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WTA Mount Rushmore – The four that defined women’s tennis

By Brandon Daniels

Jun-Jul 1989: Steffi Graf of West Germany plays a backhand return during the Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon in London. \ Mandatory Credit: Allsport UK /Allsport
Jun-Jul 1989: Steffi Graf of West Germany plays a backhand return during the Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon in London. \ Mandatory Credit: Allsport UK /Allsport /
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Steffi Graf of Germany serves to Gabriela Sabatini during their Women’s Singles Final match of the US Open Tennis Championship on 10 September 1988 at the USTA National Tennis Center in the Flushing neighbourhood of Queens in New York, United States. (Photo by Mike Powell/Allsport/Getty Images)
Steffi Graf of Germany serves to Gabriela Sabatini during their Women’s Singles Final match of the US Open Tennis Championship on 10 September 1988 at the USTA National Tennis Center in the Flushing neighbourhood of Queens in New York, United States. (Photo by Mike Powell/Allsport/Getty Images) /

3. Steffi Graf

Years Active: 1982-1999

Grand Slam titles: 23 (22 singles, 1 doubles)

Graf entered the WTA as a 13-year-old professional. Unlike King and Navratilova, she played singles, and she dominated while doing it. Her side-to-side athleticism, quick footwork, and trademark forehand quickly shot her to stardom. She defeated Navratilova in the 1987 French Open; After falling twice in the final at Wimbledon and the US Open that year, she rebounded and put together the greatest season of her career.

In 1988, she captured the calendar Grand Slam and added the Gold Medal in the Olympics, making her the first player to accomplish the “Golden Slam“. Graf went undefeated until April and didn’t lose after that until the very last event of the year, finishing with a 73-3 record. It was the best year of her career, bookended by two incredible seasons.

In 1987, she finished 75-2, and in 1989, she finished 86-2. This means, from 1987-1989 she had an unimaginable record of 234-7, with 8 Grand Slam victories (1 in 1987, 3 in 1989).

Graf unfortunately retired in 1999 due to various injuries at the age of 28. Many look at her age and wonder why she couldn’t rehab and continue, but looking at her career, she’d already played 18 years of professional tennis.

She was women’s tennis’s Bjorn Borg or Michael Jordan. Everything she did was perfect. On the court, she played flawless tennis and off the court, she was the definition of a professional: cool, calm, and collected.

Graf was, and still is, the goddess of tennis, and enshrining her on our Mount Rushmore is completely deserving.

Next. #4 - Serena Williams. dark

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