 2005, Graf competed in one tie of
World Team Tennis (WTT) on the
Houston Wranglers team. Graf completely ruled out a return to professional tennis. In October, Graf defeated Sabatini in an exhibition match in
Mannheim, Germany, winning both of their sets. Like the exhibition match the previous year against Sabatini, proceeds went to "Children for Tomorrow". In 2008 Graf lost an exhibition match against Kimiko Date at
Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo. As part of the event, billed as "Dream Match 2008", she defeated Martina Navratilova in a one-set affair 8–7, with Graf winning a tiebreaker 10–5. It was the first time in 14 years Graf had played Navratilova. Graf played a singles exhibition match against
Kim Clijsters and a mixed doubles exhibition alongside husband
Andre Agassi against
Tim Henman and Clijsters as part of a test event and celebration for the newly installed roof over Wimbledon's
Centre Court in 2009. She lost a lengthy one-set singles match to Clijsters and also the mixed doubles. In 2010, Graf participated in the WTT Smash Hits exhibition in Washington, D.C. to support the
Elton John AIDS Foundation. She and Agassi, her husband, were on Team Elton John, which competed against Team Billie Jean King. Graf played in the celebrity doubles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles before straining her left calf muscle and being replaced by Anna Kournikova.
Summary of career Graf won seven singles titles at Wimbledon, six singles titles at the French Open, five singles titles at the US Open, and four singles titles at the Australian Open. Her overall record in 54 Grand Slam events was 278–32 (90 percent) (84–10 at the French Open, 74–7 at Wimbledon, 73–9 at the US Open, and 47–6 at the Australian Open). Her career prize-money earnings totalled US$21,895,277 (a record until
Lindsay Davenport surpassed this amount in January 2008). Her singles win–loss record was 900–115 (88.7 percent). She was ranked world No. 1 for 186 consecutive weeks (from August 1987 to March 1991; tied with Serena Williams, a record in the women's game) and a record total 377 weeks overall. ==Career statistics==