The mistake Steffi Graf claimed Serena Williams was making before the only final they ever played against each other in 1999

Follow us on Google Discover

Serena Williams surpassed Steffi Graf at the 2017 Australian Open after winning her 23rd Grand Slam title.

Williams, who retired at US Open in 2022, is now moving onto different endeavours outside of tennis.

Most recently Williams made an appearance at the Super Bowl for Kendrick Lamar’s half-time performance.

This cameo from the tennis icon caused a huge reaction, with Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic both messaging Williams after this.

She also received praise from compatriot Coco Gauff, who called Williams the ‘GOAT’.

While we can look back on Williams’ legendary tennis career now, in 1999 it was still very early days for the American.

What mistake did Steffi Graf think Serena Williams was making before the 1999 Indian Wells final?

After winning her first WTA title at the Paris indoors tournament in February, a 17-year-old Williams made her main draw debut at Indian Wells (then known as the Evert Cup) in 1999.

Ranked world number 21 prior to the tournament getting underway, Williams beat second seed and former champion Lindsay Davenport, as well as Grand Slam champion Mary Pierce en route to reaching her first WTA 1000 final.

While Williams was in a final of this calibre for the first time, Graf was much more familiar with reaching the latter stages of tournaments like Indian Wells.

In-fact Graf had won the Indian Wells tournament on two previous occasions in 1994 and 1996, and was a 21-time Grand Slam champion at this stage.

Graf had barely dropped games until the semi-final stage, before being pushed to a three set victory against American Chanda Rubin.

Despite reaching the final upon debut without dropping a set, Graf had a critique for Williams concerning shot selection prior to their final.

“I think [Serena] is somebody that has a lot of shots,” Graf said in her press conference. “I think she’s been lately starting to go a little bit more for her shots.

“I think she has a lot of strengths, same as Venus [Williams], especially on her serve. She can obviously put you under pressure pretty early on. She has got a very good return.

“I kind of thought, you know, she has a lot of potential. I think it’s for her to figure out what kind of game she wants to go ahead with. I mean, I think she hasn’t so much so far a totally clear mind on it. Sometimes she’s coming in on the wrong shots.

“She’s trying right now to do different things. It’s going to take time for her to choose the right shots at the right time.”

Shot selection did not appear to be a problem for Williams in the final, as she hit 35 winners past her German opponent.

Williams trailed 4-2 in the deciding set, but won five out of the last six games to beat Graf, 6-3 3-6 7-5, and win the biggest title of her career at the time.

After the match, Williams reflected on how much this victory meant to her and then set her sights on winning a Grand Slam title.

“It means a lot to me because Steffi is a great champion,” said Williams. “She has more titles, from what I hear, than any man or lady playing tennis. It’s very exciting for me to be able to have this win.

“This is the biggest tournament I ever won. I know that I can win the big ones now. I don’t know how many matches I’ve won in a row, but it’s enough to win a Slam. It’s seven in a row to win a Slam. I’m prepared to do that.”

Graf would retire from tennis in August that year, while Williams won her first Grand Slam at the 1999 US Open.

What happened when Serena Williams played Steffi Graf in Sydney?

This was one of two career meetings between Williams and Graf, with their first coming earlier that year in Sydney.

On that occasion it was Graf beat Williams, 6-2 3-6 7-5, in a very similar reverse scoreline to their Indian Wells final just months later.

Not only did Graf beat Serena Williams in Sydney, she also had to beat her older sister Venus Williams in the following match.

When drawing comparisons to her two matches with Serena after losing in the Indian Wells final, Graf explained what Williams did better second time around.

“Yeah. She didn’t make that many mistakes,” Graf said in her press conference. “She was really forcing the shots, being aggressive most of the times. But much more consistent, yeah, for sure.”

Graf later added, “Well, she served well. You know, she was going, definitely, for the second serve. She was going for her shots. She took risks. She did that very well, I think. She was just going more for the shots, trying to be more aggressive than I was.”