Steffi Graf made a career based on dominance and making history.
In 1988, she became the only woman to win all four Grand Slams and the Olympic gold medal in the same season.
She is also the only player in tennis history to have won every major at least four times, and she was a record 377 weeks as the WTA Tour’s World number one.
Steffi Graf is one of the icons in the game and set a benchmark for others to follow, but the German also drew inspiration from some of the greats that came before her.
Who are the two players that inspired Steffi Graf?
Steffi Graf retired from tennis in 1999 after winning 22 Grand Slams by the age of 30. At the time, she only trailed Margaret Court, who has 24 majors to her name.
That was until Serena Williams won her 23rd and final Grand Slam in 2017 to take her ahead of Graf in the standings.
In 2004, five years after her retirement, Graf was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
While there she spoke to reporters and named players who inspired her as a youngster, and she picked a popular American duo with 15 Grand Slam singles titles between them.
“You know what, the people, I can’t say that I’ve had heroes, but who I really admired for their talent and the way they played was Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe,” Graf said.
Did Steffi Graf and John McEnroe play together?
Graf had the chance to play with one of the tennis players she admired most in the final season of her career.
She teamed up with John McEnroe, who was 40 at the the time, to compete in the mixed doubles competition at the 1999 Wimbledon Championships.
They reached the semi-finals, and along the way Graf and McEnroe beat a young Venus Williams and her partner Justin Gimelstob.
The all-star pairing did not go beyond the final four, as they withdrew in order for Graf to focus on singles.
She reached the final but Graf lost 4-6, 5-7 to Lindsay Davenport, and this would be the last Grand Slam singles final of her legendary career.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
